The Office’s Micheal Scott once said “I am not superstitious, but I am a little stitious,” and I live by that. I don’t believe in many superstitions, but I strongly believe Friday the 13th is cursed. There have been multiple instances in my life where this day has turned out to be torturous, so I usually try to do as little as possible on Friday the 13th. But this year, I decided to watch the funny thriller titled “Freaky.”
“Freaky” is a comedic scary movie that puts a good spin on the classic film “Freaky Friday,” in which two people switch bodies and must do something to switch back. In “Freaky,” instead of a mom and daughter switching bodies, a serial killer dubbed the Blissfield Butcher (Vince Vaughn) switches bodies with a high school outsider Millie Kessler (Kathryn Newton) after he tries to kill her. The only way for them to switch back, though, is if Millie, now inside of the Butcher’s body, tries to stab her own body, which is possessed by the Butcher, within 24 hours.
The movie, though rated R, is much less scary than I thought it would be because the comedy lessened the effect of the suspense and jump scares. I don’t normally enjoy horror movies, but this movie had the perfect mix of thrill and wit. One thing I will say about “Freaky” is that the gore was a little much. If you have a weak stomach, I would not recommend it because the camera focuses frequently on a mangled, bloody body shortly after people have been killed. Personally, I didn’t think it was too much, but my friend who was with me had to cover her eyes in some parts due to the graphic carnage.
The movie had a very intriguing jocular twist to it. Because a grown man and a high school girl switched bodies while a romance was flourishing between Millie and a high school boy, Booker (Uriah Shelton), there were a lot of amusing moments based on that. Though some of the humor could be a little crude at points, I thought it made all of the gore, murder and suspense a little more bearable.
Lastly, the movie had a great friendship dynamic between Millie and her friends Josh (Misha Osherovich) and Nyla (Celeste O’Connor). When she switches bodies, Millie tells her two friends first, and they all work together to help Millie switch back into her normal body. Another thing is the added family dynamic with Millie’s widowed mother (Katie Finneran) and her sister (Dana Drori). The audience sees Millie and her mother’s relationship grow while her sister, who is also a cop, help her out as much as possible. The addition of these relationships make the story a little bit more relatable.
Overall, I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who likes horror movies, and even to people who may not usually like suspenseful films. It was a great, joking and suspenseful movie that held my attention for the entire hour and 43 minutes.