Universal and Blumhouse Productions dropped a trailer for Freaky, giving an early glimpse of what can be expected when you mix serial killers with high school drama and body-swapping mechanics. The man tasked with envisioning all this is none other than Christopher Landon, who was behind the mega successful comedy horror films Happy Death Day and Happy Death Day 2U.
Starring Vince Vaughn (Wedding Crashers) and Kathryn Newton (Big Little Lies), with the latter being the innocent unpopular teenage protagonist who gets body-swapped into Vaughn's serial killer vessel body only to see her impostor tear it up in her school's social hierarchy, the trailer shows off the pair’s antics in this crazy setting, while making fun of the usual horror and teenage movie tropes, much in the same way recent comedy horror films like Zombieland continue to do so for what is turning into an ever increasingly present formula in Hollywood.
Though the basic Freaky Friday plot is no stranger to the big screen, TV or even theater, this marks the first time that Mary Rodgers’s book serves as inspiration for something not overseen by Disney, taking a big leap to what seems to be an increasingly more fresh and welcoming genre. It even prompted Stephen King to chime in on Twitter, singing praises for the trailer and jokingly throwing in Vince Vaughn's name for an Oscar nomination.
With it Blumhouse also continues to show their faith in Landon's work, who aside from directing Happy Death Day was in charge of the four entries in the Paranormal Activity series and, to lesser success, co-wrote 2016’s Viral.
While the trailer screams for what would have perhaps been a Halloween night release, with the massive amount of delays seen throughout the whole entertainment industry due to Covid-19, Freaky is still looking to squeeze in a scary showing with an advertised premiere date for theaters on November Friday the 13th.
If Freaky can match Landon’s recent commercial and critical performance, it could be another winning entry to add to his portfolio; if not, then at least it served to showcase Vince Vaughn as a 17-year-old girl.
Freaky is scheduled for release on November 13th.
Source: UniversalHorror/Twitter