Watch the First Trailer for Body-Swapping Slasher Movie Freaky

By Jim Vorel  |  September 10, 2020 | 10:38am
Photos via Universal Pictures
Movies News horror movies
Watch the First Trailer for Body-Swapping Slasher Movie Freaky
Introducing Endless Mode: A New Games & Anime Site from Paste

Say that you enjoyed Happy Death Day and its sequel, but thought “couldn’t this be more obvious in its quest to apply a slasher formula to Groundhog Day?” Well, if a total lack of guile is what you’re after, then the next Blumhouse comedy slasher from director Christopher Landon should deliver the goods: Freaky is so determined to be the slasher version of Freaky Friday (not to mention The Hot Chick!) that its working title during production was literally Freaky Friday the 13th, acknowledging both of its key texts in the process. At least they’re not being coy about it, right?

Freaky stars the unusual duo of Kathryn Newton (Big Little Lies, Society) and Vince Vaughn of all people, as a serial killer and victim who experience a supernatural event that rearranges their lives. As the official synopsis puts it:

After swapping bodies with a deranged serial killer (Vince Vaughn), a young girl in high school (Kathryn Newton) discovers she has less than 24 hours before the change becomes permanent.

Looking at the first trailer, this looks tropey as hell, with Newton playing “the beautiful girl who we’re supposed to buy as unpopular and trod upon by her peers.” She looks like prime Final Girl material, which makes it all the more ridiculous that she claims that “if this was a horror movie, I’d be one of the first to get killed.” Has she ever seen a slasher movie? It’s the mousy, virginal girl who comes out on top, folks.

The trailer is stuffed full of horror references in general, and looks like another breezy entry in the vein of Landon’s previous Happy Death Day, right down to two of its characters exclaiming “You’re black; I’m gay; we’re so dead!” Don’t expect much in the way of genuine attempts at scares, but if Landon’s previous work is any indication, Freaky should at least be worth a few chuckles. It’s currently scheduled to hit theaters on Nov. 13, 2020.

 
Join the discussion...