‘Freaky’: Meet The Lone Queer of Christopher Landon’s 2020 Slasher
A queer movie directed by a queer man and written by a queer man, but only contains one queer character? Yes, but none of that is a bad thing. I’m speaking on 2020’s Freaky. Directed and co-written by Christopher Landon, and co-written by Michael Kennedy, Freaky is a horror twist on the Freaky Friday formula. It’s not a mother/daughter switcheroo, but a teenage girl/vicious serial killer slasheroo. There are many wonderful and hilarious moments centered on gender norms and issues between teenage Millie (Kathryn Newton) and the vicious Butcher (Vince Vaughn). Neither of them is our lone queer, though. That title belongs to Millie’s best friend, Josh (Misha Osherovich).
Before we dive into the quirky queerness that exudes from Josh, there are two things I’d like to point out. First, Josh’s pronouns, as far as we know given the context within the film, are he/him, but Osherovich’s are they/them. Each will be referred to as such. Secondly, Josh isn’t *technically* the only queer character within the film. There’s also the town’s mailman, Frank (Charles Green), who Josh mentions as the only other possible queer in town. Mailman Frank gets a mention as there shall be no erasure of all queers! Then there’s the ick football jock, but we’ll get into him later. We’re going to want to erase him.
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Josh’s introduction is preceded by the whine of his blue car driving up. That, right there, instantly drew me into his character before he even pops up on screen. As a high schooler in a small town in which I was—as far as I knew—the only queer who also had a car that liked to make noises, I felt seen. RIP Bumblebee (my car that made the noises).
In a convo along with Millie and their other bestie, Nyla (Celeste O’Connor), Josh gives a string of verbalisms taut with pop culture, queer culture, and reads. A dig at Wicked (I actually think he’d like the movie) is made. The aforementioned Mailman Frank’s Grindr is discussed. Josh also calls himself out with the hope of hooking up with a closeted jock at the Homecoming dance. He does turn the focus onto Millie as the queer best friend does in the Lone Queer world. He and Nyla attempt to express how important it is to attend the upcoming Homecoming dance. It’s an important moment to show that he does have respect for his friends.
One of my favorite moments occurs when Millie in the body of the Butcher first appears to Josh and Nyla. Chase scene brilliance occurs. From Josh’s, “You’re black! I’m gay! We are so dead!” to Nyla and Josh’s instant turn around and smackdown of who they believe to be the butcher. Landon and Kennedy literally say, “Not our black and queer characters,” and show them fighting for their LIVES until Millie helps them realize that it’s her. It’s a brilliant scene.
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The BEST Josh moment within the film hits a soft spot for me. Butcher Millie is left with Josh at his house while the others go out to take care of some business with Millie-not-Butcher. Butcher Millie is all tied up while Josh is watching TV to pass the time. Josh’s mom (Brooke Jay Taylor)—who was supposed to be at work—returns home. Instantly we see a posed photo on the wall behind her of the both of them laughing. And bam. That lets us know that Josh and his mom are tight.
What follows next is pristine. Mrs. Detmer sees Butcher Millie tied up, and questions Josh about it, who in turn tells his mom that they’re role-playing and that he’s straight. Mrs. Detmer’s response? “Joshua, you are many things, but straight isn’t one of them.” Butcher Millie gets free, and in pure comedic fashion, Josh and his mom run away in the exact same fashion while screaming the exact same scream.
I love the fact that Landon and Kennedy wrote about a healthy relationship between a queer child and their parent. In 2020, when a queer kid’s parents are involved in a film’s storyline, there was always tension. Not here. In the few moments that his mom is involved, you can tell that their relationship is genuine and open.
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Yet, there is a bit of queer fear within Josh’s storyline. The previously mentioned high school jock that we could do with erasing, Phil (Magnus Diehl), attempts to hook up with Josh. I say we could erase him because as soon as Josh denies his attempts, Phil calls Josh a faggot. Internatilized homophobia seeps out of Phil with further threats to Josh. Then Butcher Millie does us all a favor by erasing him with a hook to the eye. Sure, this was what Josh said he wanted at the beginning of the film, but he has more important things to attend to with Butcher Millie still running rampant.
Initially, it struck me as surprising that a 2020 film written and directed by gay men relegated the queer character as the best friend. On repeat viewings of Freaky, though, that view changed. Millie is the main character, but Josh—and Nyla—is, as well. They’re sort of three equivalents of one being. They’re constantly there for each other. The switcheroo reversing Millie and the Butcher back to their actual bodies is done with Josh and Nyla by her side.
Josh is a wonderful queer character. He lives relatively free of being bullied and has a group of friends who love him. His mother supports him. He knows exactly who he is, and seems to revel in that. He isn’t written as messy. He’s just Josh.
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In the October 2020 issue of Fangoria, Michael Kennedy wrote the importance of horror to him as a queer person. He also spoke on the importance of Josh,
“He’s out, he’s proud, he’s fabulous. And he’s a queero for today’s youth. He lives out loud yet at the same time he allows himself to be flawed … My fucking god it is an absolute honor to introduce him to the world. I cry when I think of Joshua and his strength. The strength that he has is in all of us. And if he is able to bubble that strength to the surface for a bullied, outsider, closeted, freaky, horror-craving weirdo like myself, then I will find nothing in life greater than that. To be able to say ‘I helped do that’ is a pivotal moment in my life.”
Michael Kennedy, those exact words are how I feel about Josh. I promise we queerdos are incredibly thankful for the queero, Josh. We’re thankful for Misha Osherovich’s energy that created Josh. We’re thankful for Freaky and Christopher Landon’s direction which aided in bringing Josh to life. Cheers to queers!
Categorized:Editorials
