The slasher genre is a bit of interesting path when looking at the realm of how it all started and the hills it had to climb. Now, depending on who you ask, some might say Halloween kicked it all off. Others might say Texas Chainsaw Massacre may have been the origin of the slasher genre, but some might go deep and refer to Psycho or Peeping Tom might be the ones that are responsible for what the slasher genre has become. Whether it was Halloween, Texas Chainsaw or Psycho, the slasher genre was, arguably, the hottest thing on the planet for horror movies. Not only did Halloween milk out dozens of sequels, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street kept churning out sequels because, even though they were cheap to make, there was a strong appetite for them with the public eye. But then the 1990s were approaching, the slasher genre was running out of gears and there was almost nothing that you could have done to reinvent it.
Then came along Wes Craven’s Scream, which completely revolutionized the genre by poking fun at itself, while still being absolutely scary and tense. But then after numerous of sequels from the Scream franchise, the slasher genre, once again, was failing to capture that spark that it once had. Even with the certain reboots that Hollywood made (whether the reboots of Friday the 13th or A Nightmare on Elm Street) just never brought in the reception the studios had hoped for and it seemed that horror was focusing on other things that were working better for them. But then comes along a director by the name of Christopher Landon, who surprised a lot of people with Happy Death Day and Happy Death Day 2U, which brought back a lot of familiarity within the genre, but made them his own. The Happy Death Day movies are great pieces of horror that keep the slasher genre healthy and fun, but with Freaky, in Christopher Landon we trust. Freaky, just like the Happy Death Day movies, is full of great thrills, genuine character moments, incredible performances and tons of sweet and brutal violence.
Freaky is being promoted as Freaky Friday, but with a freaky (no pun) twist that sort of separates it from that movie. Our story focuses on Millie Kessler (Kathryn Newton), an average high school student who’s basically trying her best to survive that cruelty that comes within high school territory. Along her journey is the company of her two closest friends, Josh and Nyla (Misha Osherovich and Celeste O’Connor), who try to care and nurture Millie through those difficult times. But even with all the high school drama, Millie then becomes the target of the infamous and dangerous serial killer, the Blissfield Butcher (Vince Vaughn), who attacks Millie one night after a football game and stabs her in the shoulder with a mystical dagger, that then causes the bodies of Millie and the Butcher to be switched. So when Millie wakes up and realizes that she is now in the body of the the Blissfield Butcher, she has 24 hours to get back in her own body or else she’s stuck like this forever.
Not every movie NEEDS to be rated R, but only if your movie earns the rating or it works well with the kind of story one wants to tell. Now, with the Happy Death Day movies being PG-13, one could hope that we could see Christopher Landon dip his two in some R rated territory. There might be more violent movies than Freaky, however Freaky pulls no punches on the violence. Right from the opening scene of the movie, Freaky delivers on some of the most grotesque, blood soaked and viscous violence on screen for the slasher genre and while it might be squeamish for some, its oddly pleasurable. With Happy Death Day, Happy Death Day 2U and now Freaky, Christopher Landon proves that he has so much respect for the horror genre but expanding his creative scope. But maybe the best aspect of Freaky is that it’s genuinely scary. It doesn’t rely on jump scares, but it also does some creative decisions with how Christopher Landon wants to scare the audience and he does it with style. And while he displays scenes of gore and guts, Landon is still able to pull it back to enlighten scenes of character and emotion that makes Freaky more than just a horror movie. Freaky operates on a lot of levels, and all of that has to be credited to Christopher Landon for handling the pace and the feel of this story.
Kathryn Newton is a young actress that is slowly building a name for herself and what Freaky does raises her talents in spades. Newton is down right terrific in this movie, due how she displays both the innocent and fragile high school student in the beginning to then acting in the shoes of a deranged and psychotic serial killer. She really shows her chops with life so much color that this girl needs to get more work in the future. But by far and away the best and maybe the best part of this entire movie, and quite possibly one of the best performances of 2020 was the performance by Vince Vaughn. Granted, this isn’t a role that was ever targeting an Oscar nomination, nor is this one that would stand toe to toe with a performance like Daniel Day Lewis in Lincoln, however, Vince Vaughn is spectacular in Freaky. Considering that 2020 has been an icky year for theater going and movies in general, the performance that will be remembered the most will be Vince Vaughn from Freaky. He’s hilarious, energetic but also has moments of intense conviction, which make his character more convincing. Despite him being an intimidating and violent serial killer, the best moments of the movie are when Vaughn is impersonating a high school girl and in the wrong hands, this could have gone horribly wrong, but with Christopher Landon directing and through Vince Vaughn’s performance, it all works beautifully.
Freaky is a horror movie at the end of the day, but the best kinds of horror movie, and the case for any movie, are the ones that offer way more charm and heart than what’s on the surface level, and Freaky is clearly full of horror and suspense, but it’s also perfectly balanced with heart and a soul. The performances from Kathryn Newton and Vince Vaughn are incredible, the violence is bold and audacious, but more importantly, Freaky is the perfect embellishment of the perfect horror comedy, that offers way more substance and entertainment value that is left to be had.
My grade for Freaky: A
Zane's take at the Cinema's 