Freaky

  Year of Release:  2020

Director:   Christopher Landon

Screenplay:  Michael Kennedy and Christopher Landon

Starring:  Vince Vaughn, Kathryn Newton, Katie Finneran, Celeste O'Connor, Misha Osherovich,  Dana Drori, Alan Ruck

Running Time:  101 minutes

Genre:  Horror, comedy

The American town of Blissfield is targeted by a brutal serial killer known as "The Butcher" (Vaughn).  One night, the killer attacks bullied teenager Millie (Newton), and stabs her with a cursed dagger.  however, he is interrupted by the police before he can kill her.  The Butcher escapes, but the dagger's power causes them to swap bodies.  Millie finds herself in the body of a middle-aged male serial killer who happens to be the most wanted person in town.  The Butcher, however, is in the body of a high school girl.  Millie has just 24 hours to find the Butcher and stop the carnage, before the exchange becomes permanent.

Director Christopher Landon had previously made comedy-horror film Happy Death Day (2017) and it's sequel Happy Death Day 2U (2019) and this has a similar kind of high concept premise.  Despite being set in the present day, it hearkens back to the 1980s with those two great '80s subgenres the slasher film and the body-swap comedy.  The title is an obvious reference to one of the definitive body-swap books Freaky Friday (1972) which has itself been filmed several times.  Vince Vaughn is hilarious as the serial killer turned teenage girl, and it is funny seeing him channel the mannerisms of a teenager.  Kathryn Newton is engaging as Millie, but manages to be genuinely chilling and effective as the cold-blooded dead eyes killer, who of course is able to wreck so much carnage because who would suspect her?  The film opens as a traditional slasher, where four obnoxious teenagers are gruesomely and amusingly offed by the killer, but it really improves as it goes along and ultimately is a hugely funny look back at the high school slasher film and body swap comedy, and it manages to mix nostalgia with a real contemporary feel.  Celeste O'Connor and Misha Osherovich play Millie's friends, and there is real chemistry between the trio, even when Millie is being played by Vince Vaughn.  There is also some emotion, with Katie Finneran as Millies' alcoholic mother, who is still consumed by the death of Millie's father a year previously, and dana Droir plays Millie's caring but brutal police officer sister who is increasingly estranged from their mother.  The killings are satisfactorily gory (the scenes where Alan Ruck's bullying teacher gets what's coming to him is deeply satisfying), the jokes are funny, and the whole thing is a really entertaining experience.  It's the kind of film that you put on late on a Friday or Saturday night and you're going to be entertained.

Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton in Freaky