One Star Classics

Freaky Friday meets Friday the 13th in Freaky, a film that doesn’t quite live up to Christopher Landon’s previous outing, Happy Death Day 2 U.

We follow Millie (Kathryn Newton), a bullied high-school student who is an inch from becoming serial killer The Butcher’s (Vince Vaughn) next victim. Through a series of events, The Butcher has come in possession of a cursed knife, which, when it cuts its victim, makes the two switch bodies. (The victim and the perpetrator, that is. Not the knife. You get the idea.) The knife strafes Millie, who manages to escape, and the next morning, she is him, and he is her.

To make it clear right up front: Freaky has more lapses in logic than most body-switcheroo films, and that takes a lot. If you go in with intents of poking holes in the story, you’ll have a busy, unenjoyable ninety minutes ahead of you. With Freaky, disbelief needs to be firmly suspended. Manage that, and you will find a fun movie.

Much like the two Happy Death Day films, Freaky is more of a comedy than a horror movie. There are plenty of deaths – graphic ones, too – but they are framed too comedically to be scary or even gross-out. That’s not a bad thing, and had Freaky seen a proper theatrical release, I’m sure many scenes would have caused a lot of whooping in the audience. Instead, a few giggles from the couch will have to suffice.

The film’s conceit, where Butcher-Millie (that’s Millie in The Butcher’s body) has to stab Millie-Butcher before midnight to switch back bodies is, generously put, simple, but it does set up some good situations. Butcher-Millie proving who she is to her friends through a cheer routine gives Vaughn – who is 110% invested in his role – plenty to work with. Newton, too, puts on a laudable performance, though she lacks some of Jessica Rothe’s moxie in the Death Day movies. One could argue that’s part of her role, as Vaughn’s Butcher is a bulky, lumbering killer, which is the personality she has to put on.

Freaky is certainly an entertaining movie, clearly directed by the person behind Death Day. The horror-movie nods and references are ever-present, almost as plentiful as the story’s lapses in logic. Those can be somewhat hard to get past at times, but as long as you let yourself go, they shouldn’t be too annoying. For the most part, they didn’t get in the way of my enjoyment.

Shaky as it is, I still feel Freaky is a very worthwhile watch for fans of both Death Day and Freaky Friday. Maybe not for the current early-release $20 rental fee, but certainly for the presumably average price tag that will be slapped on it for regular streaming.

Crossover!

The idea of a Happy Death Day/Freaky crossover is being considered: Freaky Death Day.

The Trailer

Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers is technically a sequel. It is set a few years after its predecessor, and it follows its protagonist, Angela. That is the extent of the connections, and those familiar with Sleepaway Camp’s twist ending will already see flaws in the premise.

This time around, Angela is portrayed by Pamela Springsteen (who, incidentally, is Bruce Springsteen’s sister), and let it be said: she puts in one hell of a comedic performance that fits the tone of the movie perfectly. Yes, in another leap away from the original, Unhappy Campers is a slasher-comedy, featuring Angela as a camp counselor. I’m not sure what the fans of the original could have been thinking when they left the theater in 1988.

Unhappy Campers has little in the way of a plot, and what is there serves as an excuse for Angela to be an overly giddy killer. Anyone who does anything to make her summer anything but wholesome, family fun, are taken out without hesitation. By the end of the movie, that’s for all intents and purposes the whole camp.

It would be easy to categorize Unhappy Campers as a parody, but that really isn’t the case. This film plays it straight as far as being a cheesy, over-the-top slasher-comedy. It never mocks Sleepaway Camp in any significant way. The murders are ridiculous, even mimicking movies like Friday the 13th to a T. It’s downright impressive how straight Unhappy Campers plays those scenes.

The almost sole reason any of this works is Springsteen. She plays Angela with a sincerity that elevates even the dumbest of scene – and there are many of them – to a snort. Rarely have I seen a character feel so entitled to take out people whose actions she disapproves of. She might be the antagonist, but she is more likable than any other on-screen character.

I don’t know if there is much more to say about Unhappy Campers. It doesn’t have a lot of substance, and it is at its heart a dumb movie. It would be a lie to call it a good film. Yet, I can’t help but recommend it to anyone who likes a funny slasher. Springsteen is that good in it, and it’s too bad she has appeared in preciously few other movies.

One she did star in was Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland, which was filmed back-to-back with Unhappy Campers. More about that soon.

The Trailer

It seemed like a good idea. Avery (Sara Garcia), an aspiring writer, gets the chance to work for her favorite author, reclusive Caleb Conrad (John Cassini). Presented as an assistant position, Avery soon learns she actually is part of a psychological experiment set to serve as inspiration for Conrad’s next novel. A simple setup in a simple setting. Two characters in a locked cabin with tension brewing – it’s what manic thrillers are made of.

Small questions start popping up as the story progresses: Conrad, a Stephen King style author, has never been seen publicly, so how can Avery know he is who he claims he is? She seemingly has a troubled past, something Conrad knows unusually lot about. Is all of this Avery’s paranoia, or is she part of a larger study?

Either nothing is as it seems, or everything is. True Fiction’s cat-and-mouse game is as much between the dominating author and his unraveling assistant, as it is between our perception of what is real and what is not. The premise is intriguing. How well it is executed is more of a mixed bag.

It starts off slowly, almost haltingly so. The first thirty minutes focus on Avery’s mundane life and her initial awkward interactions with Conrad. It is something we’ve often seen in this sub-genre, and it feels predictable. As we move into the second act, and the experiment begins, things pick up. Avery’s paranoia – if that is what it is – starts taking over, and she may or may not be seeing and hearing other people in the house. She strongly suspects she is filmed in her bedroom, and with all doors locked, there is no way for her to get out of the cabin.

It’s simple, but it works, in no small part due to Garcia and Cassini’s performances. The two are the only on-screen characters for most of the film, and they both make the most of it. Conrad’s real motives (outside of finding inspiration for a new book) are as unclear as Avery’s mental state. If what is going on is malicious or not remains a question mark until the end.

This could have been a great thriller had the first act moved faster. Get past it, and the next two acts have the tensity this type of movie benefits from. True Fiction is a very good movie, maybe even surprisingly so.

The Trailer

Or as its full title goes: Dollhouse: The Eradication of Female Subjectivity from American Popular Culture.

So, here is a movie that is… Well, it is something, alright. It might be one of the more bizarre movies I’ve watched over the last year, and I’ve watched a lot of them.

Dollhouse is a puppet movie well within the sub-genres of feminism and mockumentaries, a highly agreeable combination. Dress a serious subject up in satire, and you have yourself an effective way to convey the message.

We follow a Behind the Music style documentary covering Junie Spoons’ life story. A tween idol, she goes through what many young females in her position have experienced. From a 24-hour marriage to sex tapes; paparazzi to a shaved head; bank heist to murder. Sure, it might go a bit over the top, but it is a satire after all.

The striking thing about the narrative is that it is never told by Spoons or even shown from her perspective. Telling the story through dolls is, if a bit on the nose, suiting in the sense that the artist is portrayed as a toy herself, one who repeatedly is taken advantage of.

As for the dolls, they are well puppeteered, and after a while, it is easy to forget that you’re not watching actual humans. The quality (and budget) is not up there with Team America, but it is impressive what this small movie has managed to do with what it’s got. The five-actor voice-over cast does a serviceable job, too.

There are things to like, then, but packing it all into the seventy-seven minute runtime makes for an exhausting watch. The message gets muddled in an excess of crude humor, and the result is neither fully entertaining nor erudite. In many ways, Dollhouse could have benefited from being in a shorter Robot Chicken-type format.

It’s not a home-run, Dollhouse, but there’s more than a glimmer of hope that writer/director/star Nicole Brending can move on to bigger and better things. Her next film, The Artist’s Wife (starring the great Lena Olin and Bruce Dern), is already creating some buzz.

Give Dollhouse a watch if the subject matter is your thing or if puppeteering fascinates you. Otherwise, the movie might be a bit much of an onslaught.

The movie will be available for streaming tomorrow, August 11th. This review was based on a provided screener.

The Trailer