Freaky: Film Review
Freaky was one of the films I was so excited to see in the summer last year and then it got postponed once again so I’m excited to that it’s finally coming out! It’s so much fun!
This gender-bending body-swap horror-comedy tells the story of The Butcher (Vince Vaughn) a serial killer who pops up in Blissfield around Homecoming and kills a bunch of high school kids. But he makes a mistake when he attempts to kill Millie (Kathryn Newton) using a sacrificial knife – instead of murdering her, they swap bodies. Millie – now looking like The Butcher – must convince her friends of the swap and make a plan to stop the killer (now looking like Millie) before he strikes again.
I’ve always been a big fan of body-swap movies, I think the concept is hilarious and has so much potential for comedy. And that is certainly the case here. It was a genius move casting a man as tall and masculine as Vaughn to play an awkward high school girl and he is so damn funny; he made me laugh out loud so many times. He just threw himself into the role and nailed Millie’s persona. He really paid attention to detail – the pitch of his voice, the line delivery, the way he holds his arms/hands, runs, claps and squeals are all perfect. There is also a scene in the bathroom where Millie (as Butcher) pees standing up for the first time and it is hilarious.
Vaughn definitely landed the showier part of the two and gets more to play with than Newton. When she becomes The Butcher, she just dresses more confidently, barely speaks, has an evil glint in her eye and and walks in a slow, lumbering manner with hunched shoulders. It just wasn’t quite as obvious.
There are plenty of supporting stars who deserve a shout out too – there’s Millie’s gay best friend Josh (Misha Osherovich), who delivers a lot of laughs too, Celeste O’Connor as the smart best friend Nyla, Katie Finneran as Millie’s grieving widow mum Coral, Dana Drori as Millie’s older sister Charlene and Uriah Shelton as her love interest Booker (he has a fantastic scene with Vaughn).
Freaky isn’t particularly scary but it’s incredibly gory and violent. Soooo much blood! Some of the kills surprised me with how hardcore they were. It’s a shame quite a few of them were spoiled in the trailer as they would have had more impact if they were a complete surprise.
I also enjoyed the script a lot. Not all the jokes work but the success ratio is high enough. There is also more heart to this than I expected as it addresses Millie’s father’s death and the impact on the family in a bigger way than I would’ve predicted. And make sure you keep your eyes peeled for some nods to classic slasher flicks too!
Freaky is such a blast! Go see it if you want to be entertained!
In cinemas from Friday 2nd July