Rated R for strong bloody horror violence, sexual content, and language throughout.
High school student Millie Kessler (Kathryn Newton) lives a fairly uneventful life in the little town of Blissfield. She’s bullied frequently by her classmates, but has two friends; the proudly gay Josh (Misha Osherovich) and the proudly PC Nyla (Celeste O’Connor). However, when Millie is left alone after her school’s homecoming game, she becomes the next target of the infamous Blissfield Butcher (Vince Vaughn). Even though he fails to stab her to death, she is definitely left scarred. But the nightmare isn’t over when Millie and the Butcher wake up the next morning in each others’ bodies. As it turns out, the dagger he used was a mystical artifact that switched their consciousnesses. With the Butcher taking full advantage of his new appearance, Millie must find a way to retrieve the dagger and switch back before the curse keeps the switch permanent and the Butcher turns her school into a bloodbath. Freaky, directed by Christopher Landon of the Happy Death Day series, represents another step up in his directorial craft. He has spent most of his career making horror/comedy hybrids that simultaneously pay homage to the slasher genre in various ways while also satirizing its various clichés. With every movie he makes, he gets closer and closer to achieving that perfect balance between the funny and the scary. And with this latest film, he has finally done. Freaky is one of the best combinations of horror and comedy in the surprisingly long history of the genre mashup. The humor is funny without ever feeling forced, and the horror elements are able to gel with the humor without feeling jarring or mean-spirited. It’s a difficult balancing act, and Landon is able to achieve it without ever faulting. The best examples of this are the performances of Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton. Both are tasked with portraying a mild-mannered teenage girl and a psychopathic serial killer. These are two very different personalities that would be a challenge for two actors to pull off at the same time. But Vaughn and Newton really become their characters and imbue them enough humor and terror to make them come alive without ever feeling campy. But praise should also be given to Misha Osherovich and Celeste O’Connor, who’s gay stereotype vs. PC stereotype generates some of the biggest laughs throughout the film. Their back and forth banter plays like a satire of our modern cultures’ obsession with societal sensitivities without ever feeling overly offensive. And since a lot of Blumhouse’s recent output has leaned heavily into embracing this divisive culture, it’s positively refreshing to see them poking fun at it for once. They also manage to spark a great chemistry with the two leads. Even after Vaughn and Newton trade places, the former slips perfectly into the budding relationship with Osherovich and O’Connor. Their interactions with him bubble with the same energy as their scenes with Newton, making it really feel like a whole other consciousness is inhabiting Vaughn’s body. The script, from Landon and Michael Kennedy, is so clever and so well written that it can be not to start crying from how hilarious it is. The writers take full advantage of the inherent ridiculousness of the story, but never just relies on it. It uses it as a springboard for extremely hilarious jokes and relatable situations along with creative kills that are manage to make you laugh and scream at the same time. Freaky is another hit for Blumhouse, and quite possibly the best film from writer/director Christopher Landon. It strikes the perfect balance of the horror and comedy genres that is very hard to achieve, and Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton turn in impressive performances playing two very different characters. Whether we get a sequel to this or another original project, I’m very excited to see what Landon does next.
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