[Review] Freaky(2020) {6.5/10}

Directed by Christopher Landon, from a screenplay by Michael Kennedy and Landon, the film stars Vince Vaughn (Blissfield Butcher), Kathryn Newton (Millie Kessler), Katie Finneran (Coral Kessler), Celeste O'Connor (Charlene "Char" Kessler), and Alan Ruck (Mr. Bernardi). Jason Blum serves as a producer under his Blumhouse Productions banner.

The plot follows a teenage girl, Millie Kessler (Kathryn Newton) who spends her days trying to survive high school and the cruel actions of the popular crowd. Her senior year becomes the least of her worries when she unintentionally switches bodies with a middle-aged male serial killer, the Blissfield Butcher (Vince Vaughn).

Newton shines as high school outcast Millie Kessler, who finds herself squaring off with the Blissfield Butcher, a serial killer who was previously thought to be little more than urban legend. The gore showcased when a character is killed is Spine-chilling. Though the supporting cast members all get their moments to shine, Freaky is very much Millie's story, no matter who is in the role. While Vaughn technically spends more of the movie's run time playing Millie than the Butcher, the opening sequence is ripped right out of a classic slasher movie, complete with inventive kills and more than a few horror movie Easter eggs. Vaughn is unleashed in menacing form that echoes Kane Hodder's now-iconic turn as Jason Voorhees in the Friday the 13th movie franchise. He's a powerful, lumbering presence who uses his environment to slaughter and stalk without his teenage victims having the slightest clue what's going on until it's entirely too late. But Vaughn’s portrayal of Millie feels frustratingly thoughtless. He lifts his voice in a shallow impersonation of a breezy girl, which is not how Newton plays Millie in act one. It’s the kind of performance you see misogynistic middle-schoolers deliver to mock classmates. It's fun to watch Kathryn Newton and Vince Vaughn play with each other, but I think it runs out of steam as it goes on. They settle on cheap jokes and a slathering of schmaltz, and it’s a real shame. In the wake of so many similar takes on contemporary horror, the screenplay, by Landon and Michael Kennedy, never feels quite as sharp as it should.

Freaky is now available on Digital and Blu-ray.