What to Watch This Weekend: Dune, Ron's Gone Wrong, French Dispatch, Protege, Old, Hell House, Zola, Freaky

For A Spicy Sci Fi Drama: Dune (Theaters and HBO Max)
Dune is a stunning visualization of Frank Herbert's world, with a great cast, fantastic special effects, and an epic and otherworldly soundtrack that will suck you in quicker than a great sand worm. For more information, check out the review!

For An Animated Adventure: Ron's Gone Wrong (Theaters)

The film gets high marks for its animation and humor, and the ultimate story of friendship is an endearing one.  

For A Quirky Stylish Comedy: The French Dispatch (Theaters)

The French Dispatch is mangifique, with an all star cast, crisp and witty writing, and a format that allows these two to meld perfectly for a thoroughly enjoyable and unique experience.  For more information, check out the review! 

For An Enjoyable Cat And Mouse Assassin Film: The Protege (Redbox)
The Protege's great cast, fun chemistry between the lead characters, and understated but brutal action make this one assassin film that is on target.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Twisted Aging Story: Old (Redbox)

Old has a mysterious story, some very nice performances and small touches, and a trademark M. Night Shyamalan twist ending, but the quirks and odd dialogue might cast some shadows on this beach vacation.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Bizarre, Hilarious Odyssey: Zola (Showtime)

Zola is something that has to be experienced to truly understand, and the combination of bizarre characters, amazing style, and some intense performances make this film something to like and retweet.  For more information, check out the review!

For The Spooky Season: Hell House LLC (Amazon Prime)

Hell House LLC is a surprisingly good found footage horror entry with a slow build up and plenty of scares to get your Halloween screaming!

For The Spooky Season 2: Freaky (HBO Max)

Freaky is a mash up of slasher, humor, and teen drama, with enjoyable performances from Vaughn and Newton in this stylish, entertaining horror take on the body swap film.   For more information, check out our review!

What to Watch This Weekend: The Mauritanian, Barb and Star, Lapsis, Sator, Judas and the Black Messiah, Minari, Land, Freaky

For A Star Studed Legal Drama: The Mauritanian (Theaters)
The Mauritarian tells an impressive and important story of justice delayed with an all star cast and plenty of legal and political drama!  For more information, check out the review!

For A Colorful Middle Aged Trip: Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar (Digital)
Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar is the type of laugh-out-loud ridiculousness we need right now, with fantastic characters and a bright style to help jump start your 2021.   For more information, check out the review!

For A Satirical Look At Our Techno Future: Lapsis (Virtual Cinema)

Lapsis has a strong, satirical style, a smart setting, and great characters to tell a near future story dealing with some very modern, timely societal issues.   For more information, check out the review!

For An Atmospheric Horror Experience: Sator (Digital)

Sator is a wonderfully done indie horror movie with great atmosphere, effects, and creepiness telling a unique story that pushes the genre while staying so true to what makes it great.      For more information, check out the review!

For A Powerful Film About Racial Injustice: Judas and the Black Messiah (Theaters and HBO Max)

Judas and the Black Messiah is an amazing, powerful film that chronicles the short life of a charismatic leader, and highlights ideals and injustices that are still relevant today.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Beautiful Immigrant Experience: MInari (Theaters)

Minari is a slow but exquisite film, one that tells the immigrant story with beautiful cinematography, sharp dialog, and a slow burning, bittersweet story of hard work, dedication, and loss.   For more information, check out the review!

For Those That Want To Get Away: Land (Theaters)

Land will take you back to nature with its stunning wilderness cinematography, fantastic soundtrack, and harsh realities of life and survival.  For more information, check out our review!

For A Humorous And Satisfying Horror Film: Freaky (Digital and Redbox)

Freaky is a mash up of slasher, humor, and teen drama, with enjoyable performances from Vaughn and Newton in this stylish, entertaining horror take on the body swap film.   For more information, check out our review!

What to Watch This Weekend: Freaky, Come Away, Mulan, Echo Boomers, Bill & Ted, Over the Moon, A Christmas Feast, Yes God Yes

For Some Freaky Friday the 13th Action - Freaky (In Theaters)

Freaky is a mash up of slasher, humor, and teen drama, with enjoyable performances from Vaughn and Newton in this stylish, entertaining horror take on the body swap film.  For more information, check out the review!

For Some Heartfelt Holiday Cheer - A Christmas Feast / Feast of the Seven Fishes (Digital)

A Christmas Feast gives you an extra helping of interesting, complicated characters and serves them up in a fun and emotional holiday film that will have you coming back for seconds.  For more information, check out our review!

For Some Angsty Action - Echo Boomers (Theaters and Digital)

Echo Boomers has an excellent cast, an exciting story, and some very visceral scenes of destruction in this encapsulation of millennial and financial angst.  For more information, check out our review!

For the Dreamers and Fairy Talers - Come Away (Theaters)

Come Away will let your imagination fly, with its wonderful cast and refreshingly diverse reimagining of classic fairy tales.  For more information, check out our review!

For The Kids - Over The Moon (Netflix)

A new animated film from renowned Disney animator (and Oscar winner) Glen Keane, this film has a familiar family feel, beautiful animation, and a heartfelt message.

For Those Looking For A Heartfelt Dramady - Yes, God, Yes (Netflix)

A coming-of-age dramady with a fantastic performance by lead Natalie Dyer, and deals with growing up and sexuality in a smart, warmhearted manner.

For An Excellent Time - Bill and Ted Face the Music (Redbox)

Bill & Ted Face the Music is without a doubt the best of the franchise.  This adventure through time is one you do not want to miss: it it has tons of call backs from the previous films, memorable moments, and characters.  For more information, check out our review!

For the Disney Fans - Mulan (Redbox)

If you didn't want to pay $30 for the Disney plus premium version, and don't want to wait until Christmas for it to be free on Disney, check out Disney's live action Mulan remake available for rental at Redbox!  

Freaky Review: A Humorous Take on The Body Swap Formula With Splatters of Horror

Release date: November 13, 2020
Running time: 101 minutes
Starring: Kathryn Newton, Vince Vaughn, Alan Ruck
Directed By: Christopher Landon

From the director of Happy Death Day, which took a humorous, horror spin on Groundhog Day comes Freaky, which does the same with the Freaky Friday formula.  In Freaky, Millie (Newton) is a normal high school girl dealing with being a teenage and the pressures of that time.  And on top of that she now has to worry about a serial killer known as the Blissfield Butcher (Vaughen) who is terrorizing the area.  And after a particularly weird night, the two swap bodies and discovery that they have less than 24 hours before the change becomes permanent.  

Freaky is a mix of both horror, teen drama, and humorous elements.  They come together wonderfully with the same type of irreverent style that was present in Happy Death Day.  The film definitely starts with good horror elements and some brutal scenes.  But after the initial shock, it settles into more of a humorous teenage drama with a few more horror splatters here and there.  Oh, and partway through the film Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton completely switch characters.  And what this means is that those two actors have to pull double duty for their roles, each having to portray the other.  Newton has to portray a cold serial killer and Vaughn has to portray a confused teenager.  It is really a sight to see as the actors change their entire mannerisms to accomplish this feat.  And not only is it impressive, it is hilarious to see.  Some of the lines and actions really are laugh out loud funny.  A lot of the early humor is seeing the jerky, intentionally unnatural way that their newly swapped bodies move, and some of the things that they say to those around them.  And Millie's friends Josh (Misha Osherovich) and Nyla (Celeste O'Connor) were great additions to this cast, adding some much needed diversity and plenty of humor. 

Additionally, Freaky has some really fantastic writing.  It is sharp and clever, and does a great job evoking an exaggerated high school experience.  You have plenty of jokes and quips about dating, crushes, homecoming, colleges; pretty much everything you would expect a teenager to worry about.  Oh, and on top of that they are worried about a serial killer on the loose.  Another similarity with Happy Death Day is that the film has a definite sense of style.  It has an exaggerated color palatte (similar again, to Happy Death Day) with good, strong colors at times and good shot choice.  It makes everything pop and helps to emphasize the humor and teenage drama parts of this film. 

The whole premise of Freaky is entertaining, even for those not into horror.  There are some gory parts in a couple places, but overall it is just an enjoyable scenario and a funny movie.  It is really fun to see this take on a classic Hollywood formula and I am wracking my brain to think of what the next horror-based classic movie riff will be.  But don't get me wrong, the film also has some good horror elements.  Especially during the start and some of the more tense scenes, there are definitely some moments that will make you hold your breath.  And the film has some entertaining and gruesome kill scenes.  But this film is a mash of different genres, bringing together some fantastic elements and sequences from those genres to make a wonderful new whole.

Freaky is a mash up of slasher, humor, and teen drama, with enjoyable performances from Vaughn and Newton in this stylish, entertaining horror take on the body swap film.  

Watch it.

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Freaky is in theaters on Friday, November 13.