Freaky
Under a blood red sky they tell the tale of the Blissfield Butcher, a serial killer who first terrorised the wealthy suburban town in 1977 and was never caught; a generation later, his legend persists more to scare kids into order than as any genuinely perceived threat, for surely forty years past his first kill he must be getting a bit doddery if he is even still alive?
It’s only days until the homecoming dance, and Millie Kessler is having a bad week, the anniversary of the death of her father, her mother’s good intentions stifling when she’s not passed out with an empty bottle of wine by her side, her wished-for date for the dance night barely aware of her, the halls full of mean girls and classes supervised by bullying teachers.
Her role as mascot for the Blissfield Beavers doing no favours for her social life, Millie needs to make a change in her life, but being pursued across the moonlit football field by a knife-wielding masked man was not what she had in mind; the assailant scared off by the arrival of her sister, at the police station Millie comforts her hysterical mother then goes home to sleep it off, the clock hitting midnight as Friday the 13th brings a freaky twist to her already messed up night.
Having scripted numerous Paranormal Activity films before making his directorial debut with The Marked Ones, Christopher Landon’s Freaky, co-written with Michael Kennedy, is more in the open vein of his 2017 horror comedy Happy Death Day though it draws on deeper inspirations of teenage body-swaps, most obviously the multiple versions of Mary Rodgers’ 1972 novel Freaky Friday, an absurd idea which expands to the inventiveness of the opening scene which lays out the territory in rapidity and choice of weapons.
The simple premise carried by the buoyant performances of the ensemble who understand Landon’s intent and go for the kill, Freaky is carried by the two leads, Kathryn Newton as downtrodden Millie who turns seductive and sinister as she embraces her new skin, everything a new experience in a new body, and Vince Vaughn who embodies both the remorseless Butcher and a hormonal teenage girl who must use cheerleading moves to convince best friends Nyla and Josh (Celeste O’Connor and Misha Osherovich) of her inner identity.
Playing like an introductory course to horror movies, Teen Slasher 101, Freaky sets up familiar scenarios then twists them with the ancient Aztec ceremonial sacrificial dagger called La Dola, the laughs and blood flowing freely and the moments which drag rare as the clock counts towards midnight at the dance and the Old Mill, ground zero for the Butcher’s planned slaughter of the not-so-innocent.
Freaky is now on general release
