'Freaky' Review
R: strong bloody horror violence, sexual content, and language throughout
Runtime: 1 Hr and 34 Minutes
Production Companies: Blumhouse Productions, Divide/Conquer
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Director: Christopher Landon
Writers: Christopher Landon, Michael Kennedy
Cast: Vince Vaughn, Kathryn Newton, Katie Finneran, Celeste O'Connor, Alan Ruck
Release Date: November 13, 2020
After swapping bodies with a deranged serial killer, a young girl in high school discovers she has less than 24 hours before the change becomes permanent.
Writer/director Christopher Landon has been on a roll lately with his features by capitalizing on familiar 20th century plot devices but applying a horror twist to make them stand out on their own. His previous two features, Happy Death Day did exactly that by utilizing the time-loop device, most notably vitalized in Groundhog Day, in a slasher-comedy. Now we have his latest feature, Freaky, which uses the body-switch trope a la Freaky Friday in a slasher-comedy. If you are a fan of the Happy Death Day features, then you’re gonna love Freaky.
I can pretty much copy and paste my positive criticisms from those movies into this, for they both prosper from an energetic, dark, and campy tone that makes you constantly laugh through funny lines of dialogue (despite this being a hard R-rated slasher). Landon commits to the high school atmosphere it's set in as the narrative focuses on Milly, a timid, nerdy, teenager who is processing the grief of her late father and is constantly getting bullied by the mean girls and misogynistic football team jocks. Now, as she encounters the Blissfield Butcher and switches bodies with him, she must find a way to be assertive and take control of her life while trying to figure out how to literally take her life back. The humor is what you’d expect if you see any of his previous features. It’s totally campy and is constantly funny, with likable side characters who—albeit generic— share a fun dynamic with Kathryn Newton and Vince Vaughn, mostly the latter.
I find it admirable how his college set franchise is PG13 and this high school set flick is rated R, and unapologetically too. From the effective and gory cold open, Landon sets the stage exhibiting that he is set out to take advantage of his well earned R rating by delivering graphic over-the-top kills that are as silly as they are glorious. All the graphic fatalities are on a Mortal Kombat level. While the foreshadowing is a bit too obvious on how they are just going to get their just desserts, all the kills compensate because they are pretty cathartically fantastic and fun. There was one woodshop set piece that had me completely two faced in both horror and delight. It was duality at its finest.
While it is a Freaky Friday based premise (hence the title), so much of this is remescient of the 2002 comedy The Hot Chick, starring Rob Schneider and Rachel McAdams, but less contrived. Most of the film lies on the shoulder of Vince Vaughn portraying an intimidating, silent, killer and a teenage girl-and he kills it. As far as his history in comedies go, this is one of his best performances in years. He has such a great chemistry with his young co-stars and his delivery often had me cracking up. Granted, it’s not that far off from what Jack Black does in the Jumanji movies. Heck, it’s literally on par. Even some of the cringe humor works because you’re buying him being this conscious embodiment of Milly. Heck, even Kathryn Newton, who takes on most of the film as a silent killer, had me frightened. She really displays herself as a genuine threat that raises the tension throughout. She takes the term “killer queen” and does it literally. I would love to see her do more horror flicks as a killer, but with at least more character to her.
To continue on the previous sentiment, while Newton is great displaying her killer queen chops, you sort of wish there was more character to her when she becomes the Blissfield Butcher. All she does is have a wardrobe change and goes off murdering everyone who once bullied her and... that’s it. It makes you question how come this mid-40s male serial killer have a significant fashion sense? While the scenes of the female Butcher facing off against male Milly are exciting, she never really comes across as an enticing enough threat. It’s played on the equivalent of the concept of “what if we put Jason-like killer in the body of a teenage girl?”
I commend Landon for attempting to add dimension to Milly’s arc and her relationship with her family, through focusing on a theme of grief, which is effective in its own right. When it comes towards the latter half of the film, you have really, genuinely touching character moments, that are well thought out and delivered. That being said, I can’t help but feel how that this feels so much like a retread, especially after how he dealt with the same exact theme in Happy Death Day 2U, when Tree had to confront her grief over her deceased mother. It’s kind of like how the first three LEGO Movies were so entirely focused on the theme of daddy issues leading them to become less effective with each entry. Is Christopher Landon going through something? Does he need a hug? I don’t want to sound insensitive by any means, but, man. As I said, it’s a great addition to Milly’s character arc and is really well executed, but I can’t help but feel like it’s just a formulaic retread.
All in all, Freaky sets out exactly what it intends to do and delivers a serviceable execution. It’s one of those movies that knows where it aims and hits directly on its target. It’s not quite a bullseye, but clearly, you know it wasn’t going for it in the first place. It’s an entertainingly campy romp that will provide nothing but a killer time for horror fans. It’s nothing memorable (well, maybe the kills will be)but it’s still entertaining enough to recommend.
