By: Teah Henry

‘Freaked’ is a 1993 comedy written and directed by Alex Winter and Tom Stern. It stars Alex Winter as smug celebrity Ricky Coogin, who is hired by the company Everything Except Shoes, or E.E.S. for short, as a spokesperson to speak against accusations that the company is producing a harmful toxic waste. Sent to South America by E.E.S., Ricky and two of his friends end up taking a detour to visit a freak show, only to find that it’s run by a mad scientist who kidnaps them and turns them into freaks for his show. 

The movie was originally an ‘Evil Dead’ style horror movie starring the band Butthole Surfers. After some rewrites, it became a surrealist comedy more in line with the directors’ MTV show, ‘The Idiot Box’.

When they pitched the film to Fox, Joe Roth was the studio head, and he gave them twelve million dollars as a budget. Unfortunately, Roth would be fired during ‘Freaked’ being filmed, and was replaced by Peter Chernin, who did not like the film and cut the budget.

‘Freaked’ made only $30,000 dollars in theaters, mostly due to the cutting down Chernin and Fox did to the budget and publicity. 

It’s a shame the movie didn’t do well at its release, because it’s one of the most creative comedies out there. It feels like it easily could have become a classic alongside other movies such as ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’.

It’s surreal humor features jokes where an outhouse is humongous on the inside, or how the villain character can’t hear a loud crash but can hear a styrofoam cup falling to the floor. It never misses a beat with the laughs, and the script is actually pretty smart with some jokes being cleverly set up in the beginning of the movie, only for the punchline to appear near the end. 

If the humor isn’t your thing, its special effects are worth watching the movie for on their own. Done by three different companies, the effects in ‘Freaked’ create an ensemble of people turned into freaks such as a human worm and a man with a nose bigger than his face. It’s all done incredibly well, especially the make-up for Ricky Coogin, once he’s turned into a half-human, half-beast. It was even nominated for a Saturn Award for best make-up. 

Despite its troubled release, ‘Freaked’ has become somewhat of a cult hit. It’s not available anywhere to watch officially, but the movie has been uploaded on YouTube in its entirety and has nearly one million views. Most people that have seen it agree that it’s a good movie while being very, very weird. 

‘Freaked’ is a look at how films and their creators can get shortchanged by a big studio, but luckily, some films are able to gain a decent fan base based simply on the quality of the movie alone. If you need a movie to watch, ‘Freaked’ is a good one to check out. 

By: Mohamed Ahmed 

‘Death Note’. Have you heard of if?

No. All right then, this article is meant to see if you would like ‘Death Note’. 

‘Death Note’ is an anime/manga series that aired back in 2006. It was a very successful manga and had a live action based of the anime adaptation. 

The story of ‘Death Note’ revolves around a high school student named Light Yagami. He lives a decent life, his dad is a cop and makes enough to support him and his family. He was a genius and school was a breeze.

One day, when he looked out the window, he saw a book fall from the sky. That was when he discovered the Death Note.

I won’t explain the terms or conditions, but in the end, he makes a deal with a shinigami, otherwise known as a god of death in Japanese folklore. Know that shinigami are not the grim reaper or Satan. They’re are not pure evil or good either. 

Then he murders hundreds of criminals before catching the eye of L, the world’s best detective. L proceeds to narrow down the suspects of who Kira.(Light’s nickname) is.

The rest of the show is a mind game where Light has to find ways to prove that he is not Kira, and the extreme lengths he goes to hide that he is a mass murderer.

The characters in this show aren’t one dimensional and are based in reality. They have problems and other things going on in their life. They have issues, priorities, and they all come together to make the story realistic and feel like reality. For example, the police chief is shown to have other responsibilities along with his police work that focuses on Kira. His whole life, and story line, isn’t just connected to the Kira case.

The thing that makes ‘Death Note’ so intriguing is the moral dilemmas in the show. There are naive, sadistic, and morally ambiguous characters.

To what extent is it okay to go to catch a criminal? How much are you willing to sacrifice for the greater good?

Human nature, morality, and greed are major themes in ‘Death Note’. 

If you like mind games, thrillers and supernatural elements in your story, then just give ‘Death Note’ a chance.

By: Joxery Mezen Camacho

While I was browsing Netflix, the show ‘100 Humans’ came up.

The slogan “Life’s Questions. Answered.” is what compelled me to click on it and see what the show is about.

The Netflix synopsis states that the show has humans of different backgrounds partake in a multitude of experiments that explore different aspects of life. This easily convinced me to watch it because of my heavy interest in psychology. 

The show looked at people’s difference in abilities and in perspectives. The whole thing is set out to be a social experiment. The experiments done on these 100 humans were all quite interesting, and the reasoning behind most of them did make me interested in watching to the end to find out the results. However, at times the experiments didn’t use all of the 100 humans available which made their end results to be less accurate. 

I would also say that 100 humans doesn’t mean 100% accuracy on the end results, since there are over 7 billion people living in this world. Nevertheless, the topics and questions that are brought up do make one question and reflect what their own perspectives are and what society’s perspectives are. The show did this by bringing in people who are knowledgeable about the different topics mentioned to further speak about them and explain what the results meant, and why those were the results they arrived at. 

The experiments done were also quite interesting. Many of them were funny, and some took a more serious approach. But overall, they were all light-hearted.

The show went through a few experiments each episode and would switch off from each as everything went on. I didn’t mind the approach and thought it worked well because it left little room for boredom of a question. 

The show was funny and interesting and the episodes were about half an hour each. And while the show and experiments weren’t all that accurate, and could’ve probably been done better, I liked most of the questions they posed and how they made me think and reflect on the experiment results.

I’d rate this show a 9/10. 

‘Bachelor’ host Chris Harrison came under fire after an interview with Rachel Lindsay, on ‘The Extra’, defending one of the contestants, Rachel Kirkconnel’s racist past. Kirkconnell was photographed dressed as a Native American at a South Antebellum Plantation-themed fraternity formal in 2018, she liked racist posts, and shared QAnon conspiracy theories (that falsely claimed that former President Trump is facing down a shadowy cabal of Democratic pedophiles) online.

The Antebellum period was from the late 18th century until the start of the American Civil War, in 1861. During those years, societal standards were created establishing ideals of Southern white manhood and womanhood. The Antebellum parties of the Old South are celebrations of the Antebellum-era and the Confederacy. Attending these parties, or throwing one, is symbolizing and paying respect to the Confederate South and the violent racism of that era.

Here is the interaction between Harrison and Lindsay on ‘The Extra’ about the photos of Kirkconnell: 

Harrison: “Well, Rachel, is it a good look in 2018? Or, is it not a good look in 2021? Because there’s a big difference.”

Linsay: “It’s not a good look ever.” She added, “If I went to that party, what would I represent at that party?”

Harrison: “You’re 100 percent right in 2021. That was not the case in 2018. And again, I’m not defending Rachael. I just know that I don’t know, 50 million people did that in 2018. That was the type of party that a lot of people went to. And again, I’m not defending it. I didn’t go to it.”

After facing criticism about his comments. Harrison’s took to Twitter and Instagram the following day posting: 

“To my Bachelor Nation family — I will always own a mistake when I make one, so I am here to extend a sincere apology. I  have this incredible platform to speak about love, and yesterday I took a stance on topics about which I should have been better informed.”

The following day, after weeks of being silent, Kirkconnell apologized on her Instagram for not recognizing “how offensive and racist” her actions were. She wrote:

“I am sorry to the communities and individuals that my actions harmed and offended. I am ashamed of my lack of education, but it is no one’s responsibility to educate me”, She wrote, “If you are a person who doesn’t understand the offense in question, I urge you to learn from my mistakes and encourage you to use them as a teachable moment.”

The female contestants on the current season, the most diverse group of contestants in the franchise’s history, took a stand in support of Lindsay and condemned the defense of racism. 

“We are the women of ‘Bachelor’ Season 25,” the women posted. “Twenty-five women who identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) were cast on this historic season that was meant to represent change. We are deeply disappointed and want to make it clear that we denounce any defense of racism. Rachel Lindsay continued to advocate with grace” they added, “We stand with her, we hear her, and we advocate for change alongside her.”

After the backlash from Harrison’s interview, he announced in an Instagram and Twitter post that he will be stepping aside for a while to get educated on a more profound and productive level, and that also, he will not join the “After the Final Rose” special.

In the interview Harrison did with Lindsay, I think what he wanted was for everyone to give Kirkconnell a chance to speak out, but then he went on to defend her racist actions and said since it was back in 2018 her actions should be excused. Attending an Antebellum party is not a good look ever, and being in attendance at this kind of party is offensive and racist, even if it was 5 years ago.

Even though I think Kirkconnell’s apology was sincere, white people in her comments are excusing her behavior saying “You did nothing wrong” and that Lindsay is the one who should be apologizing. Due to the negative and racist messages that have been sent to Lindsay, the one who did Harrison interview, she has had to delete her Instagram.

When someone apologizes for their racist actions, or for saying the N-word, white people should not decide what was racist or accept the apology; the apology is not for you. Kirkconnell didn’t offend you, and instead of Kirkconnell being held accountable for her actions, Lindsay had to delete her Instagram because of the racist messages she received.

By: Joxery Mezen Camacho

“Then we see the racism that we’re looking at today, we see the misogyny, homophobia and all that. And that’s because our histories are not being told, they are not included in our school books. So then what happens is that people will  grow up ignorant of the contributions of people of color or of women or of the LGBT community, of labor unions, etc. We have this abysmal ignorance of women inside America. I think that it’s not only important for women, but it’s important for our  whole society that our stories be told and that our victories and our achievements can be recorded in history. “ – Dolores Huerta, Huffington Post

Dolores Huerta has spent most of her life being an activist; however, many don’t know who she is or find her to be a subordinate when compared to her work partner, Cesar Chavez. This documentary shows her life as a dedicated activist and the problems she had to face because of it. 

The documentary mainly focuses on her time spent making change for farm workers through the Farmworkers Movement in the 1960’s. However, it begins retelling her earlier years of when she wasn’t an activist. We’re shown the inequality and the state of the society she lived in. The documentary captures it well. It also captures her want to do something about it by showing her actions and everything she has to sacrifice. 

It goes on to further show her sacrifices and struggles in her work as an activist through videos. Some showed the sexism she faced and the difficulties that came with being a single mother. Some of her children are also in the documentary, and they speak of their own perspectives and thoughts. This helped when trying to understand the struggles that come with the dedication of activism. 

The documentary pays careful attention to the outside things that impacted Huerta’s work, such as the people who worked around her and those that she met through her work. We see her grow as an activist and as a person who becomes more confident. 

Once the end of the documentary is near, there is a focus on who Huerta has become and what she has accomplished, as well as her own opinions on the way she has lived her life. 

Overall, the documentary uses a good mix of interviews of people in Huerta’s life, historians, past interview clips, and commentary in order to get her story across. It was able to captivate my interest and had many scenes where I felt as though I was actually there experiencing the events unfolding.

I give the documentary a 10/10 and strongly recommend it for its ability to show different perspectives while keeping everything interesting and informative. 

I believe that this documentary is important because it spreads the importance of who Dolores Huerta is, giving her the credit she deserves. 

By: Hayden Fitzsimons

Scorsese’s 2006 film, ‘The Departed’, was a hit when it came out and maintained its popularity to this day for a very good reason.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Billy Costigan, an intelligent police academy reject, and Matt Damon plays Colin Sullivan, an academy graduate who quickly climbed the ranks to sergeant. Billy becomes an undercover cop in crime boss Costello’s, played by Jack Nicholson, Irish mafia. However, Sullivan is doing the exact inverse as he acts as a rat for Costello, within the Massachusetts State Police. From here, their paths repeatedly cross and both spiral deeper and deeper into an ever-increasingly unstable rivalry.

Scorsese is able to lead his cast through a winding story headed by Jack Nicholson’s incredible performance as a purely evil and steely villain. Matt Damon and DiCaprio deserve just as much praise as they both perform excellently in two extremely tense roles.

As the film continues, an initially somewhat regular plot grows complex as both main characters continually are put in situations where they seemingly have no way out, yet always come out on top. This sort of plot allows the entertainment value of the film to increase and increase seemingly without end, at least until the film itself ends.

The film from the very beginning demands the viewer’s attention, as it is very hard to not be glued to the screen throughout the entirety of the film. In a constantly changing plot, the viewer is able to find some stability in ‘The Departed’s’ characters. All of the important figures remain as they were in the beginning, as the only real differences in how they act are simply their increasing suspicion and panic as their worlds’ walls inch closer and closer.

‘The Departed’ seems predictable enough, however the viewer often has enough time to predict what happens next. In a lesser film, the viewer would be able to discern the next story beat, yet in  ‘The Departed’ it’s almost as if it plays too fast for your brain, and you yourself are dragged along by the enigmatic trio.

When it comes to predictability, if you were able to see the ending’s multiple shocking turns coming, I’d have to say that you’d be a genius. If there is ever a movie that manages to take the film trope of two or more characters’ individual lives eventually entangling, it’s ‘The Departed’.