Freaky

With Happy Death Day, director/co-writer Christopher Landon playfully combined the slasher-mystery of Scream with the time-looping of Groundhog Day. Now with Freaky, he’s done the same for the body-swapping of Freaky Friday and the slasher-horror of Friday The 13th, with equally entertaining results.

Premise: When shy high school student Millie Kessler (Kathryn Newton) becomes the latest victim of a local urban legend, the Blissfield Butcher (Vince Vaughn), she unexpectedly swaps bodies with the aging killer, and only has 24 hours to put things right.

Review:

If you enjoyed either of the Happy Death Day films, then you probably already know what to expect from Freaky – a knowing, clever blend of comedy and horror, that plays with the tropes of both genres to great effect. But whereas the Happy Death Day films toyed with the “who’s behind the mask” mystery of Scream and combined it with the reliving-the-same-day time-loop premise of Groundhog Day, Freaky (or as it was originally going to be called, Freaky Friday The 13th, before legal issues allegedly put an end to that idea) plays with the unstoppable killer slasher-horror genre personified by the Halloween and Friday The 13th franchises, and generational-age-gap body-swap comedies like Freaky Friday and Vice Versa.

As a result, Freaky arguably suffers from some of the same limitations as the genres it is paying homage to, particularly the slasher-horror genre. In that genre, the pace can feel a bit slow when the killer isn’t actually, you know, killing anyone, which means that Freaky (like many other “genuine” slasher-horror films) does feel like it loses a bit of momentum in the middle section (which is arguably why many of the modern slasher films have adopted the Scream approach of introducing a murder-mystery element to hold the interest between the kills). But when Freaky does embrace the slasher-horror genre, it does so without holding back – the opening prelude in particular is as brutally inventive as anything you’ve seen in a slasher-horror, and although all of the violence retains the film’s dark sense of humour, that doesn’t make it any less gory.

“…the casting of Kathryn Newton & Vince Vaughn is a stroke of genius…”

But as effective and gorily entertaining as the horror elements are, Freaky’s main selling point is unquestionable the body-swap plot, and in this regard, the casting of Kathryn Newton and Vince Vaughn is a stroke of genius. Kathryn Newton has been steadily making an impressive name for herself on the small screen, but this is arguably her biggest film role to date. Her portrayal of Millie Kessler during the opening section of the film (pre-body-swap) does a good job of establishing her character, but in fairness, she doesn’t get a lot to work with, as Millie’s shy personality means that she is passive in almost all of her early scenes. But Kathryn Newton comes alive once she starts playing the Blissfield Butcher inhabiting Millie’s body, with an excellent performance that particularly showcases her non-verbal predatory movements, making her character feel like a stalking shark or a pacing tiger whenever she’s on screen.

Vince Vaughn, meanwhile, manages to stay the right side of all of the potential pitfalls of having a middle-aged man play a teenage girl, which is no mean feat. Never coming across as sleazy, patronising or clichéd, his performance as Millie in the Butcher’s body strikes all the right comedic notes, whether it’s playing her desperate attempts to persuade her friends that it’s really her, her awkward interactions with her high school crush, or just the physicality of playing a character who suddenly finds herself inhabiting a body that’s far bigger and stronger than her own (it’s sometimes easy to forget that Vaughn is an impressively intimidating 6’5”). Both Kathryn Newton and Vince Vaughn do a fantastic job of not only playing the body-swap for great comedic effect, but also of capturing the awkward physicality of characters trapped in the wrong bodies.

“…has fun with many of the tropes of the slasher-horror genre…”

As is perhaps the case in most slasher-horrors, the rest of the cast don’t have enough material to make a huge impression, especially as most of them are playing fairly archetypal characters. Out of Millie’s two best friends, Misha Osherovich gets more to do as Josh than Celeste O'Connor does as Nyla, but that’s in part because he’s also arguably the film’s main comic relief character too. Uriah Shelton, who plays Millie’s secret crush, also continues Christopher Landon’s trend for moving away from “alpha male” main characters, and the film embraces its diversity both onscreen and off-screen. Plus, it’s great to see acting legend Alan Ruck appears as one of Millie’s high school teachers.

The film also has fun with many of the tropes of the slasher-horror genre, with an early scene speculating whether the Blissfield Butcher urban legend began in the 70s or 90s, but either way, the concept that the killer (who is never named or humanised) has been at this for years and is now middle-aged, is an interesting twist on the usual unstoppable-killer premise.

“…balances the needs of both genres, so that the film is equally enjoyable on both levels…”

Overall, the film doesn’t feel quite as inventive as Happy Death Day (as arguably the Freaky Friday meets Friday The 13th premise doesn’t offer quite as many opportunities as the Scream meets Groundhog Day premise did), and not all of the ideas land (particularly the backstory regarding Millie’s family life, which never feels as real as Tree’s personal backstory in Happy Death Day) – but these are relatively minor quibbles.

What Freaky does manage to do is skilfully balance the needs of both the body-swap comedy and the slasher-horror genres, so that the film is equally enjoyable on both levels. Based on his last three films, it definitely seems that Christopher Landon has a really talent for combining the comedy and horror genres in a way that doesn’t compromise either in favour of the other, which is s very tricky balancing act to pull off.