Editing Freaks (1932 film) (section)

==Legacy==
''Freaks'' is now widely considered among director Browning's best films.<ref name=freaksfilmsite>{{cite web|url=https://www.filmsite.org/freaks.html|work=[[Filmsite.org]]|publisher=[[AMC Networks]]|title=Freaks (1932)|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200330201517/https://www.filmsite.org/freaks.html|archive-date=March 30, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/freaks-tod-browning-s-greatest-film-still-has-the-power-to-shock-1.2249914|title=Freaks: Tod Browning's greatest film still has the power to shock|last=Clarke|first=Donald|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200330201622/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/freaks-tod-browning-s-greatest-film-still-has-the-power-to-shock-1.2249914|archive-date=March 30, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> The film's growing esteem among critics traces back to the early 1960s, when it was rediscovered as a [[counterculture]] cult film, particularly among European audiences.{{sfn|Smith|2012|p=113}}{{sfn|Hawkins|2000|p=164}} It was screened at the 1962 [[Venice Film Festival]], and shortly after was shown for the first time in the United Kingdom, having been banned there since 1932.{{sfn|Smith|2012|p=113}} Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the film was regularly shown at [[midnight movie]] screenings in the United States.{{sfn|Smith|2012|p=113}} It also enjoyed a critical reappraisal in France during this period,{{sfn|Smith|2012|p=113}} as, according to Hawkins, Browning had achieved a "certain [[Edgar Allan Poe|Poe]]-esque stature among French intellectuals."{{sfn|Hawkins|2000|p=148}} Critic [[Derek Malcolm]] noted in 1999 that the film is "one of the masterpieces of [[baroque]] cinema," and a "damning antidote to the cult of physical perfection and an extraordinary tribute to the community of so-called freaks who made up its cast."<ref name=malcolm>{{cite news|date=April 15, 1999|author-link=Derek Malcolm|last=Malcolm|first=Derek|title=Tod Browning: Freaks|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/1999/apr/15/derekmalcolmscenturyoffilm.derekmalcolm|work=[[The Guardian]]|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200215004119/https://www.theguardian.com/film/1999/apr/15/derekmalcolmscenturyoffilm.derekmalcolm|archive-date=February 15, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1994, ''Freaks'' was selected for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]], which preserves "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" films.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |newspaper=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=January 15, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/about-this-program/mission/|title=Mission – National Film Preservation Board|newspaper=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=January 15, 2017}}</ref> Film scholar Jennifer Peterson cites ''Freaks'' as one of the 50 most important American films ever made.{{sfn|Peterson|2009|pages=36–37}} In a 2018 retrospective on Browning's career, Martyn Conterio of the [[British Film Institute]] assesses the film as "best approached with a fuller understanding of Browning's work, specifically, the director's emotionally complicated interest in human abnormality and the severely disabled," and considers it among Browning's films that "are pioneering and boundary-pushing, amounting to repeat attacks on Hollywood's standardised images of beauty and glamour."<ref>{{cite news|work=[[British Film Institute]]|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/where-begin-tod-browning|title=Where to begin with Tod Browning|date=July 12, 2018|last=Conterio|first=Martyn|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200330201125/https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/where-begin-tod-browning|archive-date=March 30, 2020}}</ref> It is also listed in the film reference book ''[[1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die]]'', which says "No mere plot summary can do justice to this alarming yet profound movie, which truly must be seen to be believed. It is a supreme oddity (freak?) of world cinema considered by many to be the most remarkable film in the career of a director whose credits include the original version of ''[[Dracula (1931 English-language film)|Dracula]]'' (1931)."{{sfn|Scheider|2013|p=99}}

Several sequences in the film have been noted for their lasting cultural impact, particularly the freaks' climactic revenge sequence, which was ranked 15th on [[Bravo (US TV channel)|Bravo TV]]'s list of the [[100 Scariest Movie Moments]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.filmsite.org/scariestscenes8.html|work=[[Filmsite.org]]|publisher=[[AMC Networks]]|last=Dirks|first=Tim|title=Greatest Scariest Movie Moments and Scenes: F|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415024610/http://www.filmsite.org/scariestscenes8.html|archive-date=April 15, 2013}}</ref> The banquet sequence in which the freaks chant "We accept her, we accept her, one of us" has also been noted, with Mike D'Angelo of ''[[The A.V. Club]]'' describing it as "the film's greatest cultural legacy...&nbsp; "One of us, one of us, one of us" reliably gets trotted out in situations involving an individual being forced to conform by the masses—I can recall seeing homages on both ''[[The Simpsons]]'' and ''[[South Park]]'', and there are probably dozens of others out there."<ref>{{cite web|work=[[The A.V. Club]]|last=D'Angelo|first=Mike|date=March 29, 2010|url=https://www.avclub.com/freaks-1798219485|title=Freaks|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191103130759/https://film.avclub.com/freaks-1798219485|archive-date=November 3, 2019}}</ref>

''Freaks'' has inspired two unofficial remakes: ''[[She Freak]]'' (1967) and ''[[Freakshow (film)|Freakshow]]'' (2007).<ref name=freaksfilmsite/>{{sfn|Senn|2015|p=138}} It also served as a major inspiration for the fourth season of the television series ''[[American Horror Story]]'', titled ''[[American Horror Story: Freak Show|Freak Show]]'' (2014–2015).<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|url=https://ew.com/article/2014/09/15/american-horror-story-freak-show-ryan-murphy/|date=September 15, 2014|title=Ryan Murphy on 'Freak Show': 'This season, once you die, you're dead'|last=Stack|first=Tim|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112070623/https://ew.com/article/2014/09/15/american-horror-story-freak-show-ryan-murphy/|archive-date=January 12, 2020}}</ref> ''Freaks'' was adapted into a 1992 comic book series, published by [[Fantagraphics]], written by [[Jim Woodring]] and illustrated by [[Francisco Solano López (comics)|Francisco Solano Lopez]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comicbookdb.com/title.php?ID=21728|work=The Comic Book Database|title=Freaks (1992)|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022161913/http://www.comicbookdb.com/title.php?ID=21728|archive-date=October 22, 2013}}</ref>