Out this Friday for all you slasher fans is Freaky from director Christopher Landon. This film stars Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton in a unique double act.
Freaky is a slasher with a unique twist on the genre as the film follows the Butcher of Blissfield (Vaughn) as he lays siege to the citizens of Blissfield. Unfortunately for him, he finds a cursed dagger and when he plunges it into his latest victim Millie (Newton) something unexpected happens, the two swap bodies. That’s right folks Freaky has a unique place in the horror genre. I can’t think of another body swap horror so when this happened I was excited. The main reason is the films starts out quite generically.
The butcher kills a bunch of wayward teens. We are introduced to his skills as well as what we can expect from this film. The film then cuts to Millie. Her life is difficult, she recently lost her father and her family are dealing with the trauma in their own ways. Her mother is a mess and her sister has retreated into work. Not only that her school life is full of the usual tropes of a teen drama. She likes a boy who may not even know she exists. She has random bullies picking on her and she isn’t confident in any aspect of her life. The only element that is positive in her life is her two best friends. So when the butcher enters the scene and the body swap happens it is a brilliant change of pace.
Freaky in design, fun in execution
Any fans of Happy Death Day or Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse will be happy to know Christopher Landon is on top form here. His balance of comedy and gore is impressive. I wouldn’t say Freaky is in any way scary but the gore is great and the comedy is brilliant.
Especially from Vaughn because he is surprisingly convincing as a seventeen/eighteen-year-old girl. He even has the run down. I loved his back and forth with all the characters and his comedy timing is on point. With regards to Newton, she continues to prove she is a talent to watch out for. From Supernatural to Detective Pikachu it’s been great watching her grow as an actor and seeing her as this focused petit powerhouse with murder in her eyes.
There are issues though which are mainly because the film falls into the tropes it makes fun of. When Vaughn is the butcher he is unstoppable, he walks but always catches up to his victims, and he’s insanely strong. Not only that the film follows the serial killer trope that Halloween and Friday the 13th have made infamous in the execution of its third act. Also, in my opinion, there isn’t enough of a body count. If you’re going to go with this concept of a monster inside a mouse go for guts. I’m not saying the numbers are low but they could have been a lot higher.
The film also plays with how it’s not important on what is on the outside but what is inside that matters and it sticks the landing more convincingly than other films that try to. It’s commendable and how it’s conveyed in the film is genuinely surprising.
Freaky is a brilliant and unexpected film that will be a highlight for anyone who sees it when it arrives in cinemas this Friday. Check it out and be sure to let us at Scannain how you got on.