The Happy Death Day series is easily one of my favorite series to come out of Blumhouse and the way Director Christopher Landon blends horror and comedy is just perfect. His new film, Freaky, takes the same approach in adapting Mary Rodger’s novel Freaky Friday. It’s the story of a timid high school outcast named Millie (Kathryn Newton) who magically switches bodies with a serial killer known locally as The Butcher (Vince Vaughn) after he stabs her with a cursed dagger he stole from a previous victim. With only 24 hours to figure out how to switch back into her own body before she’s stuck in The Butcher’s forever, Millie must enlist the help of her two friends Nyla (Celeste O’Connor) and Josh (Misha Osherovich) to help her switch back while the town is hunts her and The Butcher continues his killing spree in Millie’s body.
Landon (who wrote the second Happy Death Day film and co-wrote this film’s script with Michael Kennedy) clearly knows how to maintain the iconic elements of well-known premises to make it easy for viewers to recognize and understand without blatantly copying them beat for beat. One of Happy Death Day‘s biggest strengths was making Tree such a strong, complex character who grows on her journey and always feels relatable and him and Kennedy nail that again with Millie.
After they switch, The Butcher and Millie realize they no longer have strength they once had. While The Butcher now has the minimal strength of a teenage girl and people no longer fear him while he’s in Millie’s body, Millie has a physical strength she’s never had before and a daunting presence that allows her to stand up to people that put her down. It’s not only a nice addition to the body switching concept, but also plays a relevant role in Millie finding her own strength. Millie’s realization of how strong she can be and describing the experience as sort of empowering creates this great personal connection between her and the audience.
Her sense of empowerment and incredible likability wouldn’t be possible without excellent performances from both Vaughn and Newton. Pre-switching, they introduce their respective characters perfectly and it acts like a set-up for the incredible slam dunk that comes when they switch. Having Vaughn play a high school girl is absolutely hilarious and is honestly one of his best performances in recent time. Watching him do a cheerleading routine that Millie knows as the school mascot to prove to Nyla and Josh that he’s Millie and then do their crazy handshake was awesome and it really shows how committed Vaughn is to the role. Even just seeing him nervously flirt with Booker (Uriah Shelton), Millie’s crush and his panicked run were just perfect. He can even make big character moments for Millie–like talking to her mom about their relationship–incredibly genuine and touching. Vaughn easily delivers one of the strongest comedic performances of the year and he’s not alone in delivering the laughs.
O’Connor and Osherovich deliver great supporting performances, as they are ensnared into helping Millie try to reclaim her body. They bring such a strong energy to the film and the way that they go from fearing and fighting Millie as The Butcher to instantly being in her corner speaks to how tight the characters’ friendship is. They even get their own moments, with Nyla having to talk her way out of a tough situation at the police station and Josh having to talk his way out of a situation with their mom. Even the way they throw shade at each other is funny as hell and these great performances make watching everything this trio must do to stay hidden fun as hell.
Newton’s performance is perfectly polar opposite but works so well in creating a looming presence of evil. With The Butcher being more the silent type, Newton doesn’t have much dialogue to work with, but she uses body language incredibly well to establish a daunting and dominating presence. With a cold death stare and confident walk, Newton really delivers looks that kill and the outfit The Butcher creates her is badass. Newton does get some incredible lines, though, one in particular against a very grabby football player is just plain amazing and she delivers it with a coldness that cuts deep.
However, Landon also helps Newton through his filmmaking. He excels at using the environment, great timing, and a great score from the always-excellent Bear McCreary to create incredibly suspenseful build-up that he ends with gory and crazy kills. Landon makes it known from the first kill what viewers are in for and he just continues to escalate as the film goes on, making The Butcher really live up to his name. Gore hounds will have their appetite absolutely filled and this film is definitely going to get the horror community talking about Freaky delivering some of the genre’s most memorable kills.
While it’s hard to wrap my brain around how Landon did it, he delivers one of the best films of the year in Freaky by flipping a familiar premise on its head and infusing it with some delightful elements of horror, hilarious comedic writing, and lovable performances. Landon’s truly one of the best things Blumhouse has going for it and now with three excellent films under his belt, there’s definitely something big in his future that I can’t wait to see.
