Alan Ruck

Freaky

18/02/22

NOW Cinema

Our on-going efforts to catch up with some of the movies that were lost in lockdown continues. Freaky was released at the worst possible time for a film of this kind. Here is something that really needs to be seen with a bunch of friends, in an actual cinema, to be fully appreciated. But, needs must and all that.

To be honest, Christopher Landon and Michael Kennedy’s spoof slasher movie starts unpromisingly as we see four teenagers gorily despatched by the Blissfield Butcher, a masked killer in the (jugular) vein of Michael Myers. Indeed, there are clear nods to Halloween and other classics of the genre, but the problem is that there’s no real suspense generated here, the killings suspended in that lonely wasteland somewhere between horror and comedy.

Just as I’m thinking of reaching for the ‘off’ switch, however, the film plays its trump card, as The Butcher (Vince Vaughan) attacks troubled teen Millie (Kathryn Newton) with an ancient Aztec dagger and things change significantly. For this, it turns out, is a body-swap story (working title Freaky Friday the 13th). Now Millie is running around in the body of a six-foot-plus male serial killer and she’s having the devil of a job convincing her best friends, Nyla (Celeste O’ Connor) and Josh (Misha Osherovich), that she’s worthy of their trust.

Meanwhile, The Butcher is wandering gleefully around the high school in Millie’s petite frame, exacting bloody revenge on everyone who is mean to him – and that vengeance is not exclusively directed at his fellow students, either. Teacher Mr Bernardi (Alan Ruck) is also due a healthy dose of comeuppance.

And suddenly it’s working! This edgy mix of killer-thriller and high school romcom feels fresh and inventive, while Vaughan gives a nicely nuanced performance that’s much more adept than the high-camp caricature familiar from this genre. Newton handles her inner malevolence with skill and Osherovich, as Millie’s snarky gay friend, is given some genuinely funny lines to deliver. As he observes to Nyla: ‘You’re black, I’m gay. We are SO dead!’

The subsequent killings have much more impact now that we actually have characters that we can care about – and the pace is too frantic to allow time to consider the improbabilities of the plot.

But, you can’t help but wonder, how on earth are they ever going to tie these various strands into a satisfying conclusion? Suffice to say they do, and, most refreshing of all, there’s no attempt to dangle the possibility of a sequel.

4 stars

Philip Caveney

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

05/11/17

The John Hughes season at The Cameo concludes with what might just be his most enjoyable movie. First released in 1986, it recounts the adventures of its titular hero, a wise-beyond-his years teenager, intent on taking the day off high school, even though he’s in danger of not graduating. With his best friend, Cameron (Alan Ruck), and his girlfriend, Sloane (Mia Sara), in tow, he sets off to raise hell  in and around the city of Chicago. Meanwhile, his nemesis, school principal Ed Rooney (Jeffrey Jones), goes in deadly pursuit, intent on bringing down the kid who has outsmarted him all year long.

Unlike some of Hughes’ other movies (Sixteen Candles, I’m looking at you!), Ferris Bueller’s Day Off has aged splendidly. Matthew Broderick is incredibly appealing in the lead role – you fully understand how he can charm his way out of difficult situations – and Hughes’ celebration of teenage culture wins spectacularly because you sense his genuine liking and respect for his protagonists and his insistence on never talking down to them. The scene where Ferris gatecrashes a parade and delivers a spirited rendition of Twist and Shout never fails to make me smile.

With the benefit of hindsight, it’s fun to speculate that Jennifer Grey as Ferris’s long-suffering sister, Jeanie, was still ten years away from taking the world by storm in Dirty Dancing; that Alan Ruck was at the beginning of an acting career that endures to this day; and – oh yes – the cameo for ‘kid in the police station?’ Could that be…? Yes, it is. Charlie Sheen, making his twelfth film appearance. As a kid busted for drugs…

You could argue that it’s just a piece of fluff, but fluff is rarely done as well as this joyful, exuberant, and consistently funny slice of eighties entertainment – and what a pleasure to see it back on the big screen. Don’t forget to hang on for the post-credit bit. This may be the first film to actually feature one.

4.2 stars

Philip Caveney