Freaks of Nature

Mixing zombies, vampires, and aliens sounded cool enough. With Patton Oswalt, Bob Odenkirk, Denis Leary, Keegan-Michael Key, and Werner Herzog, one would think this could be a really funny movie. Instead, those really funny people all play relatively small roles and we are mostly left with a trio of unfunny heroes plodding around the film.

The town has zombies and vampires mixing in society, mostly at a high school, and none of that ever gets a back story. Attempts at wild comedy don't need to explain too much, especially if it would interfere with the jokes. But this wild comedy never gets wild enough, and it is nowhere near as clever as it portrays itself. Is it really all that funny to kill people around you and then act like it was NBD?

There are funny moments, but not enough LOLz. There also seems to be some attempt at a morality play about classism or racism, as we see humans vs. zombies vs. vampires. Vampire-on-zombie crime is most assuredly despicable, and we should all get along.

This vague social commentary gets mixed with the eternal story font: High School is Tough For Everyone, Even the Popular People. If you don't want to feel, you don't have to: just go be a zombie. If you want to be cool, be a vampire. Whatever you do, just make sure everyone sees, so you can make the scene.

It's a bad sign when Ed Westwick has the best performance in a movie. Nicholaus Braun rattles off his lines like he can't wait to get to the bar. Mackenzie Davis, however, puts in a sincere performance and is a star-to-be.

Freaks of Nature is neither clever enough, funny enough, gross enough, nor serious enough to be much of anything in particular. Even the smooth and dulcet tones of Werner Herzog's voice do little to step up the scene. This is no Cabin in the Woods.

Comedy version of zombie apocalypse has been done a few times in last year alone, but "Freaks of Nature" has a brilliant idea, throws in vampires and aliens too for good measure. It results in a mishmash of erratic dysfunctional team, in some cases there's literally no sense of what's going on as it occurs too randomly. While the loud noise can be, and quite will be numbing, it does sneak in a few over-the-top comedic moments.

In a town where all monstrosities, and humanity, work in less than harmony, an alien invasion will change all that. This is the same type of nerds or outcasts save the day premise since Elijah Wood rescued the hot girl and defeated the foreign threat in The Faculty, only done in much more bloody chaotic fashion.

Dag (Nicholas Braun) is channeling his child Shia LaBeouf as he stutters, gestures and blurs out his lines in unexpected hero gig, though at this point it's too obvious of a hero set-up it becomes cliché. Petra (Mackenzie Davis) is looking highly uncomfortable with her fake fang and unapproachable issues. These two barely have any chemistry yet the screenplay just clashes them together for romantic subplot.

Lorelei (Vanessa Hudgens) looks like the mandatory wallflower and constantly gives uncomfortable erotic gaze to pretty much everything. Ned (Josh Fadem) is the zombiefied nerd, who actually has more relatable problems although the lumbering shtick feels restraining. Keegan-Michael Key from the Youtube or Comedy Central fame delivers his desperate teacher persona, which is expectedly and exaggeratedly entertaining.

The whole thing reeks of chaos, even though it tries to associate real life social metaphor of acceptance for the undertone of monster theme. It has a few witty moments in expense of the main characters and these are appreciated albeit blatant in delivery. Its abrupt change can be distracting since it tries to pile so many fleshy gore together, then suddenly includes display of nudity.

"Freak of Nature" is the example of outlandishly bloody parody, it's as juvenile as they come but might work momentarily for a mindless fun escapade.

This really is a freak show with it's flows. I mean, sometimes it's funny especially with the zombies. Just look at the conversation at the end between Ned and his father. There are parts sadly that are a bit boring with long conversations that doesn't really add a thing and aren't funny. On the other hand we do have gory parts when the vamps do come in.

Was it a funny movie? For me not really, it do has funny moments as I said but again, the gore adds toward the fun, just look how a tough guy is been eaten by zombies. And look how vamps explode in full bloom when spiked.

This flick do deliver on the part of the effects. The zombies all look stunning and the aliens do look great as do their mother ship. A big hooray for the effects. It sure is above mediocre over all and it's the acting of the zombie Ned by Josh Fadem that makes it worth seeing.

Like the story is full of freaks and good and bad parts I'm stuck with mixed emotions, still I will recommend it because it do has things for everyone out their, if you're a horror buff of course.

Gore 1,5/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 2/5

Good Horror/Comedies are hard to come by, so many of them just tend to be super cheesy low budget movies with no real laughs or originality. "Freaks Of Nature" isn't groundbreaking or some kind of cult masterpiece, but it is a lot of fun and full of monster action & Blood.

The film has sort of a teen flick atmosphere but it isn't too heavy and it isn't as corny as most flick's with that atmosphere tend to be. Any cheese here is completely intentional and the whole "Being a teen is super hard" thing isn't really played up too much. All three main characters are likable enough and are fun to root for. The film is riddled with some really fun cameos that help to speed things up a bit when things start to slow down a bit (which doesn't happen very often).

I had a good time watching this film, it was fast pace, funny, gory, and original enough to make it not seem like just another horror/comedy. From the trailer you should know what to expect, and as long as you know what to expect you should enjoy this film.

7/10

Freaks of Nature is really a curiosity; a town inhabited by zombies, human and vampires, living peacefully until an alien invasion creates havoc and a huge civil war. It has some really comic moments (aided by the presence of comedians like Patton Oswald, Joan Cusack, Keegan-Michael Key, Denis Leary, Bob Odenkirk among others; and a voice cameo from Werner Herzog that is really worth watching).

Sadly many times, the movie slow down too much to enter into the clichéd territory of school / teenagers stories, with the romance, the good girl and the slut one, the nerd and the former nerd trying to be cool. If the movie did not sink is because the acting of the three main characters is really good and some secondary characters / situations are hilarious.

With all its mistakes; however the movie has a deeper subtext that rise the movie above the classic teenager fare to become a satire on thin equilibrium of a society that looks peaceful but is a time bomb about to explode, the USA concept of family, food and culture; and the rejection of the smarter being just because it is smarter.

In brief; if you can digest some gory situations and zombie makeup, the movie is worth to dedicate some time.