249: Freaky (2020)

SPEAKER_03 0:04

Wow, I completely forgot about the hot chick. Who the fuck am I?

SPEAKER_04 0:07

Can't forget about the hot chick.

SPEAKER_03 0:09

I already did. Phenomenal movie. Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. I was gonna stick this in your box, but I figured I'd come check on y'all. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack, a total joke, a waste of time, or a slash.

SPEAKER_04 0:33

Totally killer, pun intended.

SPEAKER_03 0:35

We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with the perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast, and this week I'm joined by the Superfly Space Guy Mac.

SPEAKER_05 0:48

Maybe we should wait for when my hand's not bigger than your whole face.

SPEAKER_03 0:51

The classic horror connoisseur of Sean.

SPEAKER_05 0:54

You guys gotta see this.

SPEAKER_04 0:55

This is like a floppy anteater.

SPEAKER_03 0:57

And the paranormal paramour Binks. Don't underestimate a strange white man's propensity for violence. The people have spoken and our patrons have decided we're checking out a Blumhouse film that released back in 2020. Before we get down to business though, we have some follow-up.

SPEAKER_05 1:10

Let's follow up on a movie. We recently watched The Witch from 2015. And um I thought it was fantastic. I really loved it. But we wanted to know what you all thought. So 21% of you gave it a hack, and 79% slashed it.

SPEAKER_03 1:24

I'm honestly surprised it was so much hack.

SPEAKER_04 1:26

Yeah, I don't know. I've heard a lot of mixed things, friends, and stuff, that uh I knew enough people that didn't like it to kind of that doesn't super surprise me, but um but I agree. I thought it was fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

I have to be honest, friends, I actually haven't seen this movie yet. So seeing this high rating of a slash has me excited. Um, I know enough about the what happens in the movie, unfortunately. Nonetheless, I still want to watch it. I'm looking forward to seeing what this is all about.

SPEAKER_05 1:51

Well, we have some comments from people who want to live deliciously. Katie says, Black Phillip is so cute.

SPEAKER_03 1:56

Agreed. What a great goat. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:59

Caleb said, very eerie, insane last shot. And Anya Taylor Joy is phenomenal.

SPEAKER_03 2:04

An icon, a legend.

SPEAKER_04 2:05

I agree. That last shot was amazing.

SPEAKER_05 2:08

Gabe said, it's like watching the thing on a snowy day. The witch is perfect for those gray ass days.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

All right. Thanks, Gabe. Now I know for the next gray ass day. I'm diving right in.

SPEAKER_05 2:17

Diana says, Old Tommy Horror at its finest. If anything, this makes me want to be a witch even more.

SPEAKER_03 2:23

Honestly, best summation of the movie right there.

SPEAKER_05 2:27

Leia said, gave me the feeling of how much religion really put fear into people back then. Facts. And Matthew says, a masterclass in slow building dread. I'm with that. Jake said, thou slasheth the devilishly sinister filmeth. Anya joy is the besteth. It's the goateth. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 2:45

You know what? Look, commitment to a bit is something that I really admire in people. It's something that I commit to as well. So thank you, Jake. And not only for that great comment, because our patron Jake actually sent us a care package, and in it, he included a beautiful print of Black Philip himself and all his goatee glory to honor the film getting a universal slash from our panel. So thank you, sir. I promise you, if we ever have a centralized hacker slash headquarters set up, it's gonna be the first thing we hang on the wall.

SPEAKER_05 3:13

That's awesome. There will be key cards, though, to just to get in, you know.

SPEAKER_03 3:17

There has to be. You love a good key card.

SPEAKER_05 3:19

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 3:20

Barbarians with actual keys. Fuck that. Never going back, baby. Never going back.

SPEAKER_05 3:25

Now we have some new patrons to welcome. Chelsea, Katie, and Peyton. Thank you for becoming part of the Hacker Slash fam. Uh, we love you. And uh most importantly, we care about you. That's our follow-up.

SPEAKER_03 3:35

Well, while our patrons were certainly fans of The Witch, this month they decided to infuse something a little bit more fun into the lineup. This week's film takes a classic body swap conundrum and spices it up with a little bit of murder. The movie follows a high school girl who has swapped bodies with a local slasher, and she's in a race against the clock to both stop the bloodshed and reclaim her body. This week, after winning 67% of the overall patron vote, we're talking about freaky.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

This movie was nominated by our patron Ashley. She says, This movie feels like it was practically made for me. A horror spin on Freaky Friday? Yes, please. Catherine Newton and Vince Vaughn both play their roles really well, and Vaughn is particularly impressive. The opening of this movie is one of my favorite opening scenes in recent years, and the gore in this movie feels like the perfect amount. We also get a good balance of horror and comedy with a couple of heartfelt moments sprinkled in. This movie's only flaw in my book is a really bad joke early on. But other than that, it's damn near perfect.

SPEAKER_03 4:35

Mmm, damn near perfect is high praise, Ashley. But let's see if the rest of us agree who's seen this one before.

SPEAKER_04 4:41

So I thought that I had seen this one before for some reason. It looked familiar uh when I found out we were going to um review this one, but uh maybe it's because I saw the trailer a couple years back when it was coming out. But yeah, no, that being said, once I put this on, I realized I had never seen this one before.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Yeah, me too, actually. I thought that I had seen this movie, but I guess it was just the trailer. So this is my first time watching it. And I was really surprised that this was selected as a patron pick. I think it's because I kind of forgot that this movie existed until it was voted in. And I'm surprised because it is a Blumhouse film. And I love Vince Fawn, but this movie just went under the radar for me, so I was really looking forward to going into this review with a fresh set of opinions.

SPEAKER_05 5:21

I have seen this before. We we actually watched this a couple months ago back when it was like streaming for free on HBO Max. I guess not for free because you're paying for it, but this was one that my wife and I were just like had a lazy day and we're like, we need to watch some TV. What do we want to watch? Let's watch a movie, and we're just browsing, going, well, like we still have a trailer for this, so it kind of looks fun. Let's let's hit play. So this would be my second viewing now.

SPEAKER_03 5:41

Okay, well, I think you're the most experienced one here, Mac, because I have not seen this movie. Obviously, you've seen Freaky Friday. I love a good Blum House production, but this is one that I intended to watch and just happened to not get around to it uh when this movie actually came out in 2020. And so I thought, oh, I'm sure we'll get to it one day on the show. And here we are, two years later, finally. In terms of expectations, though, I had such mixed feelings going into this. On the one hand, it gave me the impression that it would be similar to Happy Death Day, but for some reason I felt like it probably wouldn't be quite as clever. But the other hand, Vince, you said you love Vince Vaughn. I am so hot and cold about Vince Vaughn. There are some things I enjoy him in and some things I can't fucking stand him in. It's not that it's not like I hate him. He's not on my short list of actors who I cannot watch anything that they're in, but I was most anxious and hesitant to see how he would feel in this movie for me. I did, though, actually go through this house at Halloween Horror Nights, and you kind of open, you walk through with the opening scene of this movie. So while I had an idea of how some things would go, I did have some high expectations for the gore since I saw how some of the kills would play out.

SPEAKER_04 6:52

That's interesting. I didn't know they did a house for this at Halloween Horror Nights.

SPEAKER_03 6:56

It was combined. It was this and the black phone put together, and man, that was like one of the best attractions.

SPEAKER_04 7:02

Wow, that that's interesting. Uh well, all right, cool. What was that this year, last year, two years ago?

SPEAKER_03 7:08

This year, baby.

SPEAKER_04 7:09

Okay, all right, cool. I missed out.

SPEAKER_03 7:11

It was Halloween, then the Blum House house for me.

SPEAKER_04 7:14

Yeah, I know the Halloween house was a was a favorite for sure. I'm really upset that I didn't go, but it is what it is. You know, my expectations uh for this one, it you know, I don't know, it had fairly high ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. I think it had like a it's maintained like an 83% or something like that. So it also has a fairly high rating from the general audience. So I was expecting this movie to be a pretty decent film. You don't often see horror films that maintain high ratings like that these days. You know, also to your point, Chris, it's not that I don't like Vince Vaughn, but Vince Vaughn and horror movies, somehow that pairing doesn't sit right with me.

SPEAKER_03 7:49

Oh, it's because of the shop for shot remake of Psycho, except add Vince Vaughn masturbating in it. Fucking bizarre.

SPEAKER_04 7:55

Yeah, I did not like that one.

SPEAKER_05 7:56

I I think, Chris, I'm kind of like you. I was expecting to get some major happy death day vibes. I don't even know if I had actually seen that before we watched this at home, but for some reason, like the trailers felt really similar. Like it felt funny, but it also felt like kind of a modern horror, modern slasher kind of situation. I know you and I got to watch together their what was it, gosh, the name of the movie.

SPEAKER_03 8:19

There's There's Someone in Your House.

SPEAKER_05 8:20

There's someone in your house, yes. Okay. So like it's got that more like polished feel to it, but it still plays upon, you know, classic uh slasher fields. So that's what I was kind of expecting going into this. Is it's a pretty straightforward premise, except for the whole freaky Friday thing going on. So I'm like, okay, that's gonna be where the comedy comes in, and then we're gonna get the traditional slasher. So I didn't have the highest or lowest of expectations. I mean, it wasn't something that anyone else that I know was like clamoring to get to. So I just figured it was gonna be kind of a middle-of-the-road, generally, hopefully entertaining kind of film.

SPEAKER_02 8:53

So I agree, even though I am a Vince Vaughn fan, I still went into this truthfully, actually thinking that it'd be a borderline flop. It is hard, of course, to think of Vince Vaughn as a serial killer, but I I think that was almost the point, right? I figured there would be a chance that it actually might have been pretty entertaining for me, considering the leads, considering that it's a Blumhouse film. And it's overall been a while since I've seen a horror comedy. Actually, I think maybe the last one I have seen is Happy Death Day, if we want to, you know, consider that. But like going into it, I figured, alright, this is odd. I haven't really heard much about this film since its release date, back in 2020. And also seeing that it was a house, now in Halloween Horror Nights 2, it just seemed pretty off. I just figured, all right, maybe, maybe it won't be so bad.

SPEAKER_03 9:39

I think there's a note of optimism I'm detecting there, which I can deeply appreciate. And I will say that that optimism actually carried through for my viewing. It was something where, despite some concerns I have about the movie, because it's not perfect by any means. There are some things I didn't I didn't enjoy. I still felt myself pleasantly surprised by how many different things I felt during its runtime. And none of it is so deep that it really sticks you with the hard stuff. But there are moments, kind of like in a way that feel almost like formulaic and trying to recreate the Happy Death Day magic where you have this great comedy mixed with this really intense emotional heartstrings being pulled. But it doesn't go quite as far as Happy Death Day does, in my opinion. This is a really interesting mix between a classic story that we all know, right? Body swapping. It seems very straightforward, but also this really fun take on slashers that almost makes fun of slashers in some way, in a way that I can appreciate, in a way that feels almost like a love letter too, and not just a complete slap in the face, too, if that makes sense. It's one of those things where I found myself having a good time, except for a few key moments where I was like, okay, what the fuck are we doing here, Blumhouse? You should know better than this.

SPEAKER_04 10:59

That's uh those are interesting points for sure. I never really looked at it quite that way. And this is very basic, but one of my first reactions watching this film was, is what is with the is this like some prehistoric Jason Voorhees or some shit that's happening right now? I'm sure we'll we can talk about in more detail later, but that was my initial reaction just watching the uh the opening scenes. But you know, when you say, Chris, that it's kind of making fun of slashers in a way, but not slapping you in the face or slapping the slasher genre in the face or whatever, never really looked at it that way. I honestly felt like I was watching like a Disney Channel horror movie. Like that's what I felt when I was watching the movie. That's that's kind of the initial reaction that I got. Um, and to what we've already said, right? Like, was this just a horror version of Freaky Friday or whatever that movie is with Lindsay Lohan, right? Like it that's I that's my initial thoughts, and I'm like, geez, I I mean, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 11:51

Not hardcore enough for you.

SPEAKER_04 11:53

I guess not.

SPEAKER_05 11:54

Yeah, I don't know. Whatever that movie, perhaps Freaky Friday, um, starring whatever her name is, maybe it's Lindsay Lohan. Sounds like somebody's familiar with the film, just saying.

SPEAKER_03 12:03

I think it was actually your Freaky Thursday.

SPEAKER_05 12:05

Right. I didn't necessarily see it as like a Disney film. I actually found it to be like pretty funny um and pretty entertaining. I think it was very clear that it was geared towards teens. And I think it was just really open and honest about that fact. And I think a lot of horror films try these days to cater to like every crowd. They want to be good for 14-year-olds, but they also want to be good movies for 45-year-olds. And like that's that's an admirable goal, but I just don't think this movie needed to do that. It was like, hey, we can be really entertaining for teens, and if other people enjoy the hell out of it, like why not?

SPEAKER_02 12:41

Yeah, I can see where they are trying to cater to a lot of audiences. I think a lot of the writing and jokes definitely cater more on the younger side and are a little heavy on the Gen Z. But I enjoyed it. I was laughing from beginning to end in this movie, and I like I said at the beginning, right? I expected this movie to be a comedy and only a comedy. I knew that there was that horror element, but I didn't really think it was gonna actually, you know, see it through. And I was surprised when it was. Um, and so throughout I can certainly see that this is that comfort movie for horror fans because it's lighthearted enough with the jokes, but you still slightly get your slasher fix. At least that's how I perceived it.

SPEAKER_03 13:21

Yeah, so we talk about like the who this movie is targeted to. Sure, it may be for young audiences, Mac, but 32-year-old me was lapping that shit right up because A, there's some solid gore in this movie. We get a kill in this movie that I was shocked to see. I didn't think we'd ever get another hot dog slice, and here we are. It's different. Yeah, it's not it's not the same hot dog slice, but I mean, literally and figuratively, kind of is. So that was all shocking. It's like Blumhouse said, Hmm, we should probably spice this up a little bit, seeing how Black Christmas went the year before. That's kind of like the energy that I was getting. But I think one of the biggest things that really surprised me was the focus that we got on who the characters were, what their relationships were, and how, you know, two years after they remade Halloween and had three generations of women, how they take the bond between mother, daughters, sisters, even, and even friends, and how that kind of carries the movie emotionally throughout its runtime in a way that didn't feel immediately obvious to me. I really enjoyed the depth that that had without being so deep that it was like, okay, what are we doing? This is a comedy.

SPEAKER_05 14:35

And I think that was successful because of something that surprised me: the performances here. The performances and the dialogue. The dialogue in a lot of these movies is really trash, but I think this one was good. It made things funnier, but it also made things a little bit more emotional when it needed to. But you know, when Vince Vaughn is good, he's good. In this film, he has those moments where it's like, you're an entertaining fellow to watch on screen.

SPEAKER_03 14:56

Oh, you thought he was good here?

SPEAKER_05 14:58

Hey. Well, Vince Vaughn, he had to, he had to like, he had to chill out a lot in this because he realized he was getting too emotional. So that's that's awesome that they had to like be go, hey big guy, like feel free, be emotional, you know? And he he was still like really reined in.

SPEAKER_03 15:13

Sure thing, bud.

SPEAKER_04 15:14

You know, I I I agree with you, Mac. Like one of the things that genuinely surprised me was that the the acting really wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be going into the film, right? Like I was preparing myself for like really terrible B movie vibes, and the acting was the performances to your point were actually surprisingly good. I agree with all of you. Like, I did find myself having a decent time watching the movie. Like there were some funny moments, it kept me entertained, yes, but it was surprisingly more comedy than I was signing up for.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

Look, obviously, I knew that Vince Vaughn's performance was gonna be great, in my opinion, because I am a fan. But to your point, Mac, what you were saying, I think I was just so surprised that despite his celebrity and his big ticket name, right, it didn't overshadow the other supporting actors' performances either. I mean, Misha O'Sherovic, who plays Josh, incredible. The line delivery, his persona, just everything, he was the main one that had me laughing from beginning to end in a lot of parts. And then to that same point, in terms of it being kind of cheesy, but not really, I think it was a nice balance between the both that had me surprised in terms of the performances not um being so extra and not really forcing the comedy either, and not forcing the horror aspect either. It's the balances between the plot, the dialogue, the performances, everything I feel like was very even keel for this movie.

SPEAKER_03 16:40

Man, y'all are really enjoying Vince Vaughn here, and I'm so happy for you. Uh, because I still found him to be a bit much. Catherine Newton in this in this movie, I thought she was fantastic. And look, here's here's the thing, right? We can think of Vince Vaughn as the butcher, and we can think of Vince Vaughn as butcher Millie, and then we can think of Katherine Newton as Millie, and then etc. Right? Like, so there's a lot of layers and a lot of duality there. I enjoyed Vince Vaughn as the butcher, but I just wasn't sold as Millie. It felt a little over the top. And I think obviously, and this is a movie is not one that's trying to scare you, but it's one that I found myself able to laugh a little less at him. And I don't know why that is. Maybe it's just a thing between Vince Vaughn and I again, right? I don't think he's a bad actor, but he didn't sell this movie for me. Literally everybody else but him sold the movie for me. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 17:37

Chris, I feel like we have a house divided on Vince Vaughn.

SPEAKER_03 17:41

I don't think we have a house divided. I think it's y'all three against me. I think it feels pretty overwhelmingly positive for Vince Vaughn.

SPEAKER_04 17:47

Yeah, at first I thought you were saying you weren't sold on Vince Vaughn as the butcher, and I agree. I I think Vince Vaughn as Millie was probably really great. The biggest surprise in this film was Mr. Bernardi, man. That is Cameron from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and I was uh that was I was genuinely excited when I saw that.

SPEAKER_02 18:07

I was excited when I saw him as well, not so much for his character, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_04 18:12

Well, yes.

SPEAKER_05 18:12

That's honestly what made it funnier, though, is having an actor like that play a character like that. And I I think I'll go I'll go with you, Sean. This is probably more humor than a lot of people maybe get out of their typical horror watch. And so um it does detract from how scary a film that you're you're getting. I'm okay with that. I love a horror comedy uh or a comedy horror, depending on the balance. So I'm I'm okay with it, but I don't think it's I don't think it's scary.

SPEAKER_04 18:38

Yeah, I'm gonna agree with you. I don't know, I I mean, I can get down with some horror comedies, whatever. I really like Sean of the Dead, those kinds of movies, right? But um this movie was not scary at all. I mean, this felt like, to what I said earlier, more of a comedy than anything. It really only felt like horror because there just happened to have kills in it. It's uh it's a comedy, maybe a dark comedy, but maybe I don't know, just a comedy nonetheless. Even the antagonist to what we were just talking about, right, was not frightening in the slightest.

SPEAKER_02 19:09

I feel like we don't really even see the antagonist long enough at the beginning to even develop that kind of fear, in my opinion. Like I keep reiterating, this is a straight-up comedy for me, so I didn't find it frightening whatsoever. Granted, there are some, you know, like tension-building scenes and certainly some gore as well. So I would say brace yourself for that, right? But in terms of actual traditional fear and those kinds of elements, it just wasn't there for me.

SPEAKER_03 19:34

You say that the traditional elements that weren't there for you, but I found that the traditional elements of like all these like little slasher nods, motifs, uh, all they kind of like the tropes were embedded in there. Now, granted, this movie can only go so far in its originality, right? We get a Jason-esque kind of imposing figure. We get the Michael Myers head tilt after one of the early kills, right? We get a lot of nods to slashers that came before this. And yes, to some extent, hey, it's Freaky Friday, but make it horror. What a what a riding room idea, but that's as far as it goes. You know what I mean? So, like, at a good time, did it need to be all that different? No. I think the most original thing he did was inf infuse a little bit of that heartwarming, familial element, but even then we get that in Freaky Friday. So I don't think this movie is as different from anything that you've seen, but that doesn't make it any worse for it.

SPEAKER_04 20:27

Okay. Yes. I have a hard time giving this film any originality points just because this is literally, to that point, a plug-in storyline exported from movies like Freaky Friday or The Hot Chick and imported into a horror platform. That's how it felt for me. I can't give it that much originality points. And when we're talking about nods to horror movies, like we think of movies like Scary Movie, right? And I don't consider that a horror movie, I just consider that a comedy spoof, and that's what this kind of felt like to me.

SPEAKER_03 20:56

Wow, I completely forgot about the hot chick. Who the fuck am I?

SPEAKER_04 20:59

I can't forget about the hot chick.

SPEAKER_03 21:01

I already did.

SPEAKER_02 21:02

Phenomenal movie. I have to agree with you, Sean, in that that's why I was so surprised that this was picked. Right off the bat, I labeled it as a straight-up comedy, and I feel that way to some extent about some of my favorites, like Sean of the Dead as well, which maybe skews a little more on the horror side, right? But ultimately it's you go into that movie to get a laugh, and that's kind of how I feel about this movie. So, in terms of originality points, I feel like we're maybe gonna be unanimous on this one, but yeah, it's just not original, of course, because we've seen this before. You just say the word Freaky Friday and you already know what's gonna happen. But where maybe I could give just a slight bit of originality points is something that you said earlier, Chris, which is it is very self aware in terms of what it's doing and paying homage to a lot of these traditional horror movies. And so it makes fun of that, right? Like in the sense it's being self aware enough to say, like, yeah, you've seen this plot, but not like this. And then it's also like, let's be dramatic and have some fun with these like slasher motifs. While we're at it too. So I think it's kind of that I didn't really expect going to this movie.

SPEAKER_05 22:04

I I'll agree. I don't think it needs to be necessarily wholly original, and I think that would actually defeat the point of this movie. I think it has to live in a space where it's pointing to things that you know and things that you love. It does serve its own killer. It serves you know its own storyline, but at the same time it goes, hey, this is all tying back to everything that you've seen. And I actually kind of like that this this this double-ended end that we get. We get an end to the to the teen romance comedy, and we get an end to the horror film. And it kind of feels like two ends, because it kind of is, but at the same time they they do tie together with character development and all that kind of garbage.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

I love that example.

SPEAKER_03 22:50

But I agree, Mac. Like I think one of the things that this movie does best is a departure from the movie you expect it to be, which is the movie it's been the entire time. And then it gives us a little bit of something different at the end that I don't think is so different it's inconsistent with the rest of the movie, but it really delivers a satisfying moment for all parties involved.

SPEAKER_04 23:14

I can I can agree with the satisfaction of the ending. Do I think it it was um it was a success, like a grand success? No, it did leave you with some satisfaction. I definitely felt like you know that that last end felt like you know, maybe paying homage to like Black Christmas or something like that, where they're coming together to kill the antagonist. Like that felt pretty cool. But like, you know, other than that, I don't know if it really just did the whole film justice.

SPEAKER_02 23:44

Yeah, I'd agree with you, Mac, in terms of the ending providing that time to put like a bow on top of the character development. I think at first when I got maybe the first ending-ish, right? In terms of the teen. I was like, all right, cliche. I mean, of course, we kind of had an idea of how this was gonna end to some extent, but it was alright. And then that second ending, I was like, hmm, okay, I suppose. You know, I it kind of felt a little bit flat, but again, a comedy sometimes has that element, and then I just didn't really have high expectations for the ending, considering we've seen this before.

SPEAKER_03 24:16

Well, our feelings on the ending aside, there's a lot for us to chew on and a lot for us to consider as we move towards our rating of this movie. But before we get there, Sean, how would you describe the gore score?

SPEAKER_04 24:27

You know, there's there is some really good gore in this film. The film isn't the goriest of gory films. You do see some gore though, and then there are some kills that are gorier than others. But to your surprise, to my surprise, we do get a new hot dog slice scene, which I'm sure we'll talk about coming up in the second half. But overall, I would give this film um, you know, like a medium gore score. I don't think it's good, it's gory enough to get a high gore score. It's not low enough to get a low gore score. I think you see just enough blood to break through to that happy medium.

SPEAKER_02 24:58

And what about the animal report? I am happy to report that we are safe. No animals were harmed in this film, but we actually do get quite the one-liner thanks to one.

SPEAKER_03 25:08

Well, let's go ahead and get into our ratings then. Freaky from 2020, as chosen by our patrons. Was it a hacker or slash?

SPEAKER_05 25:14

I'll go first, uh, because I've seen this before, and so I knew what to expect in in this viewing, but I love this movie. It's one of, I think, the best true-to-form slashers we've seen in decades. Um, I think that's it's on purpose that it sticks to the genre and sticks to the to the formula. It's also just a campastically hilarious horror movie, um, or horror comedy, I guess you could say. The kills, I think they're better than plenty of some uh non-comedy slasher flicks that we've actually watched recently. The cinematography is great, the lighting, the colors, the script, the casting, it's it's all just solid. Um, I think it's just simply fun. And even on second viewing, I still laughed at the humor and I enjoyed the plot. It's a slash.

SPEAKER_04 25:53

Okay, so look, is this the worst movie ever? No. In fact, I'm kind of torn on this one, honestly. Um, it it's is it a great horror movie? No. I think it barely scrapes by as a horror movie in general. I think this had its moments, and I can see how some can enjoy the film overall, right? To your point, Mac, but I can't ignore that it just didn't feel like a horror movie to me. This is a tough one because there was some fun stuff in the film, but here's the problem. I'm not I'm not on here reviewing comedy films, right? Didn't feel campy in the way that campy horror feels to me. It just didn't feel like it was enough of a horror movie. It was a dark comedy for sure. Ultimately, I have to think about it like this, right? Was this film a total joke? Maybe not a total joke, but it still was kind of a joke, right? Um, was this film a total waste of time? I did kind of feel like I wasted my time on this one. So the film is at its best when it's spoofing the horror genre. And I think for that, I have to hack this film. It was a tough one. I don't think it's the hackiest of hacks, right? But I think it is still a hack deep down inside.

SPEAKER_02 26:57

Oof. You know, you really got me with that reference to the fact that we're here to review horror movies, not necessarily comedy. And so I, in a sense, agree that at the beginning of this film, I just thought this was gonna be a hack be for me because I thought, okay, how horror is this going to be actually? And felt like a little cliche and overplayed in terms of Freaky Friday. But then, you know, I thought again, like I said, as a lover of Shot of the Dead and even Zombieland and those kinds of movies, I should have seen it coming, but it's just that nowadays I feel like comedies in general don't really land like they used to. And so this movie to me was actually a great surprise. I I even recommended this movie to two of my best friends that aren't extremely into horror because it hits all the audiences just right, in my opinion. I think that Vince Vaughn did absolutely amazing and Catherine Newton was one hell of a baddie. But there are lots of one-liners that I can find myself referencing after the fact, and even the kills to me were extremely satisfying. So I feel like I took the overplayed Freaky Friday plot and actually delivered it in honestly, a freakishly good way. It's a slash.

SPEAKER_03 28:01

Okay, so so far we're at two slashes and one hack. Here's the thing about Freaky, it's not a perfect movie. I don't even know that I'm fully sold on Vince Vaughn being in this movie. But what I will say is that this is a tight and polished Blumhouse production. I think if this was any less gory, I think if it was any less well shot, I think if Catherine Newton didn't punch so above her weight class, I think this could have very easily been a hack. But I think about something that you say, Banks, when you talk about like being able to recommend this to people who aren't that into horror, this is the perfect gateway drug. This is in the collection of horror that I will use. Let's say I am hanging out with somebody who, like many people in my life, don't like horror at all and can't stomach much of anything. This is a good sampler. This is a good let's get your feet wet and get you going in the right direction. I am not someone who really likes comedies. Some horror comedies I'm into, right? We talk about Shawn of the Dead, a personal favorite of mine, Tucker and Dale versus Evil. This didn't feel so much on the comedy side that I had to even be concerned about it. It feels like it's a slasher that's paying reverence to the genre and also just trying to be a lighthearted good time. While it's not my favorite horror comedy I've seen in recent years, it's absolutely a slash. And with that, Freaky from 2020, as nominated by our patrons, has earned three slashes and one very firm hack. Now you can find this movie available for rent or streaming online, so go check it out. Then join us in the second half so we can unpack this film together. We'll see you in a bit.

SPEAKER_05 29:54

Accidentally cursed yourself and your loved ones? Feeling like life is one big, never-ending nightmare? Look no further. Curse reverse is here to help. We're the leading counter-curse protection agency in the business, and we're dedicated to making your life easier and less cursed. We're the only ones who can help you in your most desperate hour. Simplifying the undoing of inadvertent curse casting is our specialty. We're experts in restoring body swaps from ancient sacrifices, unsinking something ships, removing bad luck from villaged jewelry, and preventing accidental death and dismemberment if you've been cast in a curse production. We know how frustrating it can be when life and ancient blade-wielding serial killers seem to be conspiring against you. That's why we offer our unparalleled success rate. 66% of the time, it works every time with guaranteed protection. Sometimes curse reverse. If we can't reverse the curse, we'll comp you 50% off the price of one hearse for use in your inevitable funeral.

SPEAKER_04 31:05

Okay, so there is a decent amount of kills in this film. We have a total of 11 kills throughout the film. There are some decent kills. You know, some of the iffies, right, is that you don't get to see all of them the whole way through, and or maybe some of them are so quick that it kind of takes away from the pizzazz, if you will. Some of the best kills came from the very beginning of the film, outside of the fact that we do get a new hot dog slice in this film. This hot dog slice, this version of it, was like a more efficient way of slicing through someone than the way that Art did it in Terrifier. We use a table saw in this one versus Art doing it the old-fashioned way and really putting some elbow grease into it.

SPEAKER_03 31:46

Leave it to a woman to do things the right way. Have to agree.

SPEAKER_04 31:49

It's logic, right? You don't want to sit there hacking away, hacking, hacking. You got this table saw, you can just let the machine do the work and just push that body through and just slice right on in.

SPEAKER_03 31:58

I want to point out that the hot dog journey is Ryan would be art when she was in med school and pre-med, but now that she's woodworker Ryan, she'd be Butcher Millie. And that'd be her approach to the hot dog slice. This content, uh, these movies are evolving with Ryan's journey in her career.

SPEAKER_04 32:17

That's amazing. But I'm curious, what was your all's favorite kills?

SPEAKER_02 32:21

I have to say, you just said it now. Mr. Bernardi really was my favorite kill as a Terrifier fan. Clearly, I ate that hot dog slice in reverse right up. It was amazing. I was like jaw to the ground, outright clapping, because I just was not prepared. And to be honest, the moment that this character was introduced, I was just counting down the minutes for him to get hacked. And gosh, it was so satisfying, truly. I I gotta say though, I wasn't entirely sure how believable that kill was going to be, considering, you know, the butcher is in Millie's body, but the execution on this one wasn't too far-fetched. Um, maybe until the table saw part where he's pushing Mr. Bernardi, right? But I'll overlook it. It was still fantastic.

SPEAKER_05 33:06

It was definitely it was definitely efficient, that's for sure. I mean, I I I'll agree that the logistics were suspect until you kind of see how things are broken down and see the fact that the butcher has a hard time actually executing the kill. And you like he really has to rely on on other skills than just brute strength in in that scene, which is more more enjoyable. My favorite kill is a simple one. It's the good old-fashioned wine bottle down the throat. Uh, because wow, what a kill.

SPEAKER_04 33:35

That was so good. And just to see it just getting shoved farther and farther and see the throat just like you see the bottle going into the throat and just exploding through. That, yeah, that was really, really good.

SPEAKER_03 33:47

Okay, so there are several great kills in this movie, and you've taken my top two. I want to go ahead and throw one out for the Blissfield butcher himself. Because the emotional satisfaction of Millie just really stomping that piece of wood right through his chest, chef's kiss.

SPEAKER_04 34:10

Yeah, that's a good one for sure. My favorite kill aside from the new hot dog slice, right, would have been what you were saying with Isaac, right? Uh, Mac. My runner up would actually be Ryler getting froze to death in that, like, what it what is what are those called?

SPEAKER_03 34:25

Like the cryogenic chamber? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:27

Cryogenic chamber or whatever, and then just falling and shattering into pieces. Like, that was pretty fucking cool.

SPEAKER_03 34:34

Bro, it was Jason X.

SPEAKER_04 34:36

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:37

It was Jason in space. That's why, okay. An homage to Slasher's past.

SPEAKER_05 34:42

Well, I I gotta say, the the most interesting thing to look at in this film was actually not a kill for me. And it was honestly before a lot of the kills. Uh, it's it's Millie and the butcher in the parking lot before the action begins. Ooh. The lighting, the shadowing, the glowing we get, the stillness of it all. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 35:03

Yeah, that's a that's a good one for sure. I and just to play off of that, and just kind of I not to make it more broad, if I had to pick a favorite visual element from the film, really, I guess I would say visually the movie overall just looked really great, right? Like the way it was shot, the lighting, the colors throughout the film, all just very easy on the eyes, and there were some really, really good scenes that came out of that, especially that scene where the curse is taking effect where Millie is in her bedroom and the flashing uh you know, colors within the room and the lighting in the room, and then going to the sky with the stormy sky. Like everything just looked really cool.

SPEAKER_03 35:39

Oh, for sure. Man, there's so much in this movie that stands out beautifully, even down to the slow-mo of Butcher Millie entering the school for the first time with all the confetti for homecoming. But I think my favorite one is just a really simple little something. It's the way that this movie plays with its reflections. Specifically, there's a point where Millie has the knife and it's Butcher Millie at this point, but we see the reflection. It's something that I think Blumhouse is we're seeing a lot of in these Blumhouse films. Because again, we saw it in Halloween ends earlier this year. But I love a moment of seeing the killer or a victim inside the reflection of an object. It's just something that is chilling to me.

SPEAKER_05 36:25

To me, that was an obvious visual choice to make. Like the killer enjoys their new body and they've they're looking at themselves in the mirror like they're holding a big shiny knife. If they're not gonna stab somebody with it, like you have to have them looking at their own self, you know, in in the big shiny knife. Like, why would you not?

SPEAKER_03 36:42

I am here to say again who is that girl I see staring straight back at me. When will my reflection show who I am inside? This is another movie where that song applies, and I love that.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

For me, visually, it's a little bit of the score. I really liked the score surrounding the spottieswap scene. I really also agree that the effects, the the build-up, the lighting for that entire scene was just amazing. But I also want to point out it's maybe a little bit of a visual element, just but also a little bit to the writing as well. Both of them paired, created those slight bits of moments where you find the making fun of these slashers, one of them being these chases and the running. I really liked the camera direction and how it slightly pivots enough where you can see, you know, the butcher in Millie's body and how he's running in this physical acting. And there's another scene maybe towards the end where Butcher Millie is so stiff when she's chasing these people, you know, Josh and them. And and she's so stiff in the walking, it's just so great and very subtle, but so well thought out in terms of even considering the physical acting and what you're trying to tell in terms of the story without dialogue.

SPEAKER_05 37:56

I do I do love a good big lumbering oath as a killer. Like I hate watching killers run. That just let them take their time, and it's so enjoyable uh for them to do that. And it is kind of a nice little touch there to have the character, even though acted by two different people, stay true to themselves the whole way through.

SPEAKER_03 38:14

There was quite a bit in this movie that I did not enjoy visually, and that was two elements in particular. The 3D title cards, except for one shot, and then the CGI in the sky and the reveal of the temple. Like it worked enough to get the job done. It wasn't the worst part of the movie by any means, but it still didn't feel great to me. And it was a point where the 3D title cards looked okay up until the morning that Millie wakes up, and then we get a Thursday the 12th over a bright screen. It's like, oh wow, wow, this looks terrible. What are you doing?

SPEAKER_05 38:49

Which title card was worse? Thursday the 12th or Friday the 13th?

SPEAKER_03 38:53

Oh no, for sure, Thursday the 12th, because it looked the worst. At least Friday the 13th had a f had funny comedic timing when he was looking in the mirror.

SPEAKER_01 39:00

Yeah, it looked like someone just put it on Canva and threw it on top of the movie.

SPEAKER_02 39:05

I didn't necessarily like that at all. That was a part of where I was leaning more towards, all right, this is what I'm expecting. Uh it's not gonna be that great of a movie, leaning more towards the hack. But funny that you mentioned that CGI part and the temple, because I think that was something that I kind of enjoyed. I was like, wow, all right, now we see a little bit of what the mystery or the lore behind this dagger is, and that's probably as much as we get in the movie, anyways. But I I enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_05 39:33

It almost was a little bit too much for me because it was like giving it a social and like ethnic context. I don't think it really truly needed to it just didn't need to go that deep. It was just like, here's this ancient dagger, it stabs things, things happen. That's enough. Like the it it felt very like child's play when we get the whole like cloud situation going on, except child's play did it better with practical effects.

SPEAKER_03 39:57

Give me the power I beg of you. I guess it also was just it was the implication, you know, where the hell does this movie take place? Somewhere in the Midwest? Implication that uh beneath this football field long ago was an Aztec temple. You know what I mean? I'm like, okay, if we don't think too hard about it, like it's fine. Like, again, this movie is not the kind of movie that you should be sitting around poking holes at, right? Like realistically, let's just let that shit slide.

SPEAKER_05 40:23

It wasn't the worst part, but also it was a little bit it does make sense though, because it was rich white parents who obviously bought things and then collected them to show how much money they had. So like it it added up in the end because I feel like this movie was poking a lot of fun at people socially, also.

SPEAKER_03 40:41

Appropriation.

SPEAKER_05 40:42

Yeah, I could see that. Okay, I gotta talk about a scene though, because this is both my favorite scene and the most cringiest, grossest scene in the movie. And it's Millie in the body, right? The in in in Vince Vaughn's body.

SPEAKER_03 40:57

No fucking way.

SPEAKER_05 40:58

And Booker in the car. Okay, my favorite scene. This was pure comedic genius 100% of the way through, and then they actually kissed. And it almost became for me the worst part of the movie, but I just like the comedy value just absolutely outweighed the cringe.

SPEAKER_04 41:16

Uh, it was so, so good. I I agree. It was one of the best scenes in the movie. It was so hilarious watching watching that scene play out, and I just kept feeling like, man, how awkward was it making this scene with Vince Vaughn being probably twice the age of this kid? And they're just like, I mean, I'm you could probably tell by the way it was played out that they probably didn't actually kiss, but just the whole way through, but and and the conversation they were having. Hey, Vince Vaughn did a great job to me. I know you some might disagree in this film. He did a great job playing like a teenage girl, and it just became really funny. That would have been probably one of my favorite scenes for sure. My runner up, I guess, would have to be um would have to be the scene where they're where Josh and Nyla, I believe, are running from Millie, right, in the butcher's body through the cafeteria of the school, and they're they're just trying to get away, and then and then Josh like throws the the tater tots at him, and he's just like really it was just so hilarious that whole scene that helped that played out, it was just too much.

SPEAKER_03 42:25

I'll hold my scene for just a moment because I'm sure Binx has more to say on the topic. But I was with that scene at the point where Millie said, technically you'd be kissing a whatever old serial killer with yellow teeth, and I'm like, Yeah, thank you for pointing out the reality of the fucking situation. And I know that you all probably think it's so good, but all I could see in that scene was my gag reflex getting triggered and throwing out. Disgusting! Fuck no, dude.

SPEAKER_05 42:52

Like, oh come on.

SPEAKER_03 42:53

That was too cringe for me. No, I also wasn't totally sold on the you're still Millie to me. And again, maybe this is just me, maybe because my mom's nickname is Millie. It was it was just fucking weird. It was just real fucking weird. I wasn't I wasn't down for a booker. Booker strode, by the way. Really loved that little Easter egg.

SPEAKER_02 43:12

That was a fantastic Easter egg. But listen, it's the fact that they make fun of that exact trope, right? Like, that's how I perceived it. They they literally take that typical trope. The moment that he said, Can I go in the back seat? I'm gonna literally paint you a tail. I'm watching this movie on my couch. He says, I can I make it to the back seat. I shifted up. I'm on the edge of my couch at this point. I'm like, no, no, they're not doing it. They're not doing it because it's impossible, right? Like, this isn't going there. And then we see the scene play out. And to your point, Chris, when he says like he'd be kissing, you know, someone, you know, with yellow teeth, I'm like, all right, yeah, okay, they're not gonna do it.

SPEAKER_04 43:54

Oh, they're doing it.

SPEAKER_02 43:55

Shifts forward, the kiss happens. I audibly screamed. My puzzle. Reacted. It was a whole thing. I was laughing uncontrollably because wow. Talk about committing to a bit, and they really freaking did it.

SPEAKER_03 44:12

So look, my favorite scene has nothing to do with any of that. In fact, it couldn't be any less to do with Booker and Millie in the Butcher Body because my favorite scene is actually Butcher Millie kicking ass and throwing down against the three jocks that thought it'd be okay to feed her alcohol and quote unquote do the math with the number of holes she has. And look, in that moment, obviously, we know that Butcher Millie is the real villain of the story. We shouldn't be rooting for her. But I have never fucking rooted for someone more. And when she brought out the fucking chainsaw, and when we see that motherfucker decapitated at one point, I'm like, hell yeah, girl, do it. Love it. I was there for it. It was so satisfying in a moment where it was almost like Butcher Millie was a vigilante. Here's what would have been like a good moment for me. If Butcher Millie, you know, being in that body, got to see how Millie was and all that stuff, and we talk about fixing it, was really just taking vengeance. Really, the the ones that she hurts, the ones that he hurts in her body, do happen to be the people who terrorize her and torment her. But it feels more like coincidence and less like an intentional choice. I would have loved to see them lean further into the intentional choice, kind of like what we get a little bit of in the Chucky series.

SPEAKER_04 45:35

Definitely, definitely. I had a feeling this scene was gonna come up because this was honestly when one of the cringiest like scenes. Not the kills, the kills were justified, right? But I couldn't believe that that line happened and that whole scene, that whole scenario happened. I had a I had a hard time with it. I was like, is this fucking for real? And but you know, I did enjoy watching all those fuckers die, I will say.

SPEAKER_03 46:00

Yeah, there's that moment of it, and then there is the thinly veiled homophobia, the self-loathing when we have the kiss and then the F slur dropped. I'm sorry, there's just no fucking place for it. Plumhouse, you you, you, you, you, you were too comfortable here. You overstayed your welcome. Take that shit right back.

SPEAKER_04 46:18

Yeah, you overstepped.

SPEAKER_02 46:19

So another favorite scene of mine, it's a small moment, very small, but I'm remembering now that I was laughing, I even paused the movie because gosh, we'll get into characters in just a second. But when Millie, as the butcher, puts her sister in the cell and she starts to quickly be like, I'm so sorry that your pet died, and all of these things, and like the mannerisms that she's trying to be like, I'm just so sorry. And I just can't stand Charlene as a character. I'm so sorry, but I really can't, can't stomach her. I gotta be real, can't. But just the back and forth very quickly between them, just that small bit of her trying to like quickly justify that she really is Millie, but you gotta stay in that cell. I was like, great, no more Charlene, but also wow, that was a quick, like, it's really me. And here's how I'm gonna tell you it's really me, but I gotta blast. Goodbye.

SPEAKER_03 47:11

So you didn't like Charlene.

SPEAKER_02 47:13

I did not. I need to know why. You need to know why? I I'm still trying to discover why, truthfully. It's something, is it the acting? It's something about as an older sister, I just didn't really buy into not myself as an older sister, but imagining myself as an older sister. I didn't really buy into the way that she was trying to advocate for Millie. It just seemed very surface level. You know, at the end of the day, I feel like she just was trying to be that character or the actress or just the writing tried to make it seem like she was that person, but barely scraped the surface. And she's supposed to be a police officer that like wasn't really dominating, or or I don't know, she just seems like a B type officer.

SPEAKER_03 47:58

I don't know if that exists, but that because she is this movie's slightly more competent. Dewey Riley.

SPEAKER_04 48:06

Oh I was just about to say it. Officer fucking Dewey.

SPEAKER_02 48:11

No, yeah, I love Dewey in that context. Sure. It's just that maybe she needed to be a little more on screen. I think that the the dialogue that was given to her just didn't bring that out. Like that wasn't at the forefront for me. I think Dewey obviously has a lot of lines and and and the or rather, the lines that he does get, it provides that kind of comedy, it provides that like lovable nature. Nothing about Charlene screamed, Oh, the older sister, love her. That's just me. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 48:40

Okay, so it's fun because I have three notes on characters that were dumb, and then my first note on them together was I can already tell I'm gonna love Millie and Char's relationship. Because specifically, like I'm the youngest of five, and while it isn't necessarily my sisters who do this, but I have had the older sibling who kind of goes to bat for you and tries to like release you from the claws of being sheltered. I loved that dynamic between them. And I saw it and what I continued to feel was like the argument, right? So like she is disappointed in her mother. We think about how the trauma has hit the whole family, and we see Char's disappointment with her mom and having to step up and kind of be a little bit of a mom, but also kind of like a little bit of the cool aunt who's just trying to give her kid sister a break. But then we hear that argument between Millie's mom and her older sister while Millie's in the tub. Think about the guilt her mom must feel and then the frustration that Char has because she is seeing her mom's substance abuse and she's just so sick of it, right? And I just think about how, you know, obviously this is them losing their dad. And again, I guess back-to-back episodes where we talk about a family being struck by grief after they lose a dad.

SPEAKER_04 50:03

Honestly, right? Family trauma up in here.

SPEAKER_03 50:07

I guess this is just me unpacking my dad issues. But I think about how my siblings responded after my dad left and like had his whole secret family, right? So obviously my dad didn't die, it's not the same situation, but I did have an older sibling who stepped up a little bit differently and was a little bit more protective and was a little bit more combative. And while she's an imperfect character, I actually really enjoyed her. I loved her, I loved Millie, and I loved Nyla, but who I couldn't fucking stand was the absolute caricature of Josh. He said like three or four things, and I'm like, all right, I'm fucking, I'm not a fan. I can't do it. It's like this insidious, sinister. Everything that I can say can be a passive-aggressive compliment to you, but it's okay, hun. I fucking hate it. Interesting.

SPEAKER_02 50:56

So I would agree I love Nyla and what you were saying about Shar, I actually kind of felt that about Nyla in terms of protecting her. I mean, right in maybe even 10-15 minutes into the movie, I think, is when she says that monologue to Millie about, you know, choose like choosing herself, essentially. And I feel like that really set the tone for who Millie was going to be in her character arc. So I really was rooting for that friendship. But so interesting you say that about Josh, because I think for him, my first impression of him was oh, not good. Didn't really like his opening bit or his line at all. Thought that was very rough. And to our earlier point, in terms of Blumhouse, like, what are you doing? And I'll I'll get to that maybe later on. But as far as everything else, I think he really like stood out. And maybe it is the actor per se that really just in his mannerisms, in his delivery, the lines that he was given in terms of comedy, he said them and like with such conviction and such savagery that I was like jaw-dropped at some points when he walks into that theater and he says something along the lines of like, it was a bloodbath or something like so insensitive, so savage. But maybe I guess it was more along the lines of like I gravitated towards him because I was just so sh so shocked that he was actually saying the things that he was saying.

SPEAKER_03 52:14

Yeah, I think for sure the character was well performed. I think he 100% nailed everything that they were going for. I think for me, I tire of the gay best friend trope. I think I'm just a little exhausted by that. And I'm just like, all right, can we just like can we just lay off of that for a little bit? You know what I mean? I but that's just a personal thing. I think it's also this okay, we talk about like he makes the joke about all the men in that town realizing they're fluid uh during a certain point, and she calls him out for being a little assaulty, and then he's like, whatever. He kind of just shakes it off. It's just it felt in poor taste, and I think that in that in in combination with what we get in moments later in the movie, I was just like, I'm not sold on you, Josh. Like he got better towards the end, but man, he started off real bad for me and never quite redeemed himself.

SPEAKER_05 52:59

Josh definitely seemed like people that I know in real life, like multiple people that I know in real life. And I don't know if that's what makes it necessarily tough to watch sometimes, but I did find a lot of comedic value in the character. Um, I you know, the actor they did it, they did an amazing job, obviously. I think a character I didn't respond well to was Ryler, mostly because I think that character was designed to be hated. And so that's probably on purpose that you just don't like her. And so if that's the case, like good job. Because I think it's it's the typical female bully teen that people think exists. But I don't know that that's the actual female bully teen that's in the real world.

SPEAKER_04 53:44

You know, when I think of what this movie was doing, I think of you know, this high school kind of vibe, right? I think that some of these characters, you know, I you know, I haven't been in high school in quite some time, but I looked back at being in high school and I can see some of these characters from when I was in high school, and I kind of can not relate to the characters, but I can kind of see where they're going with the characters. I do, outside of that, like none of them really resonated with me that much. I did find some entertainment value throughout the film with each of these characters in some way or some form. I do think that Catherine Newton and Vince Vaughn did a great job in the film. I think they portrayed each other uh within each other's bodies, right? I think that was absolutely fantastic and hilarious. I I really do. I think uh I think Vince Vaughn watching him try to play like a teenage girl within himself was hilarious. I think that Catherine Newton trying to be like Vince Vaughn inside of her and be a serial killer was awesome. Like I think the two of them did a pretty phenomenal job.

SPEAKER_05 54:49

What's what's great about that is I think the actress actually ran into that. Like, how do I play you, Vince? Right. And so they went back and forth, and Vince Vaughn is like, you're not playing me, right? You're not trying to copy my mannerisms, you're trying to play the butcher, and I'm playing the butcher. And so they had to come together and make decisions based on what the character would do, how the character would act, which is a brilliant way to go about it because it's like if I'm trying to act as this other actor would act, right? It's not gonna work necessarily because there's a there's a lot of differences. But like that intensity of the look that you get with the butcher uh in Millie's body, I don't know that that's the same intensity you get with Vince Vaughn as you know, who's as as when Vince is playing the butcher.

SPEAKER_04 55:34

Sure.

SPEAKER_05 55:35

I think the character itself still feels pretty true. I think a little bit more sinister, actually, when in Millie's body.

SPEAKER_04 55:41

For sure.

SPEAKER_05 55:41

But I think that was it was good how they how they approached that, like a really smart way of ensuring that we're not just trying to like do a nose twitch the same way. We're not trying to walk with a limp on the left leg in the same way or something like that. It's like we're just trying to approach this however the character would. And I think it played out really well on screen.

SPEAKER_04 56:00

I agree.

SPEAKER_03 56:00

I think I also just want to take a moment to point out in the midst of this very serious conversation, how fucking stupid Ginny was for not just staying hidden in that panel. Girl could have been scot-free. Sorry, just had to throw that out there.

SPEAKER_04 56:14

People make dumb decisions in horror movies. That's what makes it fun.

SPEAKER_02 56:18

That's exactly it. That was one of the many, just you know, right up self-aware jokes. So, so poorly decided on.

SPEAKER_05 56:28

There are definitely some some really poor decisions. And one of the ones that is like partially a worst part of the movie for me was the cops firing up into the air multiple times. So Shar does that, right? The deputies in the old lighthouse or whatever the heck they're in, the old uh the old mill, uh firing up into the air with like a crowd of people. Like, they're not gonna do that because the bullets come down somewhere. Like, that's if they're gonna fire their bullet, it's to take a human being down. And so that that bothered me. But it's I don't think it's the worst part of this film. I I think it's honestly the the scene that Sean mentioned, it's it's do the math, Millie. I think that is probably the worst part of the film. I don't know if it's the line that bothered me. I think dispatching those three individuals was absolutely a great part of the film, and like those kills are fantastic, but that that line just stings when you hear it, and it's just so gross.

SPEAKER_03 57:17

1000%. That is my worst part of the movie. In fact, it's also the moment that Josh has pretty close to that moment. This is a movie that walked in a particular direction and thought we can balance comedy with seriousness and give you some really compelling performances from Millie, uh, from Vince Vaughn as Millie, from the mother, and thinking about all this grief. And then it thought, hey, let's just go down this random fucking direction. And it's like you didn't handle it well enough to like really provide any level of care. You just gave us a reason to root against them, but we didn't even need that to root against them. They're just assholes. We would have been fine without it.

SPEAKER_02 57:57

Yeah, I think what I just really found distasteful and unnecessary were both of those scenes and the way that they were delivered. I think the jock trope speaks for itself. There's no need to take it that far. And as far as Josh's line at the beginning, like I said, and I think actually this is possibly the joke that our patron Ashley was referring to when she nominated this film, in terms of, you know, the drunk straight men possibly discovering that they're queer. I mean, Nyla says it herself that it sounds rapey, and it's just like, then why is this written in? I don't I just don't understand why that was needed to explain that perhaps where they're living maybe doesn't have a strong gay community. I just didn't see how a rape joke twice in this movie was necessary.

SPEAKER_03 58:44

Exactly. Exactly. It's really just all in fucking poor taste. And it loses with that any of the goodwill it did up until that point.

SPEAKER_02 58:53

Which I find so interesting that we're like even discussing those parts of a film that is only what about to be two, maybe three years old. Like, how is this even still being written into movies?

SPEAKER_04 59:05

All I gotta say is you all slash this film.

SPEAKER_02 59:08

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Not that. Don't hit me with that.

SPEAKER_04 59:11

Hey, I'm I'm hearing a lot of resentment right now. You slashed the film, I hacked it. If I had to pick a best part of the film, it has to be for me Vince Vaughn playing Millie. I just thought it was too good to go unnoticed. It was funny, it was hilarious. But that, in and of itself, is the problem. The best part of the film was the comedy, and not the campy kind of comedic humor that you get out of good horror movies, right? It's just pure comedy, and that's I don't know, that just takes away from the horror of it all for me.

SPEAKER_05 59:44

First of all, I can go ahead and take my sunglasses off because that is plenty of shade. Secondly, I will appreciate the comedy because I think good comedy in a horror movie can elevate it. And so that's we do get those moments in this in this film where it really the two of them together makes it such a better film, for sure. I I think the moments where we have no horror but some comedy are okay. The moments where we have comedy but no horror are okay. But I think when we get the two together, that's when it like just really kind of takes off.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:13

I just want to say, obviously, I gave my worst part of the movie, but a low-key best part of the movie was Millie's look with the blonde ponytail and the red leather jacket. Because can I tell you how much my heart was like melting going through this house and seeing all these beautiful women dressed like her at Halloween Horror Nights? Honestly, it's a great look. If we ever got a sequel to this or a follow-up to this in any kind of way, we need some more red leather jackets in the mix because that shit was excellent.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:42

I'm gonna tell you right now that if the thrift stores and the goodwills and all of these things uh don't have red leather jackets, it's because everyone that's seen this movie has already taken it. And I'm on the hunt. If you've got a red leather jacket, hit me up.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:55

So obviously I I've seen this twice, right? I could see myself watching it again. Would any of you go for a second viewing like I did?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:02

I think I would. I think I need to really have it in good company, not in terms of who I'm watching it with, but I need to watch this along with like happy death day, happy death day to you and the 2019 Black Christmas. I need something to balance that shit right out.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:17

Okay, so you know, going into this, right? I I would have thought maybe I would probably highly doubt that I would ever watch this film again. But you all have made some really good points in peeling some of the layers of what it's like paid homage to, right? And maybe uh maybe I was too hyper focused on comedy and comedy overshadowing horror to not appreciate the different things that it did as it pays respects to the horror genre. So not saying that I was wrong, but I do think that maybe I need to give it a rewatch, maybe a rewatch or two at some point just to see if my thought process changes. It didn't feel like it was really something that I was vibing with, but I think I definitely, I don't know if it's gonna be anytime soon, but I definitely think that I owe it to myself and maybe to this podcast to just watch it one more time, see if anything changes, and who knows, maybe this is one I'll take back.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:16

I just want to point out that you're the one who hacked this movie.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:19

And we've come full circle.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:21

I just wanted to really have the tables turn on that moment. Or you could be like Zach and give it up to five rewatches.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:27

Yeah, I gotta watch it a little like four more times just to just to be sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:31

Look, I I think there's certainly some rewatchability to this movie. I think now having had a couple of context and and awareness to those two scenes that we talked about in particular, might just skip on over, you know, hit that 10 seconds forward button. But, you know, if ultimately I think if you're in the mood to like have a simple watch comfort movie to like have in the background a couple of laughs here and there, the plot is so simple and so obvious in for the overarching theme that it's just a good thing to kind of just put on and watch. So I find myself doing that, maybe not in the next couple weeks or so, but you know, maybe later on on a rainy day. But ultimately, it's a freaky Friday film, right? So I feel like it's gonna, it's gonna make its rotation one way or another.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:18

Okay. But what is the pipeline for getting us from Ming Girls to Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen to Freaky Friday to Freaky to Scream Queens, the TV series?

SPEAKER_05 1:03:30

To Jennifer's body.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:31

Yes, to Jennifer's body. I think you just created my you created my whole lineup. Holy shit.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:36

Wait, I got it. So you know how Star Wars has the machete order? That's the cachete's order.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:41

Well, it's good to know we have some rewatchability on the horizon, but let's see if we can tide you over with any value from fact or fiction.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:48

Number one, Vince Vaughn towers over the teens as the butcher, but he's only seven inches taller than Catherine Newton.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:55

Sounds tricky, right? Because I I do think Vince Vaughn is a tall person. So I think that is a fact. I don't know how the tricky thing is I don't know how tall Catherine Newton is. I'm gonna go fiction just on premise of that.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:09

Vince Vaughn is an extremely tall guy. There is no way on this planet that it's just if that's the case, I'm shooketh. That's gonna not gonna be another thing that's gonna keep me up at night. That's straight up fiction.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:20

It is straight-up fiction. He's 6'5, and she is 5'5.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:23

He's super tall.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:25

Number two, in the scene where Millie falls in the auditorium in the body of the butcher, Vince Vaughn twisted his ankle filming the final take and had to try to hide a slight limp while filming other scenes.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:35

Going back to what I just said about him being extremely tall, I feel like perhaps he's also clumsy. So I'm gonna go actually with fact on this one.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:44

I think I think I do have to agree with you. Um, you know, he is tall, tall people can be clumsy. He didn't look like he was in the greatest shape in this movie. I'm gonna go fact.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:54

You know, Sean really just said tall people can be clumsy as if he spoke that from experience, being a very tall man.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:01

I am tall. He's got one inch on me, so you know. But I'm I don't know. I don't think I'm out there spraining ankles all day, but I'm also not chasing people around trying to kill him either.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:10

Well, this one's fiction. Uh the fall was not planned. Vince Vaughn slipped on a prop, lost his balance, uh, but he's a frickin pro, so he just got up, didn't break character, and they used it in the film. I I'm sure his ankle was okay though. Just put some ice on it, it'd be good.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:22

Legend has it, it's still swollen to this day.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:25

Number three, the script originally called for the butcher in Millie's body to wear clothes like a corset, lace, and heels.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:33

Ah, that just seems like that just seems that just seems like another cringy element of like a serial killer in the body of a teenage girl and really just trying to like enjoy it in all the wrong ways. And I don't know. I I'm gonna I'm gonna go ah man. My heart wants to go fiction because that just doesn't seem like it would be in good taste, but it might be a fact. So I'm gonna go fact.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:00

The thing is, is that considering that they've already done two things in poor taste, the likelihood that that was their thought is pretty high. So I'm actually gonna go with fact, and I'm scared with that answer.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:15

Okay, this is a fact. Thankfully, Catherine Newton and Christopher Landon got together and realized, first of all, what dude is gonna put on some heels, right? True. So they were like, no, dudes would not do that. They're gonna they're gonna go simple. You know, that's why we get a shirt, some jeans, and a leather jacket.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:33

I'm already suspicious of the makeup.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:35

Yeah, that was very sus. Oh yeah. And number four, this isn't the only time Vince Vaughn has tried to get freaky. Vince Vaughn auditioned for the role of Ryan in Freaky Friday from 2002, uh, who was Jamie Lee Curtis's character's fiancee, but was ultimately deemed too damn young and skipped in favor of Mark Harmon.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:51

Interesting. I I don't have too much to say about this one. I'm just gonna shoot for the stars and say fiction.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:57

I feel like Jamie Lee Curtis could definitely snatch a young Vince Vaughn. So justice for Jamie Lee Curtis on that one. I'm gonna say fact on that principle alone.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:07

So this is a fiction because Chris and I just made it up. Um, but we did have to double check first uh to make sure that Vince Vaughn wasn't like in the background of the film somewhere in like a like a small role. Well, that's been fact or fiction.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:19

Well, there you have it, folks. Freaky from 2020 has earned three slashes and one hack. Now, while we certainly had a robust discussion here, it doesn't end here by any means. We want to know what you think, so let us know.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:30

You can join in on the conversation by hanging out with us for free in our Discord. Click the link in our show notes to sign up.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:36

If you've enjoyed listening to this episode, consider becoming one of our patrons. Visit patreon.com slash hacker slash to enjoy more of the show with early access, extended episodes, bonus content, and live shows.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:47

We'll see you next time, folks. And remember, a crocodile tear doesn't excuse your poor planning. Fair enough.