Christopher Landon is, it seems, on a mission to inject some fun back into the horror genre. After the peppy but predictable Scouts Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse, the director struck comedy-horror paydirt with 2017’s Happy Death Day and its equally cheeky sequel. His latest, Freaky, doubles down on that formula, dialling up both gags and gore to deliver an unashamedly silly splatter-fest that extracts great mileage from a very simple premise.
Filmed under the title Freaky Friday 13th (potential trademark infringement being the real terror of this story), Landon’s film wears its influences with pride. Beginning with a viscera-strewn prologue in which Vaughn’s towering Butcher dispatches a house full of horny teens, we’re treated to an array of squirm-inducing kills that more than earn the film’s 15 rating within the first five minutes. Obscured by a tribal not-hockey mask, the Butcher brings bloody mayhem with items ranging from tennis racquet to toilet seat, all with tongue placed firmly in cheek and shot through with a wicked sense of pitch-black humour. Crafting a film that’s gory but never grim, Landon commits early to rolling out the Vor-hee-hees, before setting up Blissfield High as a very camp Crystal Lake.
The film’s (knowingly daft) plot is served by a MacGuffin in the form of a natty-looking Aztec dagger, which proves ideal for teenage evisceration but also happens to carry an ancient curse. Once the blade is used upon an imperilled Millie (Kathryn Newton) after the school homecoming game (the sight of her fleeing her would-be killer in a giant beaver suit is one for the ages), the film’s bloody body-swap kicks into gear.
Vince Vaughn mines every ounce of absurdity from a 6’5” man with the mannerisms of a teenage girl.
It’s easy to forget how gifted a comedian Vince Vaughn is from his more recent output (neither Dragged Across Concrete nor Brawl In Cell Block 99 notable for being giggle-a-minute lol-fests). After a number of years spent playing it straight, Vaughn hurls himself into the role of Freaky’s disembodied co-ed with unabashed glee. On scene-stealing form, he slips seamlessly into Millie’s high-school upspeak, flirts with her class crush, busts out a cheerleading routine and gleefully discovers the joy of a stand-up wee (“You gotta see this — it’s like a floppy anteater!”). It’s a hugely enjoyably performance from which Vaughn holds absolutely nothing back. Ably backed by Millie’s two sassy BFFs (Misha Osherovich and Celeste O’Connor, who both shine in the roles), Vaughn mines every ounce of absurdity from a 6’5” man with the mannerisms of a teenage girl, bouncing off his co-stars in a manner that’s both consistently funny and disarmingly believable.
Newton is almost as effective as the glowering killer, who does his level best to continue the bloodbath while only occasionally being interrupted by Millie’s mother for being late for school. As Millie’s murderous alter-ego reinvents his host as a leather-jacket-wearing badass, the film takes on the guise of a twisted high-school Pygmalion (‘She’s All Axe?’). Embracing a perverse schadenfreude, the story delights in allowing ‘Millie’ to take homicidal revenge on everyone from the school bully to the leering jocks. Even the faculty isn’t immune to Killie Millie’s wrath, as her abusive CDT teacher (a superbly hissable Alan Ruck) discovers to his detriment.
An overwhelming air of silly exuberance largely makes up for the flimsy plotting, though some of the character moments ring out bum notes. Millie’s role as emotional caregiver to her alcoholic mother feels overwrought, and a bonding scene between Vaughn-as-Millie and Mrs Kessler in a department-store changing room struggles to feel honest or believable. And while Landon takes pains to flesh out Millie’s home life, he makes no such effort with the Butcher himself, content to have him all but materialise out of urban myth and inhabit the role of motiveless, malignant bogeyman — even Jason had a mother!
The sub-Scream trope-awareness may be a touch smug for some (“You’re Black, I’m gay — we’re so dead!”), but the film’s arch cheekiness is much of its appeal. Landon once again succeeds in pulling off a highly effective scary movie that’s also buckets of fun. It doesn’t elevate the formula quite as effectively as the Happy Death Day movies, but Freaky is far more than just the sum of its murderous set-pieces. A fresh, funny and thrilling addition to the year’s horror pantheon.
