[neverending]

I enjoyed Freaks. But I don't know I would say it was particularly good, or important to horror. It may be a classic, because of the notoriety, which comes purely from the title, and the unique actors presented in a proper way (except, possibly, the last 15 mins; much of which was permanently cut). That is to say, if none of the actors were physically unique, and the characters were just trapeze, clowns and show girls, and it was released with the book title "Spurs", then we wouldn't be talking about it now.

But the actors are not trapeze artists, clowns and showgirls. They're pinheads, human torsos, living skeletons, dwarves... what the world at that time called Freaks, abominations, monsters. Amongst themselves they're normal, but the outside world fears them, and puts them on display to demean and control them. In the film their society is invaded and betrayed, and they exact their brutal revenge, and it's not the type of revenge you could find in a western. Their revenge is endemic to their place as society's freaks. They've been mocked and humiliated and have acted like the monsters outsiders believe them to be.

Freaks is not only good, it's a masterpiece, and an important early example of the sympathetic monster(s) abused by an uncaring, cruel society.