Film review: Freaky (2020)

We're in the middle of a bunch of prestige shows (Better Call Saul in particular) that have reached a point in their stories where things could very well turn grim, so it takes being in the prefect frame of mind to watch an episode.  Last night was not one of those nights, so instead we watched a dumb horror-comedy, by the same people that brought you Happy Death Day, by which we have previously been harmlessly entertained. Clearly these people like high-concept reinventions of the slasher genre, because, just as HDD featured a killer behind a grotesque baby mask, this one features a killer behind an African (I think) mask.  The concept this time, alluded to in the title, which is a reference to Freaky Friday, the Disney film where a mother and daughter swap bodies, is that the killer and one of his attempted victims swap bodies, as a result of him attempting the kill with some kind of enchanted Aztec dagger under a full moon (the details aren't too important). The extra catch is that he is hulking actor Vince Vaughn, while the victim Millie is a she, and is a fairly diminutive teenage girl.  So the bulk of the film involves us rooting for "her," played by a mincing Vince Vaughn, and against "him," a scary teenage blonde.  It's surprisingly easy to make the mental switch, and even more surprisingly easy for our heroine to convince her two best buddies plus crush that "she" has acquired a new body (the buddies are convinced when Vince Vaughn does the cheerleading-beaver dance that is her job in the cheer squad (she's in full costume, complete with awkward giant feet when the killer is chasing her pre-body-switch),

plus their special handshake/high-five routine, the crush is convinced when Vaughn can recite verbatim the love poem she had anonymously deposited in his locker [but, given that it was anonymous, couldn't the scary man have left it there himself?]).  Lest you missed the lesson about transgenderism, one of the buddies chides the other with "pronouns!" when he calls the killer-in-Millie's-body "she".  It is actually a good conceit - even the scene where the crush, a very fresh-faced well-scrubbed young man goes in to kiss the much-larger, stubbly Vaughn isn't so unbelievable that it's wholly comedic rather than partly romantic.  There's also the right balance of over-the-top gory demises (wine bottle shoved down a throat and broken, shop circular saw used to bisect obnoxious shop teacher) to make this a proper tribute to the slasher movies of yore, without the bad taste of anyone you actually care about biting it.  Mostly the people who bite it are rapey jock types or vile mean girls.  The only slight jarring note (assuming you're okay with the whole slasher genre to begin with) is when Millie and friends manage to switch bodies back just before the police arrive and Vince "formerly Mille" Vaughn goes down in a hail of bullets, while the girl who has spent the majority of the film being the personification of evil survives.  I think the film-makers realized they had to fix this, because there's the obligatory just-when-you-thought-you-were-safe-the-killer-comes-back final act, where you get to root for the girl in earnest.  One has to wonder about all the girl DNA that should be in evidence around the multiple gory kills.  Good thing the main local cop is Millie's own sister (who, along with her wine-sotted-because-grieving-her-recently-dead-dad mother never gets let in on the whole switcheroo business).  All in all, a top-notch modern B-movie and another dumb-while-being-smart diversion, perfectly serving its purpose.