Freaky
Universal Pictures International (UPI) | Release Date: November 13, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 39 Critic Reviews
Positive:
30
Mixed:
8
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
ConsequenceRyan LarsonNov 4, 2020
It’s a love letter to the genre without ever aping or mimicking it. With an incredible supporting cast and two engaging leads, it’s an out and out blast that finds Landon inching closer and closer to slasher masters like Craven and Carpenter. Read full review
85
Vanity FairRichard LawsonNov 12, 2020
Freaky is a pure pleasure, an absurd thriller that cuts through descending autumn gloom with a surprisingly bespoke prop knife. Read full review
83
Paste MagazineNatalia KeoganDec 10, 2020
Director Christopher Landon’s Freaky effortlessly weaves together the conventions of Freaky Friday and Friday the 13th, eschewing the confines of “remake,” instead creating a unique genre hybrid that’s slick and endlessly entertaining—all the while maintaining a clever self-awareness which enlivens the film’s jump-scares and punchlines without descending into the horror-comedy pitfall of self-referential metaness. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinJul 6, 2021
When it’s in the mood, horror can be a sexually subversive genre; it can also be a flagrantly non-PC one. Freaky treads a treacherous line between the two with aplomb. Read full review
80
EmpireJames DyerJun 28, 2021
While not quite on a par with Happy Death Day, Freaky is an ebullient slasher that strikes a perfect balance of comedy and carnage. Read full review
80
PolygonRoxana HadadiNov 13, 2020
Freaky boasts such energetic performances from the thoroughly game Kathryn Newton and Vince Vaughn that the horror-comedy breezes by in a pleasant, amusing way, no matter how reductive its central conceit gets. Read full review
80
Screen RantJack WilhelmiNov 12, 2020
Director Christopher Landon's Freaky is breathlessly stolen by Vince Vaughn, who delivers a character both terrifying and lovable in equal measure. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreNov 12, 2020
Freaky, an unabashedly gory but also oddly sweet feature from Christopher Landon, is a riff on slashers that really owes more to the meta-horror trend than it does to any of the original films that inspired it. Read full review
80
The GuardianBenjamin LeeNov 11, 2020
It’s just a rare joy to see a film-maker scrambling together overused tropes and making something so vibrant and vital as a result, an exciting and unexpected studio movie with a brain, some guts and a heart. Read full review
80
Total FilmErlingur EinarssonNov 11, 2020
An unexpected delight thanks to its two leads and expertly executed action. Read full review
80
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaNov 11, 2020
Like Scream, Freaky understands and loves the horror movies that came before it. It takes these raw materials and molds them into its own unique identity, resulting in one of the most refreshing entries in the horror genre in a long time. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzNov 11, 2020
More than anything else, Freaky is a lot of fun. Just enjoy it. Read full review
80
IGNSimon ThompsonNov 4, 2020
Freaky is a bloody good time. It’s smart, sharp and funny with some tasty kills and headline casting that is to die for. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerNov 12, 2020
Freaky hilariously modernizes the high school bloodbath for laughs. Read full review
75
Original-CinThom ErnstNov 16, 2020
Freaky jumps to the top of a long line of genre films with one of the best horror/comedy concepts since Shaun of the Dead (2004). Read full review
75
The PlaylistRafael MotamayorNov 12, 2020
If you’re looking for a fun slasher film that offers new twists on old tropes, you’ll come to Freaky for the phenomenal performances by Vaughn and Newton, and stay for the surprisingly sweet story of a girl being empowered and her family healing from grief. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comTomris LafflyNov 12, 2020
Freaky is a fun, frisky, and nostalgic ride that delivers laughs, various inventively bloody kills, and on occasion, even some 21st-century-appropriate observations on gender norms and sexuality. Just don’t expect to be surprised a great deal by it. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzNov 11, 2020
Landon is not aiming to break new ground here – only to use well-trod territory for his own gag- and gross-out-happy ends. This is candy-coloured mayhem, bright and snappy and enjoyably wince-inducing in its desire to disgust. And just as Vaughn can easily play both male murderer and winsome teen girl, so, too, can the charming Newton ace her required flips. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshNov 11, 2020
The revelation here is Vaughn, who in his 6-foot-5-inch frame, physically channels the body language and gestures of an otherwise petite, cowering teen. Read full review
75
The Film StageJared MobarakNov 4, 2020
Is the big draw still watching Vaughn act like a teenage girl? You bet. But Freaky‘s success lies in its ability to create around that central performance and not simply rely upon its absurdity. Read full review
70
Film ThreatAlex SavelievNov 30, 2020
Perhaps Landon could step away from mixing slasher horror with classic comedies and create his own thing. Or maybe this is his thing. In which case, I look forward to The Breakfast Club on Elm Street, especially if it stars Vince Vaughn. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneDavid FearNov 19, 2020
It’s a clever mash-up conceit that director/co-writer Christopher Landon and his cast milk for all its worth, none more so than the two leads. Read full review
70
ScreenCrushMatt SingerNov 12, 2020
There were times I wished Freaky was a little bit bolder and more surprising. Still, it’s an entertaining showcase for Vaughn and Newton, and a solid entry in the body-swap canon. In other words, it’s exactly what you think it is, inside and out. Read full review
70
The AtlanticDavid SimsNov 12, 2020
Freaky knows it’s a farce and winks at the silliest of slasher tropes, but that satirical edge doesn’t keep it from being one of the most purely enjoyable horror works I’ve seen in a long time. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeNov 12, 2020
As a meta entry in that most disposable of genres, the teen slasher movie, Freaky manages to feel original, which is saying something, since it’s basically warping conventions we’ve all seen a million times before. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerNov 9, 2020
This is a fast-paced, likable, and silly romp arriving at a time where a horror movie’s memorability tends to correlate with its evocative doominess. Even when Freaky doesn’t live up to its full potential, there’s still something oddly satisfying about unmasking a slasher movie to reveal the ’80s comedy lurking underneath. Read full review
67
IndieWireKate ErblandNov 4, 2020
Freaky has enough snappy fun to keep it ticking along to the inevitable “shock” ending, forcing together two delightful powerhouses in a battle royale that seems primed to kickstart another new franchise for Landon. Read full review
65
ABC NewsPeter TraversNov 13, 2020
Not every joke or jolt hits the mark. But thanks to a go-for-broke Vince Vaughn as a hulking serial killer who body swaps with a teen girl, you won’t find a better way to LOL while being scared senseless than with this ‘Freaky’ Friday the 13th. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliNov 13, 2020
Some of the more serious (and non-homicidal) scenes recall "Prelude to a Kiss" (a gender-swapping movie in which Meg Ryan switches bodies with an old man). Read full review
63
Slant MagazinePat BrownNov 9, 2020
Freaky doesn’t reach for any arch commentary beyond the suggestion that, hey, Freaky Friday the 13th is a pretty funny idea. Read full review
60
We Got This CoveredAsher LubertoDec 1, 2020
While fans of either Freaky Friday or Friday the 13th might not get enough of what they came for in Freaky, fans of Vaughn will get more than enough to keep them satisfied. He makes Freaky absolutely worth it. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayNov 10, 2020
Freaky has a lighthearted tone and a bouncy energy that keeps it watchable, even though writer-director Christopher Landon and his co-writer, Michael Kennedy, don’t do as much as they should have with a killer idea.
60
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeNov 10, 2020
The unspoken joke of the title is that this movie really wants to be called “Freaky Friday the 13th,” which is not a bad starting point, but the line dividing gory violence and farcical hilarity — which Landon has skillfully walked in the past — gets too blurry for the movie’s own good. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattNov 11, 2020
There's a better, weirder story in here somewhere — about teenage desire and social Darwinism, gender and perception — but the movie seems happy enough to settle for familiar, goofy jokes and jump scares; a freak flag half-flown. Read full review
50
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisNov 12, 2020
Vaughn and Newton prove remarkably effective at selling the benefits of their alternate packaging. Their efforts, however, are too often diluted by the film’s lazy plotting and Millie’s hackneyed emotional baggage. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanNov 11, 2020
Don’t think about it too hard. Freaky isn’t AP Bio. It’s a shop class project: a couple of mismatched planks cobbled together well enough to get a passing grade. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 10, 2020
Director and co-writer Christopher Landon (the “Happy Death Day” films were his, and “Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse”) doesn’t have enough jokes or amusingly murderous sight gags to make “Freaky” take flight. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweNov 4, 2020
Although Landon and co-screenwriter Michael Kennedy have latched onto a winning concept, pairing the body-swap conceit with serial killer thrills, they’ve freighted the film with so many trite life-lesson moments that the fun gradually drains from the narrative, like blood from a murder victim. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonNov 12, 2020
Freaky is, dare we say, soul-sucking? Read full review
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