Horror- comedy “Freaky” takes familiar formula to new places
Maybe no one does horrorcomedy as well as writer- director Christopher Landon.
In fact, it’s not surprising to learn that fellow screenwriter Michael Kennedy got the idea for “Freaky” — a horror twist on the bodyswap formula that powers the “Freaky Friday” movies — while watching
Landon’s highly enjoyable 2017 horror time- loop romp, “Happy Death Day.”
With the pair working on the script together and Landon in the director’s chair, “Freaky” is every bit the bloody blast you’d expect.
There’s one more man who deserves a ton of credit for this latest offering from thrill- forward production company BlumHouse working as well as it does: Vince Vaughn. Initially portraying a town’s resident masked serial killer, The Butcher, Vaughn shines after his character switches bodies with a teen girl he tries to kill.
( Vaughn portraying a very confused young woman in the body of a middle- aged man wandering around a high school while being sought by authorities? Yes, please.)
“Freaky” first introduces us to The Butcher, who makes relatively short, if not clean work, of four teens hanging out and drinking on Wednesday, the 11th day of the month. Along the way, into his possession comes an ancient dagger.
On Thursday, the 12th,
Kathryn Newton and Vince Vaughn, left, in a scene from “Freaky.”
we meet Millie ( Kathryn Newton), who lives with her mom, Coral ( Katie Finneran of “Why Women Kill”), and older sister Charlene ( Dana Drori of Hulu’s “High Fidelity”), who’s a cop. The three women still are coming to terms with the death a year ago of the man of the house, with the now- fatherless Millie being pretty reserved most of the time.
Millie has good friends in Nyla ( Celeste O’Connor, “Selah and the Spaces”) and Joshua ( Misha Oshevich, “The Goldfinch”) and a major crush in Booker ( Uriah Shelton, “Enter the Warriors Gate”).
Despite the slayings of the four students, the school is pressing on with homecoming weekend — “Homecoming is like Christmas around here; they’re not canceling it,” Joshua notes — and so Millie is in full beaver costume for her gig as the football team’s mascot for the big game that night. That leaves her less mobile after the game outside the deserted stadium when, while waiting for a ride home, The Butcher takes an interest in her.
Our heroine and villain scuffle, and the latter uses the dagger on the former as the skies above become angry. Millie suffers only a shoulder wound, though, and after Charlene is able to chase off The Butcher, Millie is able to give a police sketch artist his description.
Our anticipated switcheroo comes a few hours later, at midnight.
The Butcher awakens on Friday, the 13th, to the sight of a “Pitch Perfect 2” poster in the bedroom of a teen girl — and in said teen girl’s body. He, er, she doesn’t say much at breakfast — and his half- hearted attempts to kill Coral and Charlene are unsuccessful and go unnoticed.
Meanwhile, Millie wakes up, much older and very male, in the town’s creepy old mill, where she, er, he is immediately asked for drugs by a fellow weirdo willing to do anything for them. Thoroughly Manly Millie runs off hysterically.
It’s hysterical.
They both end up at school, The Butcher as a dolled- up, ruby- red- jacketwearing, murder- thirsty version of Millie — we are treated to the aggressive sound of “Don’t Trust Anyone!” by $ UicideBoy$ & Travis Barker as she confidently walks through the doors — and Millie taller and stronger and draped in The Butcher’s drab clothes.
We won’t spoil much about what happens from there, but both characters encounter others with whom Millie has a history, from her initially terrified friends to a mean girl to a bully to a teacher played by one- time “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” star Alan Ruck, with generally hilarious results.
As entertaining as “Freaky” is, it does have its issues. The script doesn’t support Ruck’s character’s extremely antagonistic attitude toward Millie, who doesn’t give off the problem- student vibe. More importantly, by the movie’s final stretch, “Freaky” has burned through much of its fun as it works to bring the two primaries back together for a switch back.
That said, the third act does offer one, um, interesting component as Vaughn’s Millie shares some heartfelt moments with Shelton’s Booker.
Those awesomely awkward scenes serve only to crystalize the brilliance of casting Vaughn (“Swingers,” “Old School,” “Wedding Crashers”) in this role. Watching him act like a female teen is an absolute joy.
While Newton (“Big Little Lies,” “Blockers”) can’t match Vaughn in terms of comedy chops, she certainly does her part to make “Freaky” fly when she’s portraying The Butcher.