What I’m Watching: a homage to the horror films of the 1980s

Date: 11/20/2020

In theaters: “Freaky”

In the 1930s though the mid-1950s, serious film fans could tell from which studio a film emerged by its use of stars, themes and style. Warner Bros. was known for movies “torn from the nation’s headlines.” Paramount had a sophisticated European feel thanks to directors such as Ernst Lubitsch. Universal was known for starting the horror film craze, while MGM was dubbed the “Tiffany” of the studios with movies that had substantial polish and budget.

Today, the executives running the studios are anonymous and the studios themselves have little identity. That’s why the independent studios and producers, such as Blumhouse Productions, stand out to me. They are a throwback to an earlier era.

Blumhouse is synonymous with horror films with the “Purge” and “Insidious” franchises among its best-known offerings. It’s newest film, “Freaky,” is in theaters.

This is a film that has so many bits from other films that, if you’re an old enough horror fan, you will have some fun just figuring out all of the references.

I’m sure I missed some myself. This film is part gore fest, part homage and part parody.

“Freaky” is a horror take on the “Freaky Friday” films – there have been four movie adaptions to date – in which a mother and daughter accidentally exchange bodies.  Those films play the concept for laughs and as a way for the two women to better understand one another.

In “Freaky,” the exchange is between Millie (Kathryn Newton) and the Blissfield Butcher played by Vince Vaughn. The high school senior and young woman finds herself in the body of a serial killer and she and her friends have 12 hours to reverse the exchange.

The film opens up with a group of privileged high school students drinking and having sex. By the laws established by 1980s horror films,  you know they will die immediately at the hands of the unstoppable serial killer who carries a large knife and wears a mask similar to those worn by hockey players.

Get what I mean by homage?

The soul of the serial killer makes a few cosmetic changes with Millie. Once a mild and meek kid, the new Millie changes her clothing sense, gets a new hairstyle, wears a little make-up and is transformed into a young woman who the entire school notices.

Sounds a little familiar, doesn’t it?

While the serial killer in Millie starts to do what he does best – kill people – The Blissfield Butcher Millie is busy trying to convince her terrified friends she needs their help.

Vaughn  and Newton carry the film and Vaughn makes a threatening serial killer and an equally effective 18-year-old girl, albeit trapped in a serial killer body.

I laughed out loud during one scene in which the football player  who has a crush on Millie kisses Vaughn because he is in love with her soul.

I won’t ruin the ending, but again it is the perfect ending one would expect from such a film.

Rated R for a lot of gore, “Freaky” is a minor but welcomed diversion for horror fans.