Co-directed by and starring Alex Winter (“The Lost Boys”, “Death Wish 3”), “Freaked” is a truly outrageously bizarre comedy film that seems to blend “The Island Of Dr. Moreau” with “The Toxic Avenger” and “Monty Python”. It was a massive flop when it was released and the studio hated it because it was so ‘weird’.

Ricky Coogan (Winter) is a famous actor that is travelling to the fictious South American country of San Flan to promote a dangerous fertiliser. However, he ends up at a freak show run by a mad man (Randy Quaid “Independence Day”) that likes to turn visitors into strange monsters. Now Ricky and his fellow mutants must find a way to escape.

Alex Winter was clearly involved in a lot of aspects of this film and he is okay as the star. He spends a lot of the time with a lot of his body mutated into a gruesome sight. Randy Quaid is quite good as the villain. I also like William Sadler (“Die Hard 2: Die Harder”) as the head of Everything Except Shoes, an evil corporation. The other mutants include a sock puppet man (Bobcat Goldthwait “Scrooged”) and Mr. T from “The A-Team” plays a bearded lady. Keanu Reeves (“The Matrix”) has an uncredited role as Ortiz the Dog Boy and he apparently got a million dollars. Brooke Shields (“The Blue Lagoon”) is quite funny. There also some giant Rastafarian eyeballs with guns that chase the mutants. The special effects are phenomenal for the different characters.

The special effects are really great and there are plenty of hilarious moments throughout the movie. However, there is no denying that it remains a confusing mess. There are so many jokes in this film and a lot of them do sadly fall flat. The plot is rather weak and it just seems to be little more than an excuse for lots of crazy monster effects.