One of the hardest big screen losses during the quick shuttering and slow reopening of cinemas during the pandemic was the lack of a major audience for body swap comedy horror Freaky, a snappy crowd-pleaser that never really had the chance to truly please a substantial crowd. Writer-director Christopher Landon’s niftily effective and surprisingly sensitive mash-up of Friday the 13th and Freaky Friday was bundled into multiplexes when audiences were still staying away, and as such, remains cruelly under-seen.
Like Landon’s previous work – writing scripts for Disturbia and Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse and directing Happy Death Days 1 and 2 – it showcased a buoyancy of tone that ensured fun was being had even when frightening things were happening. It makes sense that he would then parlay that into the world of family films and so his Netflix caper We Have a Ghost might be aimed at a younger demographic but it retains a similar speed and spirit. But as perfect as this match-up might seem on paper, the move has also come at a cost, a loss of something more distinctive perhaps. Landon has always been transparent about his influences – Happy Death Day recalling Groundhog Day, Disturbia recalling Rear Window (to the extent that Hitchcock’s estate tried to sue) – but here, he’s too busy trying to conjure the vibe of a certain type of film to focus on crafting something of his own.
