Freaks of Nature review

FREAKS OF NATURE:

AN OFTEN FUNNY BUT VERY STRANGE HORROR-COMEDY ABOUT HUMANS, VAMPIRES, ZOMBIES, AND ALIENS FIGHTING EACH OTHER!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** 1/2 out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES

A freaky town is about to get even freakier in Freaks of Nature

            Where do I even start with this movie? Freaks of Nature has got to be not just one of the strangest horror-comedies put together, but one of the strangest films in general put together. A movie about a town where humans, vampires, and zombies live side by side as neighbors, but then mayhem begins when aliens attack, it definitely seemed bizarre judging by the trailer, but it looked intriguing enough to say the least.

            However, this film was given a limited release by Sony Pictures, and don’t worry it’s nothing like The Interview where it received a limited release because of the controversy around it, the studio just decided to give it a limited theatrical release so I had to travel far to watch this movie (Actually, the trip to this movie wasn’t too bad!) because the trailer made it look so absurd that I just couldn’t miss it, I wasn’t expecting a Shaun of the Dead or a Zombieland, but I was expecting a wildly stupid but enjoyable film.

            That's pretty much what I got, the designs of the creatures are pretty humorous and some of the jokes and visual gags can be funny, has a strong cast, and the fights between the humans, vampires, zombies, and aliens are pretty fun to watch, not to mention the film does a decent job mimicking 80s horror movies.

Not every joke lands, but a good chunk of them do and thankfully the duds aren't nearly as painful as the "humor" from Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse. 

Our story takes place in the town of Dillford, an average little town that’s actually not so average, where humans, vampires, and zombies live side by side as neighbors. Pretty much everyone is a high school stereotype, the humans are pretty much the ordinary people, the vampires are Goths, and zombies are apparently retarded.

Everything starts off “Ordinary, I guess” until suddenly, a UFO is spotted above the town and all the citizens, undead, immortal, or alive are outraged and start blaming each other for the UFO’s appearance, the vampires claim the humans called the UFO to destroy them, the humans think the vampires did it, the zombies want brains, and so on.

            So it’s up to human teenage boy, Dag Parker (Nicholas Braun-Sky High, The Watch, The Perks of Being a Wallflower), vampire girl, Petra Lane (Mackenzie Davis-The Martian), and zombie nerd, Ned Mosely (Josh Fadem) to knock some sense back into the town’s citizens and have them retaliate against the aliens to save their neighborhood, before total freaky destruction.

            The film also stars Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical trilogy, Beastly, Sucker Punch) as Dag’s girlfriend, Lorelei, Bob Odenkirk (Seinfeld, Wayne’s World 2, The Cable Guy) and Joan Cusack (Working Girl, In & Out, Toy Story 2 and 3) as Dag’s stoner parents, Denis Leary (Comedy Central Roast of Denis Leary, Ice Age franchise, The Amazing Spider-Man) as corrupt businessman, Rick Wilson, Keegan-Michael Key (Key & Peele, Tomorrowland, Hotel Transylvania 2) as vampire teacher, Mr. Keller, and Patton Oswalt (The King of Queens, Ratatouille, Young Adult) as Dag’s piano teacher, Stuart Miller who helps them hide from the aliens to name a few.

            Overall, Freaks of Nature is definitely an ambitious project, a horror comedy about vampires, zombies, and aliens all together, it’s absurd and wacky enough to get something out for the audience. Granted, I would have liked it more if they went all out with their kooky premise and gave us something that's consistently wild, but as is I'm glad I watched it. 

            The main protagonists aren’t anything special, but the actors portray them fine and the best friend who eventually becomes a zombie does get some good laughs. 

            The side characters on the other hand are fantastic, Odenkirk and Cusack as stoner parents, Key as an African-American teacher stereotype, except a vampire, and Denis Leary as a corrupt businessman, who is also apparently the mayor of the town and a semi-antagonist is hilarious and over the top.

            If you just want to see a really bizarre movie just in time for Halloween, you might have some fun with Freaks of Nature, just don’t expect it to be the next Shaun of the Dead or Zombieland.