Christopher Landon is turning out to be a director I can depend on to deliver stylish and raunchy horror flicks, so I was so excited when “Freaky” first appeared with just a title and a synopsis on Letterboxd. Cut to a few months later, hype was building up for the film and I couldn’t wait to see it. Sadly, due to theaters being closed where I am, I had to wait for the digital release to see it, and gosh darn it, it didn’t disappoint!
WHAT IS IT?
Directed by Christopher Landon, “Freaky” is a 2020 slasher-comedy about a teenage girl who switches places with the local serial killer, who uses this advantage to up his body count.
WHAT DID I LIKE ABOUT THE FILM?
Christopher Landon doesn’t hold back with this one, this a true-blue slasher film! Director Landon and his team bring on the practical gore in all of the kills, earning its well-deserved R rating. I love his “Happy Death Day” films to death but him being given free reign to let the carnage fly in this film really helps the film a lot.
That said, I’d say it’s probably secondary to the excellent performances turned in by the cast, led by Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton. Vaughn nails the creepy Jason Voorhees-like silent killer thing while in his original body as the Blissfied Butcher and he extra nails the awkward teenage girl thing when he switches places with Newton’s character, Millie. I found his bits to be so hilarious! Kathryn Newton, I could tell had a lot of fun in the role and she also rocks the creepiness that’s necessary with the killer’s character, though I wish she had more to play with (more on that later). What really stole the show for me, though, was the character Joshua, played by Misha Osherovich. He had the most perfect line deliveries and just quotable scenes. This kid’s going places!
I also liked that Landon and his team’s visual style seen in “Happy Death Day” is utilized here. There’s a lot of stylistic camera movements and the best way that I can describe the visuals is that they pop, like, everything’s so vibrant, it’s refreshing.
WHAT DIDN’T I LIKE ABOUT THE FILM?
Not a lot of dislikes for me, really. I only wished that the killer was given a bit more personality before the switch because once he was in Millie’s body, there weren’t a lot of laugh-out-loud moments left for Ms. Newton, though as I said in my likes, she did nail the creepy killer vibes down pat.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
“Freaky” is ultimately a very enjoyable film. It’s a perfectly balanced slasher-comedy. The humor is just right so that the emotional scenes still have weight to them and it was just scary and tense enough so audiences can still have fun and breathe.
Dustin is a horror fan and sometimes short story writer who hails from the Philippines. He likes a lot of the horror genre but usually goes for slashers and arthouse/slowburn stuff. Currently, he’s trying to make up for lost time in the horror literature world by digesting as many horror books as he can.
