Thebody-swapping subgenreis undoubtedly a weird one, requiring a major suspension of disbelief from the audience but also allowing actors to experiment playing characters of a different age/gender/identity, etc. One of the most notable body-swapping movies is 2003’sFreaky Friday, starringLindsay LohanandJamie Lee Curtis, with its sequel,Freakier Friday, hitting theaters in August, over 20 years later. The body swap concept tends to work best when some level of comedy is involved, and 2020’sFreakyproves how well it works in horror too. Directed byChristopher Landon(of theHappy Death Dayfranchise),FreakystarsVince Vaughnas the Blissfield Butcher, a serial killer believed to be an urban legend who suddenly reappears and inadvertently switches bodies with a local teen, played byhorror comedy queenKathryn Newton. Evoking teen horror comedies of years past but with a body-swapping twist,Freakyis a fun take on the subgenre and worth a watch to tide you over until the release ofFreakier Friday.
What Is ‘Freaky’ About?
After the success of bothHappy Death DayandHappy Death Day 2U,Landon brought us another fantastical horror comedy withFreaky, trading in time loops for body swapping.ThoughFreakydidn’t perform quite as well at the box office compared to his previous two films — likely because it was released in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic —it’s anotherfun Blumhouse flickwith plenty of references to classic horror movies of years past.It follows Millie Kessler (Netwon), an awkward teenager who gets picked on at school by both her fellow students and her wood shop teacher, Mr. Bernardi (Alan Ruck). Her family life isn’t much better, as Millie, her mom, and her sister are still grieving their dad’s death nearly a year later.
Taking place in the fictional town of Blissfield, the first act ofFreakyshares quite a few similarities with the firstScreammovie, but things take a unique turn when the Blissfield Butcher, whose existence was debated and considered a myth, appears and murders four teenagers. Though this puts the rest of the town on alert, the Homecoming game still proceeds as scheduled and Millie, whose main extracurricular activity is dressing as the school mascot, is attacked by the Blissfield Butcher when her mom fails to pick her up after the game. He stabs Millie with an ancient dagger that he picked up at the house of his previous victims, inadvertently causing them to switch bodies. This leavesMillie trapped in the body of a grown man and the Blissfield Butcher trapped in the body of a teenage girl, which allows him to move through the world without suspicion and claim more victims at Blissfield Valley High. Millie, in the Butcher’s body, teams up with her best friends Josh (Misha Osherovich) and Nyla (Celeste O’Connor) to help her switch back before it’s too late.
Kathryn Newton and Vince Vaughn Make an Unlikely Horror Comedy Duo in ‘Freaky’
Freakyis an amalgamation of movie tropes, referencing horror classics likeFriday the 13th,Halloween, andCandyman, along with its obvious allusion toFreaky Friday.These elements combine into a horror comedy that’s both funny and gory, with the Blissfield Butcher (as Millie) killing several of Millie’s tormentors, including a particularly gruesome death for Mr. Bernadi featuring a buzzsaw. Unlike with hisHappy Death Dayfilms,Freaky’sR-ratinglets Landon take greater liberties with these violent deaths, which makes the stakes seem higher, even for a film with such a silly premise. What really makesFreakywork, however, are the performances from Kathryn Newton and Vince Vaughn, who pull off the body-swapping dynamic almost as well as Lohan and Curtis did inFreaky Friday.
After having previously starred inParanormal Activity 4, withFreaky, Newton really proved she could excel in the horror genre, especially in horror comedies, later going on to star inAbigailandLisa Frankenstein. InFreaky, she starts out playing an awkward, unpopular teen trying to cope with the anniversary of her father’s death, but once she switches bodies with the Butcher, Newton’s demeanor changes completely. She seamlessly transitions into a cold, self-assured serial killer unencumbered by the anxieties that come with being a teenage girl navigating high school. Vaughn, on the other hand, is hilarious playing a teenage girl trapped in a grown man’s body, bringing the required amount of silliness to the role while still coming across as pretty damn scary before and after he switches back into being the Butcher. We really get the sense that Millie’s character is shining through, both in the funnier moments when she’s discovering her new genitals, and the softer moments when she’s talking to Millie’s mom and connecting with her crush, Booker (Uriah Shelton). Accidentally switching bodies with your mom is freaky, butaccidentally switching bodies with a serial killer is even freakier, and both Newton and Vaughn make this horror-comedy a worthy addition to the body-swapping film canon.
Freakyis available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in the US.
