this is a pretty neat inside look at the lives of the people who make their livings as human sideshows. there is a lot of archive footage of the more famous human oddities, and there are interviews with the people that knew them. the movie also traces the roles of human oddities back through time. the film also uncovers which acts were usually real and which ones were usually fake. there is some interesting concepts, like the "tattooed man" who was at times looked down upon by the other sideshow acts because he wasn't born tattooed. but, the film also displays some of the triumphs of the freaks, like zip, the pinhead.

"Freaks Uncensored" is a really great film. I saw it years back when I lived in New York, at the Anthology Film Archives in lower Manhattan. I had to wait in the pouring rain and got a standing room ticket. The people clapped like crazy at the end because the film was really inspiring. Some people there, who had expected to see a exploitative shock documentary, might have been disappointed because this film was so "real" and not just made to shock (Although it is often very shocking.) I just bought the DVD and wasn't disappointed watching it for the second time. As a matter of fact the movie moves so fast, it was great stopping it so I could make some popcorn. ome people might have wondered why the leper footage was in the movie, but, even though it departed from the sideshow theme, I liked the filmmakers' showing the audience that freakdom is often a serious medical issue.