Freaky is another one of Blumhouse production’s horror hybrid mishmash, done by trusted Blumhouse collaborator, Christopher Langdon. He worked previously on the Happy Death Day movies, which married time loops to slashers. Freaky, on the other hand, mixes body swapping with slashers, and the product is funny and strangely heartwarming, while also being clever and brutal with its kills.
Millie (Kathryn Newton) is your typical ‘Hollywood ugly’ high school teenage girl: she only has two friends, is bullied by the popular girl and has a crush on the handsome Booker (Uriah Shelton). Her life gets turned outside down when she is attacked by a serial killer, the Blissfield Butcher (Vince Vaughn) and she ends up body swapping with him the next day. She only has 24 hours to reclaim her body, while the Butcher goes killing through the school in his new form.
Of course, a movie about a gender swap comes with the prerequisites: Millie is impressed with her new strength while the Butcher is fascinated with his new appearance. Millie intimidates old bullies with her new body, while the Butcher uses his to lure unsuspecting teenage jerks to their deaths. Both Newton and Vaughn commit to playing their swapped roles and do a very convincing job, with Vaughn in particular standing out (and clearly having a lot of fun). Newton also affects a sharp transformation from a nerdy girl dealing with her father’s death to a literal femme fatale, always affecting a sharp glare. Vaughn on the other hand indulges in a lot of physical comedy to great effect.
The two best friends, Nyla and Josh, played by Celeste O’Connor and Misha Osherovich, are great sounding boards and accomplices for Millie. Osherovich in particular is self-aware as the gay teenager, who would probably be one of the first to get killed in a regular slasher movie. Freaky also has a sincere core, with Vaughn sharing an emotional moment with Millie’s mother while hiding in the changing room of a clothing store.
Those who were unhappy with the Happy Death Day films having less gory sequences can rejoice: there are several brutal, often inventive kills.
Langdon makes sure to reference several classic horror films, down to the way the Butcher stalks and chases after his victims. Unfortunately, we don’t really get much characterization from the Butcher other than the fact he is a sadistic killer, which is a shame, since Vaughn has experience with exploring a character’s darker sides from the Psycho remake.
While Freaky is well produced and well acted, there’s rarely a moment where it manages to surprise you. It sticks to the beaten path, and the ending falls a bit flat. Perhaps, a different ending had been planned originally. The movie also doesn’t do as much with gender identity or body dysmorphophobia as it could, but then again, it’s perhaps unreasonable to put such expectations on a film as simple as Freaky. It’s much lighter than other other Blumhouse fare such as The Invisible Man and Get Out.
