Great. We're going to get killed by murder Barbie (Freaky 2021)

 289.

Freaky

7/10

The initial vibes that I received from the trailer for this movie screamed 'Happy Death Day'. So to find out that we are getting some more work from the same director, Christopher Landon, came as little surprise. 'Happy Death Day' is a comedy horror that now has a sequel, which I'm yet to watch but this movie looks like it could be a bit more fun within the horror genre. Vince Vaughn is on board who we know from any comedy ever starring alongside Owen Wilson but this time he's cast with some high school girls as we embark on a bit of a slasher but all accounts. The second familiar face comes in the form of Kathryn Newton, who I wouldn't have gotten the name without a quick look on IMDB but I've seen her star in Pokemon: Detective Pikachu, which wasn't half bad. Not too much was left to the imagination after the trailer. We already know that both of our main characters are going to be switching bodies and we have Vaughn as a killer, whose mind is switched into the mind of a girl. How they change back, who knows. Let's get Freaky. 

The movie starts as many horrors do. We have a group of teenagers, drinking whilst parents are out of town and discussing some urban legends. The main one that comes up is the Blissfield Butcher. As expected, the Butcher makes an appearance and slaughters the lot of them, stealing an Aztec knife on how way through, called La Dola. I can only imagine this scene was set up to show the brutality of the killer but also focused highly on this knife.

The next day we meet our other lead characters. Millie isn't exactly popular in school and as she attends a high school football game as the mascot, she is the last to stick around as she waits for a lift home by her mother. This won't be happening as mother has folded like the best of us and had a few too many. Out of the misty hedges comes the Butcher with his brand new knife, ready for another attack. He stabs Millie in the shoulder but a wound opens up on his own shoulder in doing so. Millie's older sister, who is also a cop, arrives to scare the Butcher away and collects the knife as evidence, radioing in for a manhunt in the process.

The next morning, the two leads find out that they have switched bodies. They both head into school for different reasons and the Butcher, now in Millie's body ends up killing Millie's bully by locking her in a cryo tank, whilst also slicing her woodshop teacher in half with the table saw. 

The killings, as strange as it sounds, simply adds to the sub-genre of comedy-horror. The Butcher realises he has some sort of immunity from suspicion whilst he is in this body. On the other hand, Millie is walking around in the Butcher's body trying to track down her friends and performing the school mascot's dance to prove who she really is. Nyla and Josh, the friends, help Millie to research the knife, revealing that Millie needs to stab The Butcher by midnight or the switch will be permanent. 

With the homecoming dance cancelled, The Butcher decides that they should hold another party in the Old Mill, which is also his hideout. Bare in mind now, that Millie who is the Butcher, was never popular anyway is now followed with her new confidence. In the meantime, The Butcher lures Millie's actual crush to a horror minigolf game to kill him but our trio of teenagers, in body and mind in the case of Millie, manage to save Booker, the crush and knock both him and the actual Butcher unconscious, taking them both back to Josh's house. They try to convince Booker about the mind swap but he isn't buying it until Millie recites a poem that she wrote to him weeks earlier. It's a little weird but funny watching Vince Vaughn deliver the lines but it'll get a little weirder before the end. Josh watches over The actual Butcher whilst the other three head to the police station to retrieve the knife before midnight. Of course, the last officer in the station would be Millie's sister, the story wouldn't happen any other way. Out in the car, Millie and Booker are talking and Booker reveals that he has always liked her. Millie divulges the fact of her newfound confidence and they both kiss. Told you it would get a little weirder. The sister is tricked to leave the station, only to return and catch Nyla stealing the knife. After trying to explain, we have another character how doesn't understand what is happening and in the meantime, the Butcher has escaped from Josh's. Millie sees him enter the police station and the sister is now in trouble. Millie enters the station but being in The Butcher's actual body, the sister doesn't ask questions and tries to detain the fully grown man. Millie overpowers her, looks her in a cell and follows the Butcher who has escaped in a police car. 

He's made it to the mill and kills three jocks who try to rape her as well as a fourth who tried to move in on Josh. Everyone now arrives, including the cops but the trio of friends hold down the Butcher in Millie's body and she stabs him just in time for the police to shoot him down. Millie and Booker finally unite in the right bodies and kiss. 

I was expecting the movie to finish but no, we are going to get another scene. The Butcher has killed the ambulance and police crew and follows Millie home. He attacks her, her sister and her mother whilst making fun of her weakness and anxiety. Millie has had a hell of a night though and has changed. She impales him with a broken table leg and now, the credits are ready to roll. 

Just as I felt after 'Happy Death Day', the movie was quite enjoyable. Growing up, the sub-genre of horror-comedy was mostly filled with parodies like the 'Scary Movie' franchise. After seeing the first couple, they got a little tiresome. There is now a little twist to the genre and some new ideas rather than ripping off famous scenes. Giving a glimpse of something like 'Freaky Friday' where a mother and daughter switched bodies, this movie was definitely an interesting concept. Success in the storyline and movie is only as good as its cast being able to nail the presentation. 

Moving on to the cast, Vince Vaughn's role in this movie cannot be understated in any way, he was the main reason that this worked so well. I've not managed to catch a movie where he is any sort of villainous role and this guy is a bit of a giant in stature so it's surprising there hasn't been a lot. The movie didn't have him too much in this role though, mostly at the beginning, hidden in the dark and then a few minutes towards the end. The biggest part and most surprising was how well he pulled off a  teenage girl's mannerisms. Between prancing about screaming every so often, he was quite convincing. This can then switch to Kathryn Newton in the role of Millie. Starting the movie as an outcast, once the confidence of a killer sets in, so did her role. The confidence in body language and dialogue means that Newton needs to deliver on two different characters and smashes both out of the park.

A bit of a laugh, a bit of horror and a movie that really isn't too bad to have a watch and chill out to. I can imagine it'll hit a streaming service a little further down the line and will be popular for a while but it isn't going to win any awards. In trying to nitpick the movie, yes some of the other cast member's acting was a little sketchy, yes there was a touch of predictability about the movie but that was always going to be the case in this sub-genre which should never be taken too seriously. The killings and over the top gore only added to this point but at the same time, once again, made it more enjoyable. A popcorn movie to enjoy whilst you leave your brain at the door. If you enjoyed other movies recently of the genre, give this one a go.

When God builds a church, the Devil builds a chapel nextdoor (The Unholy 2021)

 288.

The Unholy

5/10

Another horror movie to add to the list and not one that is attached to any sort of franchise. The trailer looked nothing short of interesting, as many horror trailers do. Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays our leading actor, fresh from the highly successful role in The Walking Dead. In this movie, he'll be playing a disgraced journalist and after faking news stories, needs to build his reputation again. The movie gives the directorial debut of Evan Spiliotopoulos. Evan is an interesting one as the only things he's worked on of note in his career so far are Disney sequels such as The Jungle Book 2 and also worked on the live-action Beauty and the Beast. Let's find out if he took his chance to make something great, or something truly unholy. 

The film begins in the 1800s' as a young girl is killed for witchcraft. Hanging from a tree, she is set alight after a mask is nailed to her face and her spirit is bound to a doll. There's always a doll. Many years later, Morgan's character is sent to Boston to report on a strange happening, which turns out to be nothing but a prank but he finds the doll and crushes it, releasing the spirit.

As he is set to leave, he is in a car accident after narrowly avoiding hitting a girl. He then follows said girl to the tree from the beginning and also the location where he crushed the doll. The girl utters a few words before collapsing. After taking the girl to the local church, we learn she is a dead-mute so the fact that she apparently spoke, can't be true. Gerry, played by Morgan, decides to stick around and find out the truth. 

The girl decides to wow the crowds as she claims she has been blessed by the Virgin Mary. The Catholic Church decides to send out their investigators for the case. There is now a media frenzy but the only person that the girl Alice will speak to is Gerry. 

He finds out that she has been talking to a presence called Mary and automatically thinks that she is holy. Things start to take a sinister turn as people start dying and Gerry has horrifying visions of Mary and her true nature. During his time there, he befriends the local physician to who he comes clean to about fabricating stories. Hoping this one will now bring his career back to the top, they both find information that the local vicar has discovered. It had cost him his life as Mary had killed him and shows who Mary actually is. The witch who was killed. She had sold her soul to Satan for eternal life and power. It turns out that the higher-ups in the church knew this and kept it a secret as it brought interest back to the church and with Gerry's reputation, no one would believe him anyway.

Alice is seemingly unaware of Mary's true nature wishes to hold a service live on TV by the tree and the Catholic investigator warns that this will become a Satanic ritual. Anyone who pledges themselves to her will be condemned to hell. Our trio tries to stop the event with a ritual in the church which Mary isn't a fan of. She ends up killing the Catholic investigator with a burning cross and now we are on to our endgame. 

Alice urges everyone to pledge themselves to Mary three times, reminding me of the famous Bloody Mary ritual in front of the mirror. Alice has been taken over by this presence so it takes the physician Natalie to communicate with her through sign language. Gerry has slowed the crowd down in the meantime. He's explaining that everything is just down to more hoaxes. Mary tries to sway Alice but now that Alice realises the true intent, she tells everyone that indeed the miracles weren't true. The tree suddenly bursts into flames as everyone tries to escape. Mary crawls out from behind as she heads for Gerry.

 Alice sacrifices herself to save Gerry and this act seems to have gone against what Mary is about. She disappears and it turns out that due to Alice being Mary's link to the world, she no longer has her vessel. Gerry is left in shock, begging God to bring Alice back to life. The wish is granted as Alice comes back but without her hearing or speech. Everyone that Alice and Mary cured relapse and in the aftermath of the movie, we zoom in on the statue of Mary within the church as it cries a tear of blood. 

This movie felt like a straight to DVD movie or maybe even a Friday night movie that you come across on TV. The movie had an interesting headway and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't great to be back in the cinema watching any kind of horror but this one won't be top of my list for a rewatch any time soon. The main possession-based storyline was not a shock to anyone because that was apparent from the beginning of the movie. It was all about watching how that played out. To see the side story of the church actually knowing the true events and their dark motives to profit from the event was the part that I didn't see coming. It added a little spice to an otherwise common horror movie. 

The cast for me was a few recognisable faces with one name that I could pick out from the trailer alone. Jeffery Dean Morgan is hot property since The Walking Dead and is my pick to play Thomas Wayne as Batman in any Flash Point movie, but it'll never happen. Playing a washed-up journalist and downright grump seems to be effortless for this guy as he is one of the redeeming parts of the movie. William Sadler, one of the inmates in Shawshank Redemption and Cary Elwes, one of the chained up gents in Saw were the only other faces that were recognisable to me. The rest of the cast was new but I can't have any complaints about them. The acting all around was at a decent level thankfully. Too many times have I come across a new cast in horror movies that we never hear from again and the talent was at a minimum. 

I had no idea that this was based on a classic novel, written by James Herbert, I really hope that the guy enjoyed seeing his work come on to the big screen. A lot of the time we know that things change too much and the author sometimes resents allow it to be done. A famous case of this would be Stephen King and his views on 'The Shining'. More redeeming features for me would be the CGI in the movie as some mediocre storytelling and following the horror blueprint was salvaged by clever scene work, special effects and even the overall look of the demon. Too many times do we only see some fingers rather than the whole horror of what the audience has been sitting in anticipation for. Through October, I have been watching horror movies, some new and some re-watches and if this movie pops up on a streaming app then maybe just maybe will I watch it again. Until that moment, it, unfortunately, won't be one that I go out of my way to purchase or view in the near future.