Freaky To Be On Demand December 4th

As a fan of horror movies, especially the niche horror-comedy genre, I was naturally drawn to this film after seeing promising previews. I was first exposed to this genre by the 1992 movie “Army of Darkness”. In many ways that movie was the modern pioneer of blending these two antithetical film types. Trailers painted “Freaky” as a classic slasher with an obvious homage in both plot and title to Freaky Friday, while tapping into a vein of comedy with its inclusion of star Vince Vaughn.

This movie hits the ground running out the gate with several graphic murders at a high school get together. The opening scene also sets the stage, by revealing that a dagger with historic significance has been stolen from the house by the murderer who is revealed to be Vince Vaughn. Freaky quickly jumps into the life of the main character, Millie (played by Kathryn Newton), an unconfident teen who is doing her best to find herself after losing her father. After an unfortunate chain of events, Millie is confronted by the Butcher and is briefly stabbed before he is forced to flee.

In classic “Freaky Friday” fashion, she wakes up the next day only to have swapped bodies with The Butcher. The rest of the film is focused on Millie (now being played by Vaughn) trying to convince her closest friends that she’s in fact Millie and not The Butcher all while trying to find a way to swap back by looking into the history of the dagger and preventing further murders. Both characters realizing the physical differences of their new bodies over time leads to some comedy gold along the way.

Verdict

I give Freaky a 7 out of 10. It is an exciting ride but often jumps from mature themes to a dialog suitable for high school audiences. That being said, the film had some very funny moments and was enjoyable. If you are a comedy-horror fan, I definitely recommend checking it out.