Did Fox Just Miss the Joke on ‘Freaked’?

In Hollywood, it’s no accident that “youth market” and “good taste” are rarely uttered in the same breath. From “Porky’s” to “Animal House” and “Wayne’s World,” successful adolescent movies have been distinguished largely by their unrelenting reliance on jock humor.

But 20th Century Fox may have missed the joke in the case of “Freaked,” a low-budget comedy about an obnoxious TV actor who gets trapped in a South American mutant colony. The filmmakers claim that Fox freaked out at the idea of being associated with “Freaked” after Chairman Joe Roth, who championed the off-center comedy in the early going, was replaced by Peter Chernin.

The studio walked away from the movie after limited runs in Los Angeles and New York last fall, despite some favorable reviews in both the underground and mainstream press. Now it’s set for release on video, where films rarely fly without benefit of a big-screen buildup. Directors Alex Winter and Tom Stern, both 28, who have done everything short of peddling “Freaked” door-to-door, insist it could have succeeded if Fox had hung in longer.

“It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s a really fun comedy for the youth culture,” says Winter. “It kicks ‘Wayne’s World’s’ butt around the block, as far as I’m concerned.”

Fox denies that the change in management had anything to do with its treatment of “Freaked.” Executive Vice President Tom Sherak, who runs distribution, says audiences just didn’t go for it.

But many people still feel Fox missed the chance to snare some change from snickering adolescents everywhere. Winter is already known to that audience from his co-starring role in the “Bill & Ted” movies. His co-stars in “Freaked” include Randy Quaid, Brooke Shields, an unbilled Keanu Reeves and, in the most inspired piece of casting, Mr. T as the bearded lady.

While some reviewers branded it inane, “Freaked” got a respectable notice in the New York Times last fall. Several underground publications were even more enthusiastic, especially over its sophisticated special effects. And this week’s Entertainment Weekly gives the upcoming video an A-minus, calling it a “deliriously rude comedy.”

Winter and Stern brought “Freaked” to Fox in 1992, before Roth departed for Caravan Pictures. The writer-directors say Roth quickly grasped its warped point of view. Fox’s subsequent investment in the movie was minimal by Hollywood standards. It put up roughly half the $10-million production cost for domestic rights, with the rest coming from the foreign partners.

While it would have cost millions more to market the film to a national audience, producer Harry Ufland, whose other credits include “Night and the City,” says the “economics were such that no one could get hurt.” Ufland claims the film was “totally non-supported.”

Many people in Hollywood believe that Chernin orphaned “Freaked” because of an edict passed down by Fox Inc. Chairman Rupert Murdoch to focus on more mainstream-style movies. But Sherak says the studio gave “Freaked” every possible chance to succeed.

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“The film didn’t work,” Sherak says. “We tested the film. We showed it to audiences. We wanted it to work. But we couldn’t get an audience that wanted to come.”

Sources say the fate of “Freaked” may have been sealed at a disastrous test screening in the San Fernando Valley, where it was trashed by a young audience. Winter says the film was seen only in rough form--which rarely works for comedies. Co-director Stern says the crowd was composed of preteens and that the film needed a more delicate treatment.

The test audiences “were expecting ‘Bill & Ted 3,’ but it required a bit more eccentric taste,” Stern said. “We knew they would only give us a small release, but we didn’t know how small. They only made two prints of the film and no posters. Public awareness was basically nonexistent.”

Winter and Stern had hoped “Freaked” would launch their feature filmmaking careers, after their experimental MTV series, “The Idiot Box.” Since fall, they’ve vigilantly campaigned to have it seen--both by hand-carrying it to individual art house theaters around the country and by promoting it to film festivals--with the support of Sherak.

Their best hope now is that “Freaked” will gain a cult following. Both have already moved on to other, separate projects.

“The saddest thing is the pox that was put on our film, which I consider an artistic success,” Winter said. “Otherwise, it was the greatest experience of my life.”

Added Stern: “I feel like I’m a piece of steel being hardened by the hellacious flames of Hollywood. It’s prepared me for my next hellacious experience--which I’m actually already in.”

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Frans flap: Reports of Frans Afman’s absence from this year’s American Film Market appear to have been greatly exaggerated. After this column reported that he was said to be a no-show at last week’s gathering, several people have come forward to attest to Afman’s presence there.

The explanation seems to be that the colorful Dutch executive kept a lower profile this year. Afman, who was known as “the banker to the stars” when he worked for Credit Lyonnais, has shifted his operations to Amsterdam, where he is focusing on individual projects.