It’s good to be in the age of once-reviled films getting their just due of 4K restoration. Once a film with little to no release, Alex Winter and Tom Stern’s 1993 over-the-top shock comedy Freaked is being re-released thanks to Drafthouse Films. The wild ‘90s film follows Ricky Coogan (Winter), a self-absorbed former child star who chooses to promote a toxic chemical and gets captured by an eccentric weird scientist (Randy Quaid) at a mutant freak farm. Alongside his best friend Ernie (Michael Stoyanov) and radical activist Julie (Megan Ward), Ricky finds himself radically transformed and trapped alongside a sideshow of grotesque misfits.
L-R: Michael Stoyanov as Ernie, Alex Winter as Ricky Coogan, and Megan Ward as Julie in FREAKED. Photo courtesy of Drafthouse Films.
Besides being responsible for the iconic gif of Winter giving an enthusiastic two thumbs up, Freaked is also known to be the film released in the era not too far removed from the iconic two-fer Bill & Ted films Winter co-starred in with Keanu Reeves (Reeves also has an uncredited role in this film. It’s also known for being infamously pulled from nationwide release and having little to no advertising after having a few poor test screenings. Falling in line with the zaniness of those slacker comedies, Freaked is an unapologetic acid trip of black comedy with joke-a-minute bits and hilarious visual gags. Picture Airplane! (1980) mixed with Dude, Where’s My Car? (2000) with a Freddy Got Fingered (2001) shock edge and you have this wacky conundrum of a picture.
There’s not much in the way of plot in a wild time such as Freaked. The pleasure in this wild ride comes strictly from the jokes, committed performances, and its all-around strange Looney Tunes universe. Winter, also partly responsible for the writing of this film, throws it all out there as Ricky Coogan. A far cry from the laidback “dude” Bill S. Preston, Ricky Coogan is vain, conniving, selfish, and, most importantly, an idiot. Winter fantastically carries the material with colorful facial expressions and hilarious line delivery (a key scene is when Coogan ditches his body cast disguise he used as a stupid ruse to seduce Julie and defiantly screams at her “You think (Christian) Slater could improv like this?!” — a dated ‘90s joke that still kills in 2025). Right on the film’s wavelength alongside Winter is Quaid as the mad scientist Elijah C. Skuggs who runs Freek Land, the place where he keeps all of his mutant creations. Quaid, known to play wild, over the top comedic characters such as Cousin Eddie in the National Lampoon’s Vacation films, lets his freak flag fly (pun intended) and sells the mad scientist character to a T. Rounding out the cast here is a terrific supporting list including Bobcat Goldthwait (Scrooged) as Sockhead (his colorful comedian voice bringing the character to life), John Hawkes (Identity) as Cowboy (a great visual gag within itself, a literal man with a cow face and a cowboy hat), Mr. T (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) as The Bearded Lady (as strange as you would expect it to be), and Reeves as Ortiz (a literal Dog Boy made funnier by Reeves’s dude-esque line delivery).
Alex Winter as Ricky Coogan in FREAKED. Photo courtesy of Drafthouse Films.
Freaked, as freaky and as boundary-morphing-and-pushing as it wants to be, is not for everyone. A film like this, you not only have to be on its humor wavelength, you have to be open for its humor to wildly switch from the physical to the verbal to the visual. Speaking of visual, the fantastic makeup prosthetic effects used for the grotesque misfits are presented here courtesy of Tony Gardner’s Alterian, Inc. (Heart Eyes), Steve Johnson’s XFX, Inc. (The Invisible Raptor), and Screaming Mad George’s Studio (Predator). The creativity of the makeup effects without a doubt add to the film’s purpose of needing a 4K restoration. While its over-the-top humor may not be to everyone’s tastes, one cannot deny the swing Winter and Stern make for the fences with this film’s ambition. From the diverse cast to the legendary effects to this film’s redemption from its unfair treatment upon initial release, Freaked is just the right, fun time for any fans of no-holds-barred comedy.
Available on 4K UHD digital October 7th, 2025.
Available on Collector’s Edition 4K UHD Blu-ray Combo November 5th, 2025.
For more information, head to the official Drafthouse Films Freaked webpage.
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Categories: Films To Watch, Home Release, Home Video, Recommendation, Reviews, streaming
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