FREAKY, US, 2020. Starring Vince Vaughn, Kathryn Newton, Celeste O'Connor, Misha Osherovich, Dana Drori, Katie Fineran, Uriah Shelton, Alan Ruck. Directed by Christopher Landon. 102 minutes. Rated MA (Strong bloody violence and coarse language)
Sometimes they refer to this kind of film as ‘Body Swap’. At other times it is one soul, one personality, exchanging with another. Family audiences remember Freaky Friday. And there have been a whole lot of variations on the theme. This one is quite a variation! And it takes place as the opening indicates on a freaky Wednesday the 11th, continues on a freaky Thursday the 12th and culminates on a very freaky Friday the 13th.
This is a production from Jason Blum and his Blumhouse company, which has become more prolific in recent years. They are mainly horror films. Sometimes they garner critical praise – such as Get Out, The Invisible Man. Otherwise they plunder all the old genres and conventions, frequently tongue in cheek, not minding moments of bloodshed and gore.
This one is aiming rather high, especially with its leads, veteran Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton (Big Little Lies). It is not without some gory deaths – those who dislike gory deaths will be put off, perhaps very much put off, by the first five minutes which has four teenagers splattered in a reminder of the Scream franchise. And there is a masked killer.
The murders raise alarm in the local community. The film focuses on a widow and her two daughters, one who is a member of the police force, the other, Millie, Kathryn Newton, still at school. She is picked on at school, treated badly by one of the teachers, still said that to be death of her father and worried about her mother’s growing dependence on alcohol.
Which is the situation for the Body Swap, the killer approaching Millie, armed with dagger with supernatural powers, each of them stabbed and, lo and behold, killer Vince Vaughn having to act (quite entertainingly) as a teenage girl and Kathryn Newton embodying the killer. Which means that everybody is terrified at school especially when the killer in movies body turns up and has to persuade people that he is Millie. On the other hand, the Killer Is Millie insinuates himself into the school, reading a bit of gory vengeance.
The two have until midnight to get their bodies exchanged so there is a bit frantic behaviour, as the killer infiltrates the school and the alternative to the homecoming dance, while Millie’s friends do their best to save the day, save the night.
Clearly, this is Blumhouse horror for the fans, making sure that it has its quota of gore but, not intending to be taken deadly seriously, lots of tongue-in-cheek dialogue and quips. However, unlike some other films, it does spend some time on some more emotional family and friendship conversations.
The film was written and directed by Christopher Landon who made a strong impression with Happy Death Day 2 U and who wrote several of the Paranormal Activity films.
Peter Malone MSC is an associate of Jesuit Media
Universal
Released 12 November