Freaks (5 Stars)

This is the 29th film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

The film is very well made. It starts with a mystery, so for the first 20 minutes, maybe longer, it's unclear what's happening. As the mystery unfolds the Wow effect sets in.

In the near future there are people with special abilities. In Marvel Comics they would be called super-heroes, in this film they're called freaks. After a series of incidents all freaks have been rounded up and sent to a prison facility. One man has evaded the authorities and is bringing up his nine-year-old daughter. There are others on the loose, and if they're found they're shot.

The different freaks have different abilities. One can fly, one can turn invisible, one can stop time. The little girl herself is the most powerful, and she slowly has to discover her abilities.

"Freaks" is so close to Marvel's X-Men, the comics more than the films, that it borders on plagiarism. That's forgivable. Any good idea is worth re-using.