Legendary author Stephen King has reacted to the trailer for horror-comedy Freaky in typically effusive fashion, singling out Vince Vaughn for praise. The actor stars alongside Kathryn Newton (Big Little Lies) in a new twist on the classic body-swap comedy. It's based on Freaky Friday, which was originally a 1972 children's book, and has been made into multiple movies over the years, including the version starring Lindsay Lohan. Freaky mixes the formula up, though, by making Millie, the teenage girl at the heart of the plot, swap bodies not with her mother but with a crazed serial killer known as the Blissfield Butcher, just as he's about to murder her.
The first trailer for Freaky dropped online yesterday, surprising everyone with its smart approach to the material, and the fact that it doesn't seem to skip on the horror elements of the tale. While Newton is on form, portraying a middle-aged serial killer trapped in a girl's body, it's Vaughn who shines, clearly relishing the chance to ham it up as a teenage girl. One particularly memorable scene shows Vaughn doing a cheer to convince Millie's friends that it's really her.
The sequence impressed King, the legendary horror, fantasy, and sci-fi author whose books have been adapted into countless movies and TV shows. Maine's most famous resident took to Twitter to share his praise for the trailer, and Vaughn's performance, saying that he thinks the actor should get nominated for an Oscar for the role. King adds that the movie looks "f---ing AWESOME!" You can see the tweet below:
It's high praise from the master of horror, leading the film's writer, Michael Kennedy, to reply to the tweet saying how much King's words mean to him. And King isn't wrong. The trailer makes the film look like a bloody delight, and it's no surprise that the man best known for popularizing horror tales in the USA likes it. Hopefully, the movie can live up to the promise of the trailer, especially where Vaughn is concerned.
The other cast members, including Alan Ruck of Ferris Bueller's Day Off fame, also look to be on top form here, and the film also releases, appropriately, on Friday the 13th of November. The only downside, for audiences, is that Freaky is being released in cinemas, meaning that if they want their dose of horror-comedy, they'll have to weigh the risk of contracting coronavirus against the benefits of on-screen entertainment. One fan who seems to have decided they'll be risking it, though, is King.
Source: Stephen King/Twitter