I assume if you are reading this review that you already know the basic premise of Freaky. It is in the trailers, and the title kind of gives it away, but if you don't know the events that start off this movie just avoid this review. The opening sequence of Freaky kind of gives you an idea of what you can expect as far as violence and gore. This movie pulls no punches and has extreme bloody violence in the kills. They establish early that the villain is a psychopathic killer who revels in all kinds of murder, with no signs of remorse. For the longest time I thought they were going to maintain him as a completely silent/mute person, but I think they did some good things with him talking as the film moved on, so it was probably worthwhile that they gave up on that choice. I do struggle sometimes with these kind of slasher films because they are predicated on people making stupid decisions, and that certainly holds true here. Every major character in this movie acts like an idiot at least once or twice.
What makes Freaky for me is the comedy. They lean in hard to the silliness of a teenage girl living in a grown man's body, and Vince Vaughn does a pretty good job of portraying that. He actually doesn't fall into all the stereotypes of teenage girls either, and seems to be portraying this particular young woman. However, I think the real genius was in the performance of Kathryn Newton. She is absolutely transformed as this insane murderer, and every single body movement and expression is different. I loved everything she was doing, particularly when she is playing a huge man who expects to get more strength from this little body. The kills were a bit extreme for me, and most of the plot elements were overly predictable. Yet, I was still entertained by Freaky, and I like that someone is finding new ways to use old genres and tropes to keep them fresh and original. This isn't a movie I'll want to seek out on a regular basis, but it is one I would be willing to watch again if I'm in the right mood.
What makes Freaky for me is the comedy. They lean in hard to the silliness of a teenage girl living in a grown man's body, and Vince Vaughn does a pretty good job of portraying that. He actually doesn't fall into all the stereotypes of teenage girls either, and seems to be portraying this particular young woman. However, I think the real genius was in the performance of Kathryn Newton. She is absolutely transformed as this insane murderer, and every single body movement and expression is different. I loved everything she was doing, particularly when she is playing a huge man who expects to get more strength from this little body. The kills were a bit extreme for me, and most of the plot elements were overly predictable. Yet, I was still entertained by Freaky, and I like that someone is finding new ways to use old genres and tropes to keep them fresh and original. This isn't a movie I'll want to seek out on a regular basis, but it is one I would be willing to watch again if I'm in the right mood.