Freaky
Director: Christopher Landon (THE HAPPY DEATH DAY CREATOR!!! I LOVE THIS GUY!!!)
Writer: Christopher Landon and Michael Kennedy
Starring: Kathryn Newton, Vince Vaughn, Uriah Shelton, Misha Osherovich, Celeste O’Connor, Alan Ruck
Reason for watching: New movie theater release. Plus it’s actually good.
Number of times I’ve watched it: first time viewing
***
If this was somehow a sequel to Freaky Friday and Lindsay Lohan showed up, that would’ve been better than the ending of Split. Can you imagine Lohan facing down serial killer Vince Vaughn. Then we cut to black. That would be a sequel setup that I would watch buy my ticket for right now. But I should probably summarize this movie. Millie (Kathryn Newton) is a shy teenager who doesn’t get noticed. But when she swaps bodies with the local serial killer, she has to convince her friends to help her get her body back by midnight or else she’ll be stuck in the body of the tall dude from the only crap season of True Detective.
Honestly, there is not a lot to complain about here…because most of this movie is fun and well done. There are some good moments of cinematography. The chase/fight scenes are easy to watch and understand. Without making you too scared, you get the idea of what’s going on. It leans into some of the tropes of horror movies and makes them funnier. The main praise I have is for the performance of our two body-swapped leads. Vaughn basically saw what Jack Black did in Jumanji and said, “I can do that.” And he copied it well. I’m honestly more impressed with Newton here. She does a very convincing job of coming across like Michael Myers trapped in a small teenager’s body. She figures out how to be a more efficient killer with less muscle to work with. There’s an awesome scene right when the serial killer realizes he’s trapped in a new body, and Newton’s physical acting is very impressive.
I have a few critiques. The family drama Millie goes through does not do anything but slow the plot down. Some of the physical violence shown or teased can make you a bit squeamish. But all in all, it is a quick and well-paced horror-comedy that keeps you satisfied. This is what I really missed from movie theaters. A good time that wasn’t a big tentpole experience. These little movies help those businesses going. They can’t just live off of Star Wars and whatever Marvel wants to put out. I’m happy to support this movie. Please make more of these.
7/10
Until I see another one.