By all rights, I should hate this movie, a semi-remake of Freaky Friday that instead subverts the source material by turning it into a slasher. But you know, it ended up hitting me the right way and I was behind it pretty much all the way.

Directed by Christopher Beau Landon - yes, the son of Michael - who wrote Disturbia - that's not even a word - and several of the Paranormal Activity movies before directing the Happy Death Day films. If you liked those, well, this will definitely give you more of what those movies offered, this is set in the same universe - Landon said that, "They definitely share the same DNA and there's a good chance Millie and Tree will bump into each other someday" - and was originally titled Freaky Friday the 13th.

Millie Kessler (Kathryn Newton, Big Little Lies) is a teenager who has been tormented by bullies, both of the teenager and teacher* varieties. Meanwhile, the urban legend of the Blissfield Butcher continues, as he keeps killing her classmates. Now that he possesses a McGuffin called La Dola - an ancient Mayan sacrificial dagger - he looks to gain even more power. But when he runs into our heroine - her mother (Katie Finneran, who is great in this) has left her behind at a football game where all she gets to do is wear a beaver mascot costume - she battles the Butcher and when he stabs her, they end up switching bodies.

So yeah - this turns into a body swap comedy and you'd think, after the gory as hell open, this is where they lose you. But no - if anything, this gets way more fun.

Millie's friends make for some of the best scenes in the film. Nyla (Celeste O'Connor) and Josh (Misha Osherovich) have been with her through the worst parts of high school, so having their best friend in the body of a killing machine is just another trial to be endured.

Speaking of that killer, Vince Vaughn shines in this. There's plenty of silly physical comedy, but also some really nice scenes like when he admits to the love interest that she left the note he treasures (body swap pronouns are a little hard) or when he has a moment with her mother while hiding in a changing room.

Landon - who wrote the movie along with Michael Kennedy - said that the film was influenced by the Scream series, along with Cherry Falls, Fright Night, Jennifer's Body, The Blob and Urban Legend. There's also a fair bit of Halloween in here, particularly the opening series of murders, and references to Heathers, Child's Play, Creepshow, Galaxy Quest, Carrie, The Faculty, The Craft and Supernatural. There's also a bottle down the throat kill that came directly from the 2009 slasher remake Sorority Row.

I had fun with this. Here's hoping you do the same.

*The funny thing is that the teacher that is the worst to her is Alan Ruck, who knows a thing about bring bullied, what with playing Cameron in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

FREAKY (2020) is another remake of body-swap comedy FREAKY FRIDAY with a twist: the adult that the kid swaps bodies with is a Jason Vorhees-style serial killer, as played by the Vince Vaughn (who's certainly big enough for the part). This comedy horror hybrid is brought to us by the director of HAPPY DEATH DAY and HAPPY DEATH DAY 2 U, and if you've seen those films then you'll know the kind of jokey tone to expect with this one.

It's not an amazing film but it did hold my attention and proves to be fitfully funny too; not one I'd rush to grab on blu-ray, but worth a watch all the same. Vaughn is a hoot, getting the best role of playing a teenage girl trapped in a middle aged guy's body, while Kathryn Newton - best known for playing the murder victim in THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI - makes a good stab (quite literally!) of her role too. It's quite light on the horror elements, although the kills that do occur are creatively gory; yep, 'video nasty' style murder now passes as mainstream entertainment in a 15-certificate comedy, no less!

I can imagine someone actually going for that as a title as opposed to Freaky. Of course especially in America "Freaky" is almost a household name in the movie franchise, mostly connected to Freaky Friday. And if you make that connection you'll know where this is heading, even if did not read what this is about or watched the trailer.

Having said that, the two main performances are ... well killer (in more ways than one). Vince Vaughn can explore two sides here as can the female protagonist - both channeling something. Of course it is borderline ridiculous in certain instances, but the acting is really good (all things considered).

What I did not expect to have - at least not in that degree is the violence. I think they found the right mixture between comedy and action/horror, but of course you may disagree with that. Suspension of disbelief is really a necessity - and there might still be some cringe worthy moments. But if you sit back and relax - you'll have fun.