Let’s face it. You can’t have an up and down slasher movie anymore unless it stars Neve Campbell.
You’ve got to have a mash up, whether it’s “Groundhogs Day” in “Happy Death Day”, or in this case, the body-swapping “Freaky Friday” and our movie subject “Freaky”.
And in this case, it makes for an enjoyable time.
When high school Cinderella, Millie (Kathryn Newton) crosses paths with “The Blissfield Butcher” town serial killer (Vince Vaughn) and gets stabbed with a cursed mystical dagger, the two swap bodies and craziness ensues. Millie, now trapped in the Butcher’s body has 24 hours to catch herself before the curse becomes permanent. The body count stacks up and we’re set off to a wild film finish.
It’s all about Vaughn and Newton here. Just like other body-swap movies, it doesn’t work if the stars are scrubs and both of these two actors take on the personality of a serial killer and high school outcast so nicely, that it makes this film very hard to not like. The pacing is right and director Christopher Landon doesn’t let us get bored.
It’s not a perfect film by any stretch. All of the high school stereotypes are here, and they take up more time than they should. Perhaps this was an attempt bring more contrast to what’s going on here, but it didn’t work.
The film as a whole does though. And the final stretch will make sure you walkaway happy at what everyone was trying to do here.
Freaky
GRADE: B-
Rated: R
Running time: 1 hour 42 minutes.