There comes a time when someone thinks of a movie idea so simple and amazing, that you have to kick yourself for not writing it. Freaky is one of those movies and ideas. Freaky Friday except they switch bodies with a serial killer, instead of Jamie Lee Curtis. I saw the trailer last year around this time, and it caught my attention. It did more than that. I’m a huge fan of Vince Vaughn and the thought of him playing a serial killer again (after his best part of the movie as Norman Bates in the unnecessary remake of Psycho) was enticing. Add to that, he’ll also be playing his normal comedic self as the teenage girl in a serial killer’s body, I knew I had to see it.

Sadly, I couldn’t catch it in theaters because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The schedule for last year around it’s Friday the 13th release in November 2020 was incredibly busy also. So it came and went through VOD/Digital. Enter HBO Max.

Freaky is now available to watch on HBO Max and thank the heavens it is.

For horror films, streaming might be the new final frontier (check out our friends at Bloody Disgusting talking about streaming’s future in horror here). So when I needed a movie to watch recently, guess which one I picked?

Unique Kills, Future Stars, And Great Writing

Without delving into a full review or spoilers, Freaky had plenty of unique and inventive kills that this horror hound had never seen before. You get a couple of them in the opening scene and then they keep coming all the way to the end of the film. For a film releasing in 2020, to get that many unique ways to kill people, is a testament to the writing and creative team behind the film. Writers Michael Kennedy and Christopher Landon (also director) put the horror heart and soul into this movie. It follows the general “rules” of horror, but in Scream-like way, it changes the rules and also exposes those rules for the audience. It’s not just a horror movie, it has laughs, there are also plenty of heart-warming moments throughout.

Outside of Vince Vaughn, the cast also has Kathryn Newton (future Ant-Man: Quantumania star) as our lead, Millie. It also has Celeste O’Connor as Nyla, Misha Osherovich as Josh, Dana Drori as Char, and Katie Finneran as Coral Kessler. The cast takes the normal horror “archetypes” and holds true to some of the things you’d expect and throws other more antiquated concepts in horror out the window. In that way, Freaky is one of the most progressive horror films released in the past couple years.

Grab The Blu-Ray, HBO Max, Or Rental, You Have No Excuse To Not Watch This Movie

In a similar vein to movies like The Babysitter and it’s sequel Killer Queen, Ready or Not, and Werewolves Within, Freaky captures that perfect point between frights and comedy. It’s plain and simply a fun movie. At the end of the day for this extended Halloween season, you don’t always need bloodbaths with dark brooding characters where no one lives at the end. Freaky is one of those movies that’s entertaining, and you have the perfect way to watch it on HBO Max now.

I have to say “shame on me” for not watching this movie sooner. Blame 2020, but the deed is done. Freaky makes my favorite horror films of the past couple years list. If I could go back, I’d add it to my Best of 2020 list. It was that fun. Through the whole thing, you really have no excuse now to watch the movie. So go subscribe to HBO Max, grab the Blu-ray, or find it where you rent movies. It’ll be well worth your hour and a half.

For more on horror, check out THS Fright-A-Thon, or stay tuned to That Hashtag Show.