2020 was most likely to go down as one of the blandest years in film history simply due to the lack of theatrical releases. But in an unlikely turn of events, Blumhouse and Vince Vaughn have swooped in and rescued the genre with the best release of the year; Freaky.
Seventeen-year-old Millie Kessler spends her days trying to survive high school and the cruel actions of the popular crowd. But when she becomes the latest target of the Butcher, the town's infamous serial killer, her senior year becomes the least of her worries. When the Butcher's mystical dagger causes him and Millie to magically switch bodies, the frightened teen learns she has just 24 hours to get her identity back before she looks like a middle-aged maniac forever.
first, and foremost, Christopher Landon deserves a huge round of applause. This mans has been on a roll for nearly fourteen years, knocking out hit after hit. His last two films, Happy Death Day/2U, were really good but left me wanting to see him lean into a hard R instead of PG-13. Well, Freaky shows that when he has free range, it is even better than you could imagine. From the dialogue and character development to the beautifully executed kills, Landon brought it in spades.
But great writing and directing can only take you so far. Enter: Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton.
The entire cast here is good, but, make no mistake, Vaughn and Newton steal the show.
Vaughn and Newton deliver like Cage and Travolta delivered in Face/Off. These two are able to jump in and out of their respective roles seamlessly and so well that you'd believe they really swapped bodies. Vaughn knows how to get laughs and adding on the layer of him playing a seventeen year old high school girl is just icing on the cake. Newton is able to lean into her years of playing on Supernatural and really let that killer side shine.
Everything about this film is enjoyable and down-right fun. It has been a tough year to find a good horror movie but Freaky just hit a grand-slam in the bottom of the ninth to save the genre for one more year.
Rating: 8/10 Stars