You’re gonna freak out with Gruesome’s exclusive clip from co-writer/director Gabriele Mainetti’s wild dark fantasy Freaks Out, which launches the 21st edition of Open Roads: New Italian Cinema at NYC’s Lincoln Center (playing the Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street). The fest runs June 9 to 15 and will screen 15 acclaimed Italian films in all.
Freaks Out is an audacious, over-the-top historical fantasy set in 1943 during World War II. A group of circus “freaks” with unusual abilities are on the lam from a demented, 12-fingered Nazi pianist. The Fascist madman has prophesized Hitler’s suicide and seeks to harness the freaks’ offbeat powers to prevent the end of the war. Like Mainetti’sprevious film, 2015’s quirky superhero yarn They Call Me Jeeg, Freaks Out has been a smash on the international festival circuit. The movie won the Leoncino d’Oro award at the 78th Venice Film Festival and took home six 2022 David di Donatello Awards (Italy’s Oscars). Freaks Out will play Open Roads on June 9 with Mainetti attending for a Q&A. See here for an interview with the director. For more info on the screening and series, go here filmlinc.org.
Check out my exclusive interview with director Gabriele Mainetti here.
