FREAKY (2020)

 

(Director/co-screenwriter: Christopher Landon. Co-screenwriter: Michael Kennedy.)

 

Review

When the Blissfield Butcher (played by Vince Vaughn), a taciturn serial killer ignorant about a mystical, Aztec dagger he’s wielding, attacks a new victim (Millie Kessler, played by Kathryn Newton), they body-swap. Now he’s running around in her body, thrilled to have further access to new high school-aged victims, and Millie─trapped in the body of a now-familiar-to-all serial killer─must find a way to switch them back without getting arrested or killed, either by well-meaning citizens or the Butcher.

This R-rated mix of Mary Rodgers’s 1972 novel FREAKY FRIDAY (later resulting in several Disney films) and FRIDAY THE 13th (1980) is a fun, fast-paced, emotionally involving, suspenseful and smart film. It was originally titled FREAKY FRIDAY THE 13th but concerns about possible lawsuits compelled the filmmakers to shorten its title.

Christopher Landon, who directed and co-wrote its script with Michael Kennedy, deftly mixes John Hughes-style coming-of-age humor and pathos, fresh slasher flick and body swap movie homages and suspenseful and gory kill scenes, making FREAKY an imaginative and progressive-minded take on these subgenres. It’s a breezy, often laugh-out-loud funny and gripping work, one that stands out in a worthwhile way.

FREAKY’s freshness is not surprising, considering that Landon─son of actor Michael Landon (I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF, 1957)─is the co-author and director of the entertaining, genre-mix films HAPPY DEATHDAY (2017), HAPPY DEATHDAY 2U (2019), and SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE (2015), among others.

Its cast is excellent as well. Kathryn Newton and Vince Vaughn, during their body-swap scenes, effectively convey their counterpart’s natures─Butcher, psychotic; Millie, smart and energetic (Vaughn is especially hilarious when channeling Millie). Celeste O’Connor played Nyla Chones, one of Millie’s best friends. Misha Osherovich played Josh Detmer, her other best friend. Katie Finneran played Carol Kessler, Millie’s grief-stricken, alcoholic mother. FREAKY’s other actors also nailed their roles, but it’s a big cast, too many to list here.

Horror-genre fans may appreciate Landon and Kennedy’s nods to other films, including HALLOWEEN (1978), FRIDAY THE 13th PART 3 (1982), JENNIFER’S BODY (2009), SCREAM and SCREAM 2 (1996-7) and CHERRY FALLS (2000).

My only nit─and it’s really minor─is that the Aztec ritual dagger (called La Dola) is not given much explanation, a few lines at best. That said, I don’t mind too much that there was not a lot of background as it’s not vital to the events of FREAKY, and to give further time to La Dola’s history and nature might have unnecessarily slowed the rollercoaster pace of the FREAKY. Not only that, it leaves further intriguing, twist-promising room for a sequel to explore─although Landon has said that he sees FREAKY as a one-shot work. He has indicated in interviews that he’s ready to shoot the third DEATHDAY film, wrap up the dangling plot threads from HAPPY DEATHDAY 2U.

FREAKY is excellent, funny, suspenseful, and smart. Check it out!

HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U (2019)

 

(Director/screenwriter: Christopher Landon, based on Scott Lobdell’s characters)

Review

Tuesday the 19^th. The day after the serial-killer loop-day of HAPPY DEATH DAY (2017), Ryan Phan─science-nerd roommate briefly seen in the first HAPPY─wakes up in his hot afternoon car. . . and starts reliving the same day again and again. He tells his roommate (Carter Davis) and Carter’s new girlfriend, Tree Gelbhorn, about it when Tree, who experienced the phenomenon in a longer, more violent way in the first HAPPY, tells Ryan about her time recycle where she tried to not only escape the fatal replays but figure out who her baby face-masked killer was.

Phan, Carter and Tree realize that they and those around them are in evolving, spiraling  quantum loop, created by Phan and his friends’ lab experiment (SISSY). They try to send Tree back to her normal loop while she, again, deals with her serial killer (who is not who it was last time), her grief issues about her mom’s death, and her inevitable, painful final death if she does not stop the killer and get back to her home timeline. But, of course, there are plenty of complications and character-based twists to navigate through before she can get there.

Like the first HAPPY, 2U is PG-13, gore-free, fleet, science fiction- and action-oriented, and humorous. Unlike the first HAPPY, 2U has less serial killer terror scenes (though the few there are nail the suspense vibe). 2U also reveals the why of Tree’s first-film quantum loops, something HAPPY neglected to do (not a criticism). Horror fans may grumble that 2U’s relative lack of scare scenes makes it a lightweight science fiction and action film for teens, but for this viewer it is a welcome and logical evolution of the possible HAPPY trilogy (the mid-end-credits scenes indicate this is a possibility).

HAPPY’s key cast members, good in their parts, return in 2U, some of them with expanded roles (e.g., Phan). They include: Jessica Rothe as Tree Gelbhorn, the perpetually stalked student dealing with other personal issues; Israel Broussard as Carter Davis, her romantic interest (and whose room she keeps waking up in); Ruby Modine (SATANIC PANIC, 2019), as Lori Spengler, Tree’s roommate, whose intentions are different this time around; Phi Vu as Ryan Phan, Carter’s sometimes crass but nice scientist roommate; Rachel Matthews as Danielle Bouseman, still vacuous but less bitchy in 2U; Charles Aitken as Gregory Butler, Tree’s married lover in HAPPY, with whom her relationship is different this time around; and Rob Mello (FRIDAY THE 13th, VENGEANCE 2—BLOODLINES, 2021) as John Tombs, as vicious and violent as he was in the first film.

Two new players add to the fun: Sara Yarkin as Andrea “Dre” Morgan, one of Ryan’s fellow science nerds; and Saraj Sharma as Samar Ghosh, another science nerd.

2U is a solid, entertaining sequel that fills the why-related plot holes of the first film, with its tonal remix willingness to focus on story and characters without catering to narrow terror-genre expectations. Does 2U require a follow-up flick? No, but if it’s as entertaining and well-written (with a few convenient-to-plot situations) as 2U, another entry in HAPPY franchise may not be a bad thing.

HAPPY DEATH DAY (2017)

 

(Director/screenwriter: Christopher Landon. Screenwriter: Scott Lobdell.)

Review

Monday the 18^th. Tree Gelbhorn (Jessica Rothe), a hungover college student, wakes in another student’s dorm bed. How did she get here? Who is this seemingly nice guy (Carter Davis), whose bed she’s in? Did she sleep with him─they’re both clothed, and he’s rummaging around his room─and how fast can she get out of there?

A few minutes later, Tree walks through the daylit, busy campus, shaking off her alcohol-induced aches and pains, and gets on with her day. Later, that night, a silent, hoodie- and baby mask-wearing psycho stabs and kills her. Screen goes to black.

She wakes up in Carter’s bed again, beginning back-to-back re-loops of this day, with variable situations, all of them ending in her violent death. Can she figure out who’s trying to kill her and end this twenty-four-hour-replay nightmare before Baby Face ends her for good?

This PG-13-rated, hybrid horror comedy is a delight to watch. Light on gore (there’s a suggestive scene or two), it’s a fast-moving, funny and often suspenseful take on the serial killer genre, a butt-kick to its kill-by-numbers template. Scott Lobdell’s action-oriented screenplay is light on time-loop explanations, but to dwell on that is to nitpick (for this viewer, anyway), ignoring HAPPY’s other effective elements, including its solid mystery, organic humor and storytelling, and well-written lead characters.

Rothe is convincing as the flighty, resourceful, and defensive Tree.

Her fellow players are good as well. Standouts include: Ruby Modine (SATANIC PANIC, 2019) as Lori Spengler, Tree’s supportive and frustrated roommate; Rob Mello (FRIDAY THE 13th: VENGEANCE 2—BLOODLINES, 2021) as John Tombs, an escaped maniac who killed six women; and Rachel Matthews, whose bitchy, vacuous Danielle Bouseman─queen bee of Kappa house─infuses HAPPY with further levity.

Fans of 1980s teen comedies may delight in HAPPY’s homage to John Hughes’s 1984 film SIXTEEN CANDLES, which adds further heart and charm to this suspenseful, inventive, funny and good-for-a-PG-13 flick.