Freaky

This review may contain spoilers!

 

This is a very fun blend of the intense gore that comes from a slasher film and the camp comedy that body swap features tend to excel at. I would give Freaky a 6.5/10.

 

Freaky is your classic slasher film; quiet, reserved teenage girl is stalked and attacked by the local serial killer. The catch? A mystical blade wielded by the unsuspecting murderer leads to the victim and killer switching bodies come the following morning. Now there is a race against time for Millie to get her body back before the exchange becomes permanent. What I enjoyed so much about this film was that it knew exactly how to balance out its concept. Freaky opens with a classic teenage party slowly being turned to a slaughter as the audience becomes introduced to the killer, there are a number of homages already to beloved slasher films just in these few minutes alone. As the film goes along these moments of intense violence become far more tense once the killer has assumed Millie's form; the antagonist is suddenly far more vulnerable and has to get rather desperate and creative to enact his grisly goals. The light tone of the body swap really fits the high school characters the film generates, a collection of very vibrant personalities who tend to be quite easy to read. Seeing Millie bumble her way through being a large, strong middle-aged man is really funny and once she inevitably blends with her friends it only improves. I found the way the film really leaned into Millie being concerned about her own personal problems and relationship drama while being trapped in the killer's body quite a light campy element that set this feature apart. The cinematography for the film has a number of really unique shots that highlight the features variety of set pieces or supernatural circumstances; in particular the ability to craft a visual style that blends looks from two distinct genres is impressive. The score for Freaky is a nice heightened piece of tension-building music, with a soundtrack that is utilised for maximum comedic effect.

 

Kathryn Newton, who played Millie/ the Blissfield Butcher, was really charming as the meek yet good-natured protagonist; I felt like Newton really showed incredible ability by switching to this vulgar and intense persona after the body switch twist. Misha Osherovich, who played Josh, is one of the scene-stealing performances in the film I thought; Osherovich has a fast hitting dialogue delivery that is seriously funny and livens up the film. Dana Drori, who played Char, is a gruff personality who acts as the stoic guardian of very dysfunctional family; Drori plays to the hardened, serious cop role exceptionally well.

However, the best performance came from Vince Vaughn, who played the Blissfield Butcher/Millie. I was impressed initially with Vaughn as this stoic, hulking killer who had this ease of moving through a set with an intimidating presence. But then after the body swap Vaughn easily reminded us all of his incredible comedic ability to inhabit some very unique roles. Watching this performer lean into being a stressed out teen with a limited ability to deal with the bizarre events that have just transpired is a lot of fun to watch. You get to see Vaughn play to the character laughing and having fun with her firends, crushing on boys and poignantly reflecting on the loss of her father. I liked that Vaughn's approach to this was to honestly play to the character, bringing out some of the better comedic moments by bringing a Millie that was very nearly identical to Newton's. By the end of the feature we get to see Vaughn again as the killer and the way his aggression has become so personal and targeted after the events of the film mark him as a truly scary antagonist to watch.

I never really stopped having fun with this film, often because I felt the film knew it didn't have to take itself too seriously. This film doesn't have much going for it in terms of plot outside of the big genre twist concept. The main family mourn the loss of a father/husband that has created this severe emotional effect upon them all, yet at the same time we have this awkward flirting scene between the mother and body-swapped daughter character for the sake of a joke. Often the film moves away from where it needs to go to where it wants to go, crafting jokes out of the body swap scenario that are so absurd and unlikely to work that it never really feels like it has earned its place. The fact that Freaky is littered with a number of familiar body swap gags or elements makes this a fun movie to watch but does inevitably lower the quality of the overall storytelling. I also found that the dialogue was terrible, with a number of lines that felt corny or like a forced one-liner. The editing for the film set quite a dull pace at times but then struggled to keep up in some of the action sequences with some very discordant cuts.

Katie Finneran, who played Paula Kessler, really gave a hammed up performance in this film; the way she goes a little over the top with her scene with Vaughn makes it one of the more uncomfortable scenes to watch. Uriah Shelton, who played Booker, bungles his way through the main romantic lead; he just struggles with the body swap genre elements and treated scenes that he shared with Vaughn like an amateur. Melissa Collazo, who played Ryler, gives quite a generic school bully performance; I felt Collazo could have potential but she never shied away from sticking to the bully role that we've seen countless times before. Celeste O'Connor, who played Nyla, is rather forgettable as the friend role; O'Connor unfortunately often finds herself the third main performer in scenes stacked with the features best talent.