Reviews by:
@ryan_the_nixon
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Freaky
2021
15
Director: Christopher Landon
Starring: Kathryn Newton, Vince Vaughn, Celeste o Connor, Misha Osherovich, Emily Holder, Nicholas Stargel, Uriah Shelton, Dana Drori, Katie Finneran etc
Overall rating 77/100
Freaky is about A young girl in high school who, after switching bodies with a deranged serial killer discovers she has less than 24 hours before the change becomes permanent. I had such a fun time with Freaky, but there were a few things that held It back from reaching its full potential.
My first few positives would be the effective gore and great kills. The great over the top slasher tone, as well as the humour and fun dynamic between the two main characters. This movies slasher moments were excellent. The gore was over the top and used very effectively to add impact to the scenes, it was the kind of over-the-top fun you can expect from this kind of genre, the kills were also very creative. I felt like the kills were actually different and fresh compared to other slashers and didn’t go for conventional generic kills which was nice to watch. I loved this film a lot when it had its over-the-top slasher tone, I personally didn’t think this stayed consistent throughout (more on that later) it never treated itself too seriously and I respected that about the film, it made my enjoyment level so much higher for it, and the little attention to detail in the soundtrack and even the font of the writing for the change of days was so much fun. I also thought the film was absolutely hilarious. The amount of clever and well-timed humour they could get out of two completely opposite people switching bodies was excellently executed. The dynamic between Millie (Kathryn Newton) and The Butcher (Vince Vaughn) was fantastic and there were constant laugh out loud moments. It was a clever idea that was very well executed and was refreshing to watch.
My next few positives would be the fantastic cast. The excellent cinematography, the great set up for the main plot point. As well as the development to the plot and the great representation. The Whole cast here did a fantastic job. Everyone had fantastic chemistry and excellent comedic timing. Vince Vaughn was brilliant, and it was nice to see him back in a leading comedic role again. His timing and delivery were excellent, he didn’t hold back which was amazing to watch. But also, Kathryn Newton did a fantastic job here, both her serious and comedic acting was brilliant, and I think she has a bright future ahead of her. Other key standouts for me were Celeste O’Connor, Misha Osherovich and Uriah Shelton who all did a fantastic job and had loads of charm to their performances, hopefully they get some more work out of this. The cinematography was also excellent, considering the small five million budget, the visuals were extremely strong, and they made the most out of the limited budget they had. With particularly excellent usage of colour and CGI. I loved the set up for the main plot point of the body swap, it was set up in the way of a classic slasher with a chase and was incredibly fun to watch and well executed. It set up the tone for the film as a whole and served its purpose well. I also loved the development to the plot, it never once got boring, keeping you entertained at a nice fast pace with good character development and strong twists to keep you invested. Finally, I also thought that the movie handled its representation of LGBTQ and black characters within horror very well, Both Celeste and Misha were very strong supporting cast members that actually served a lot to the plot and the main characters, also cleverly playing on the joke of these types of characters being underrepresented or killed early in horror films, this was cleverly done and refreshing to see.
However, there was a far few negatives that for me, held the film back from reaching its full potential. There was a fair amount of genre tropes, a lazy set up and some very forced conflict. For me, despite some refreshing twists on genre tropes, the film still couldn’t escape a lot of them. Especially with the main character, she fitted into the stereotypical high school outsider for this kind of film, and a lot of character decisions were very predictable and generic that made the more refreshing moments and creative decisions have slightly less impact. The conflict at Millie at her school just felt forced and it was never really explained or developed properly, so it felt unneeded and once again fell into genre tropes that could have been avoided. I also thought the set up was very lazily done, having Millie being stuck at her school and straight away and not to make the sensible decision to go home with her friends was silly to me. It felt lazily written which most of this film wasn’t and could have been handled much better.
My final few negatives would be the tonal imbalance, the lack of emotional connection and the unneeded ending. The film never fully managed to balance its horror and its comedy. It felt imbalanced far too often throughout the film. It started off strong as a horror/slasher and then as soon as the comedy came into play the film struggled to find a good balance. And for me there wasn’t enough kills and horror elements throughout, therefore I found myself enjoying it and viewed it more as a comedy. I also found myself emotionally disconnected from the film. Whilst appreciating the development and the film adding more depth to Millie and her family it wasn’t needed for this type of film. I think trying to add emotion onto an already imbalanced mix of comedy and horror was the wrong choice, if it was cut from the film I would have still enjoyed it equally as much. I also found the ending to be completely unnecessary. It felt like the film had already ended, with satisfying arcs for the characters and the antagonist dead. But somehow it didn’t end there and the whole final sequence felt unnecessary and tagged on for the sake of it, holding no purpose whatsoever, if they wanted to set up a sequel this was not the way to do it.
My final few positives would be the fantastic script, the great character development. The fantastic rising of stakes and the fun final act. The script for this film was excellent, the comedic writing was incredibly clever, playing on genre tropes. Whilst also playing on the body swapping dynamic excellently. I also liked how the character of Millie developed. Despite the character depth not being needed it definitely added layers to some of the characters and Millie. And how her character developed in her confidence of herself and it was nice to see, I cared about the characters which isn’t always the case with films like this. I also thought the final act and the rising of the stakes was excellent. It was entertaining, hilarious and gruesome, adding a new layer just enough times for it to be unpredictable, with a clever nod to one particular moment at the beginning of the film. And the characters had good arcs and before the unneeded ending was a satisfying end to the film.
Overall, Freaky can’t escape some tired genre tropes. And works better as a comedy than a horror with both of the genres not fully gelling. But the film is elevated by the fantastic and charming cast. Its fantastic dialogue and humour and the execution of its creative idea. And I still had a fun time with it.
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