'Freaky' review: Spend Friday the 13th laughing at the Vince Vaughn film

If you're looking to laugh out loud while being scared senseless, hook up with "Freaky," in theaters just in time for Friday the 13th. (You'll have to wait till Dec. 4 to get it on demand.)

Think of teen queen Lindsay Lohan from "Freaky Friday" doing a body swap with the murderous Jason Voorhees from "Friday the 13th." OK, it sounds dumb, but director Christopher Landon, of "Happy Death Day" and "Happy Death Day 2U," has a way of charming us past the cliches.

Here's the deal cooked up by Landon and co-screenwriter Michael Kennedy: Cast Vince Vaughn, having a blast, as the hulking Blissfield Butcher, a masked psycho who's been slashing away at teens from the local high school since the 1970s. "A geriatric serial killer?" sneers one kid, soon to regret the comment.

Enter the up-for-anything Kathryn Newton as Millie Kessler, a shy senior at Blissfield High who has the bad luck to confront the Butcher when he's just acquired an ancient Aztec ritual dagger that causes him to exchange bodies with his prey. Millie has her own problems with her alcoholic, widowed mother (Katie Finneran) and a cop sister (Dana Drori). It's big sis who picks up Millie at school when their drunk mom forgets to do it. Luckily, sis chases away the beast before he can do more than nick Millie's shoulder.

Cut to the next day when the Butcher finds himself locked in the petite body of Millie, who is legit freaked out to find herself in the hefty form of a grown man who sees every teen as a potential target. That includes her besties, Joshua (Misha Osherovich) and Nyla (Celeste O'Connor). Silly? You bet. But funny as hell.

"Freaky" doesn't spare the gore, so keep it away from the young and impressionable. A shop teacher (Alan Ruck), who makes the mistake of being especially mean to Millie in class, meets an especially grisly end with the tools of his own trade.

Still, it's humor and heart that drive the film home. The school jocks who bully Millie sing a different tune when they discover she now has a killer inside. And Vaughn is a hoot as the Butcher's actions are dictated by a schoolgirl with a crush on classmate Booker (Uriah Shelton). The scene in which Booker and the Butcher commune over poetry and share a tender kiss is a moment of sweetness that stings hard at homophobia.

I'd call that progressive. Not every joke or jolt hits the mark. But thanks to Landon's clever twists and go-for-broke performances from Vaughn and Newton, you'd be hard pressed to find a better way to party on the scariest date on the calendar than with this "Freaky" Friday the 13th.

Rated: R

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