Killer Body
FREAKY Vince Vaughn’s serial killer swaps bodies with a high schooler in this horror comedy.
I Bodyswap slasher movie Freaky can be neatly summed up in a single sentence: Freaky Friday meets Friday The 13th. So Teasers has an obvious question for writer/director Christopher Landon: how could he sleep on the punniest title of the year? “Very early in the process I said, ‘We have to call it Freaky Friday The 13th!’” Landon chuckles. “Then, of course, 9,000 lawsuits later – or at least the threat of them – we ended up with Freaky.”
Landon is rapidly establishing a reputation as a master of high-concept horror comedies having helmed the inspired Happy Death Day and its sequel. But he was still surprised when Vince Vaughn – his first choice for the physically formidable Blissfield Butcher – signed on for dual duties as the Jason-eque killer and meek high schooler Millie, who swap bodies after a cosmic incident involving an ancient Aztec dagger.
“Vince checked every conceivable box that I had,” Landon explains. “I knew that he could handle all the comedic stuff. And he’s been in some really intense films over the last few years, so I felt he would be very convincing as a murderer!”
Similarly, Detective Pikachu’s Kathryn Newton was cast less for her ability to
convincingly play a high schooler, than a psycho killer. “A lot of people don’t know that she’s actually a competitive golfer, so she has this very aggressive side to her,” Landon laughs. With tongue lodged firmly in cheek, Freaky winks and nods to classic ’80s slasher tropes – promiscuous teens, naturally,
myself to do the opposite, and be brave, otherwise I wouldn’t get out of the house.
We all go a little mad sometimes, haven’t you?
Oh my God, yes. A lot. Often! I think it’s important to not be scared of going mad. That’s the one thing I’ve really tried to deal with as I’ve gotten older. The sane response to this world we’re living in right now is to feel really at sea and confused. It would be weird not to. I think your brain can go as mental as it wants, and the main thing is to just not be scared when that happens. The monsters in your mind can live there quite happily as long as you don’t let them win.
Do you like what you do for a living, these things that you see?
Yes, I really like the things I see. There’s lots about my job that I don’t love, but that is the unadulterated thing I really do love about my job. If I say to you, “Don’t think about elephants,” what do you think about it? Elephants [laughs]. It’s a disarming question, quite sweet. Yeah, elephants. How could you not? Elephants are so cool. It feels good to think about elephants. So thank you!
What brings you here, after all this time?
I’m publicising a movie that I’m very proud of. I really, genuinely want to talk about this movie – and that’s often not the case! But I do think Relic is a movie that is made by a genuine auteur filmmaker. She told the story of someone losing someone they love to Alzheimer’s in a way that was just so audacious, radical, beautiful and entertaining – and funny at times – and absurd, horrifying and all the things that one really feels when one’s going through that oneself. I think she’s just the real deal. So that’s what brings me here after all this time! JF
ETA | 30 OCTOBER / RELIC OPENS IN CINEMAS LATER THIS MONTH.