It really has been a good year for horror. In a time where the future of cinemas are extremely unsure, one genre has been consistently pushing out films to the big screens and on-demand. Without the clutter and competition in the multiplex, 2020 has allowed for smaller, lower-budget horror fare to be seen by bigger and bigger audiences. The latest scare-fest Freaky, starring Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newtown, hails from fear factory production studio Blumhouse and is an extremely unexpected and excellent little slasher film; full of heart, laughs and gore in equal measures. Directed by Chris Landon, who helmed the similar horror-comedy Happy Death Day films, Freaky is a far more successful mash-up of the genres; chock-full of inventive kills, creepy scares and some hilarious body-swapping antics.
In a riff on the classic Freaky Friday formula, we follow Millie (Newton), an ordinary, if somewhat dorky girl who is bullied at school and has a hard time expressing her feelings for her crush Booker (Uriah Shelton). Millie’s home life is a mess due to the recent passing of her father and the constant bickering between sister Charlene (Dana Drori) and their mother (Katie Finneran) that has sprung up as a result. When Millie is left stranded at a local football stadium, she falls prey to local serial killer The Blissfield Butcher (Vaughn), an encounter that involves a magical dagger which causes the Butcher and Millie to switch bodies. Now a wanted criminal, Millie (in Vaughn’s body) must enlist the help of her two friends Josh (Misha Osherovich) and Nyla (Celeste O’Connor) to track down the killer impersonating her and reverse the curse before midnight strikes and she is stuck as the feared felon forever.
Freaky is an extremely fun horror film and it knows it. Landon wisely steers clear of playing the situation straight and has a lot of fun with the material in meta ways, with many obvious homages to Scream – perhaps the greatest slasher film of all time. While it doesn’t hit that level in terms of originality as the plot plays out pretty much exactly the way you would expect, the film keeps you engaged with the hilarious and surprisingly endless novelty of Vince Vaughn playing a teenage girl. He is truly excellent here, unexpectedly menacing and imposing as the Blissfield Butcher and equally charming and funny when embodying Millie’s character. There’s something so off-putting yet bizarrely entertaining about Vince Vaughn twerking and that general tone and charm of the character continues right to the very end. When he is in full serial killer mode, the choice has been made to keep Vaughn silent, and it works wonders towards making the traditionally comedic actor appear genuinely terrifying. An opening murder spree sets up the character’s viciousness and bloodlust early on and that transitions into the other excellent performance of the film belonging to Kathryn Newton.
Newton’s role is smaller in terms of screen-time sure – as once the switch happens we don’t spend nearly as much time with her during her silent stalking of fellow student – but she is no less impressive. Once the Butcher becomes accustomed to his new body, he begins to view the students of the school as his own personal buffet of potential murder victims and Newton goes to town in these scenes, hamming it up where necessary but maintaining that cold, lifeless gaze that Vaughn originated. Her role too gets a surprising amount of laughs as she constantly finds herself up against larger victims and, not fully coming to terms that she is now a five-foot teenage girl as opposed to the hulking Vince Vaughn, is thrown around like a rag doll again and again to hilarious effect. Thankfully this leads to more inventive kills, as Newton’s killer character can’t rely on brute strength to eliminate her victims. There are some truly great kills in Freaky that rival the great slasher films, hell some of them rival the ridiculously over-the-top Final Destination films, with one early kill in particular giving me an unexpected fear of the murderous uses for a wine bottle (trust me you won’t guess it).
Where the film falls down slightly is in its plot. There are some loose rules given to the body switching antics that don’t really make sense and it is never explained where these rules actually come from except for a lazily thrown in Google search. Surely if your life depended on it, you could do a bit more research than Google? There are also a few plot-holes here and there that the film asks you to look past in order to progress the plot, but these are easy to forgive when the film is as fun as Freaky is. At this point, plot holes that allow the killer to continue to wreak havoc seem to be a staple of the slasher genre and at least these ones come with some pretty hilarious gags.
These gags are generally led by the duo of Osherovich and O’Connor as Millie’s friends Josh and Nyla. The chemistry and banter between the two is great and crackles with youthful energy. Josh in particular gets some of the best lines in the film and will have you howling with laughter almost as much as Newton and Vaughn’s antics. While Josh and Nyla are fun characters, they aren’t particularly well developed, with no character development other than the fact that they are best friends with Millie. The heart of the film lies in the relationship between Millie, her sister Charlene and their mother in coming to terms with their different approaches to the death of the family’s patriarch. Where Charlene has thrown herself into her work, Millie has become more introverted and their mother has become smothering to Millie by day and a low level alcoholic by night. The chemistry of the trio is rock solid and there are some surprisingly deep and touching moments between Finneran’s matriarch and Vaughn’s Millie that really help to deepen Millie’s character and your investment in her survival.
Who would have thought that a body-switching horror film starring Vince Vaughn as a teenage girl would be one of the most fun horror films of the year? I sure didn’t but hey its 2020, anything can happen. Freaky is an absolute delight, a manic little slice of pulpy slasher madness with excellent performances, interesting characters and side-splitting humour filled with some truly inventive kill scenes and genuine heart. With most films of other genres choosing to skip the cinema this year, the door is open for horror to step up and lead the charge and Freaky does just that, delivering one of the most enjoyable theatre-going experiences you can have right now – if you’re willing to brave a trip to the cinemas and live with the sight of Vince Vaughn twerking burnt into your retinas.
Freaky stars Vince Vaughn, Kathryn Newton, Misha Osherovich, Celeste O’Connor, Dana Drori, Katie Finneran, Uriah Shelton & Alan Ruck – In cinemas now.