We’ve all seen many a body swap film, whether its family members swapping, different genders swapping, younger selves returning, random strangers but we actually haven’t seen a sweet mild mannered teenage girl swap bodies with a serial killer played by Vince Vaughn, that’s new.
When Maddie, shy quiet teenager and sport team mascot is chased down and stabbed by the town’s notorious serial killer, the Blissfield Butcher, things take a horrific and dramatic turn. Waking up in each other’s bodies, the Butcher has murder and mayhem on his mind, while Maddie and her friends desperately try to track him down in order to reverse the curse, with a lot of blood and death along the way.
Paying homage to the horror films of the dark comedy variety that came before it, Freaky doesn’t shy away from its very obvious influences, which makes for familiar story beats but also expectant of the bloody gore to come. The opening scenes play out exactly how you’d expect from this genre when a group of teens in a big house are brutally and inventively killed off. No final girl here. This is also where the ‘MacGuffin’ of the story is conveniently introduced, an ancient knife called La Dola, in one of the victim’s parents’ collection. This is the knife that has the ability to switch two people’s bodies but apart from the Aztec alter appearing when the knife is in play, there isn’t much else about the magical knife. I found this fascinating but this is not the film to go antique investigating.
Of course, the film goes for the blood, chaos, the terrible attitudes of some of the teenagers but seeing the two actors swap and be completely different was highly entertaining. Vince Vaughn, although playing his teen girl to the campest he can, was still very funny, taking every opportunity to exaggerate his character. Baby faced Kathryn Newton was also very impressive as switched into 50-year-old man killer mode. Playing heavily on Friday 13th vibes and Freaky Friday twists, there is a feeling that Freaky could have pushed things further but overall, it is a ridiculous fun distraction and strangely alternative Summer escape.