A one of a kind SPOILERS AHEAD In a traveling circus a midget Hans (Henry Earles) is in love with a trapezze artist Cleopatra (Olga Baclanova).She desn't take him seriously and teases him while seeing the strong man Hercules (Henry Victor) on the side.The she discovers Hans is set to inherit a fortune.She and Hercules decide she'll marry Hans, poison him and get the money.All the other freaks find out and, on a dark and stormy night, extract a terrible revenge. Still potent pre-Code film features real-life freaks in the cast.At first you're fascinated (and repelled) by them, but it's incredible how quickly they become sympathetic, likable characters.2/3 of the film introduces them and their stories and you become accustomed to them.The film shows real compassion for them.But, at the end, the freaks come across as monsters and it totally destroys the sympathy we had for them.Still, the ending is among the scariest in motion picture history. The direction by Tod Browning is OK--nothing special.The acting varies wildlyBaclanova, Wallace Ford and Leila Hyams (as a nice "normal" couple) are very good.Victor is OK.As for the "freaks"--well, they're no actors.Earles is pretty bad--his high-pitched voice makes most of his dialogue incomprehensible and his attempts at emoting are painful to watch.The others are just so-so, but then, they weren't hired for their acting. The film is short (64 minutes) and, in its day, was considered shocking and a huge bomb.The original cut ran 90 minutes but MGM recut it after a disasterous sneak preview.Unfortunately, no prints of the original exist.It was even banned in Britain for 31 years!Now it's considered a horror classic.It isn't really scary until the last 20 minutes and then it turns into real nightmare material.The wedding feast is another highlight. Worth catching--a must-see for horror fans.