"Freaky" is one of the most insane movies I've ever seen, but it's a total blast
“Freaky” Film Review
80/100 “sweet”
By Quinn Marcus
WHAT. THE. ACTUAL. HELL. did I just witness? This movie was one of the most disgusting, the most violent, the most over-the-top slasher films ever, and I loved it. You know, before this, I never considered slasher films to be any good, I mean Halloween is probably the best one besides this, and I only gave that a 75/100. Freaky is one freaky movie, I can tell you that (ha, see what I did there?). To break down this absolute thrill ride, we need to first take a deep-dive into director Christopher Landon’s earlier career and view his evolution before coming to a proper consensus. Before this, I’d only seen one of Landon’s six feature films, that being Happy Death Day, a mediocre, mildly entertaining, stupid comedy/horror film that didn’t make it past a 60/100. Ah, don’t you just love it when you can really criticize something? Therefore, I came into Freaky with little to no expectations, I wanted to be entertained, and see Vince Vaughn play a teenage girl, that was about it. This movie blew my expectations out of the water, it was so much better than Happy Death Day and used its hilarious qualities to its advantage.
The film kicks off with four friends, hanging out at a mansion, who are attacked and brutally murdered by the “Butcher.” We are then introduced to our main protagonist, Millie, a shy, quiet teen who swaps bodies with the “Butcher” when she is stabbed by a mystical dagger. Then there’s a whole lot of blood, people run around and scream a lot, a middle-aged man makes love with a teenage boy, and that’s about it, to be honest. The plot in this movie isn’t anything too interesting, but that’s not what Freaky was going for, thank god!
You see, the problem I had with Happy Death Day was that it acted more like a serious horror film, and didn’t make fun of the concept that the film is based on. Freaky took all the basic horror tropes and used them in the most hysterical way possible; granted, it’s not a perfect movie, but it is fun. Let’s get my negatives out of the way first, the script, also written by Christopher Landon had some fantastic jokes, the one problem is, I only laughed at select scenes, those being Vince Vaughn’s scenes. Landon doesn’t give the other characters much to do, particularly costar Kathryn Newton, playing Millie. The other characters felt as if they were just there, I didn’t care much about them or what they did, the only person I was excited to see onscreen was Mr. Vaughn. It was like Landon was in the writer’s room, he had his concept, he had his character’s, but got too carried away with writing Vaughn’s character, that he himself didn’t care about the others in his script. Another issue I had with Freaky was although this movie was made to make fun of other slashers, there was such an overload of clichés. For example, Millie (Newton) is portrayed in the movie as a disgusting person who’s horrifying to look at, but I didn’t buy that; and then when she walks in with make-up on and a red leather jacket, everyone thinks she’s gorgeous. That was one example of the many clichés this film has to offer. With that, let’s head on over to the positives.
Freaky doesn’t take itself seriously at all, it just puts the audience on this insane rollercoaster from start to finish…literally. The inciting incident in this film (don’t worry, no spoilers) was so deliciously gory, that I had this huge gasp for the first 10 minutes. The first and final acts of the film are where thing’s get the most bloody, otherwise, besides profanity, the film play’s it pretty safe. What I loved about Freaky the most was that it embraced it’s craziness and made me feel a little crazy myself, in a good way. Keaton and I watched this socially distanced with a couple of friends, and we couldn’t stop shouting ‘What the hell?!’ Although you won’t find yourself emotionally invested in what’s going on in front of you, Freaky almost forces you to join in on the fun, and if you don’t let go, you’re going to have a problem. Despite Landon’s lesser writing, I actually thought his directing was reasonably good. He sets up his shots well and tries to get as much jaw-dropping insanity possible packed into a single frame. I was pretty bored watching Happy Death Day, and I highly doubt the second is much better, this was such a redeeming film for him, that I have to give him kudos for handling this movie pretty well considering his wacko idea.
The true standout of the film is Vince Vaughn, he is the one reason to see this movie. His performance greatly reminded me of Jack Black’s in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, and Vaughn does it right. There’s a scene in this movie where he’s technically Millie, so he heads to the school to find his/her friends, Josh Detmer (Misha Osherovich) and Nyla (Celeste O’Connor). In a hysterical action sequence, Vaughn finds himself chasing after them as Josh and Nyla chuck kitchen supplies at him, and the scene ends with him proving he’s Millie by doing a cheerleader dance. I laughed so hard every time this man was on screen that he kind of overshadows everybody else. Kathryn Newton also stars in this movie, once again, the script doesn’t give her much to do besides stare creepily at people, and graphically murder them. She’s fine as Millie, the only problem I had with her was the character itself. Millie was written very poorly, as were the other characters, leading to Vaughn stealing the show…which is fine by me.
The final verdict is: Freaky is a psychotic, enjoyable horror flick that overcomes its clichés and average writing with a game performance from Vince Vaughn and solid directing…$PLURGE IT!