Deaky

Gotta get down on Friday.

Life has not been going well for Millie Kessler (Kathryn Newton). Her dad’s dead, leading her mom Coral (Katie Finneran) to become an alcoholic. She gets bullied by mean girl Ryler (Melissa Collazo), shop teacher Mr. Bernadi (Alan Ruck), and all the jocks at her school besides dreamboat Booker (Uriah Shelton). Then Millie gets attacked by a serial killer, the Blissfield Butcher (Vince Vaughn). Except unlike that one time outside Ebbing, Missouri, she must have a guardian angel watching over her because she survives. Or maybe not, as Butcher using a magical dagger leads to the two of them switching bodies. 

Butcher-Millie comes to school the next day with an evil makeover, and everyone’s like, ‘whoa, what happened to her.’ Oh, yes, he does look so much more attractive than Millie does at the beginning of the movie. It’s amazing. It’s incredible. It’s–it’s astounding how unchanged Newton’s level of attractiveness is. Oh, but Ryler pointed out how cheap her outfit at the beginning was. Please. It could just be a simple matter of being more confident, but still, the only difference is that he’s pulled her hair back, wearing a leather jacket, and has lipstick on.

That’s another thing. Why is Butcher-Millie wearing more makeup than regular Millie? Yes, men can wear makeup, but Butcher doesn’t seem like the type, being this slovenly, middle-aged guy living in spartan conditions. Yes, I know; I’ve brought up how makeup is a sign of villainy before, but still. Shouldn’t wearing no makeup be another part of the whole body swap, like Butcher-Millie’s new masculine fashion sense?

I think this is my new favorite Vince Vaughn movie, partly because I consider Dodgeball to be more of a Ben Stiller movie. I could believe that Vaughn was a teen girl in an adult man’s body. His performance as a psycho was also a lot better than last time. The only thing that might be just as good as Vaughn’s performance is Newton’s performance, who also does an excellent job of bringing the two different personas to life.

Oh my, this movie’s gory, and not in the way that’s kind of funny like in Braindead/Dead Alive (NSFW). In the way that’s supposed to be scary, like in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. A little surprisingly, the horror scenes in this are done just as well as the comedy. No, not only because it’s violent, but because it utilizes mood and suspense well.

A problem some might have with Freaky is that it plays gayness as a joke. For one, much of the humor is derived from Millie-Butcher. I could say that it’s not that Vaughn’s acting like an effeminate man. It’s that he’s acting like a teen girl, but I worry that’s a distinction without a difference. There’s also Ryler mistaking Butcher-Millie’s bloodlust for lust lust and that drug addict who offers to suck Millie-Butcher’s d**k because he wants to be so high he thinks he’s a teen girl too.

Another problem some might have is the ending for being a little too long. (spoiler) Especially the part where Butcher comes back for one more round after they’ve switched back. Except I liked that part of the movie. It happened at a part where I didn’t go, ‘the movies clearly not over because we still have another hour left.’ Millie having the satisfaction of taking down Butcher herself was also cool. (/spoiler)

Once again, we have a fine movie on our hands. Freaky was brought to us by writer/director Christopher Landon, who also made Happy Death Day. Which, as you’ll recall, is also a slasher movie twist on an archetypal plot. So the two of them back to back would probably make for a pretty sweet double feature, in case you were interested.