I LOVE SLASHER MOVIES. But who doesn’t? Right? With that being said, slasher flicks are probably my favorite sub-genre in horror. This film already had a reputation before I got the opportunity to see it. I knew going into it, it was a campground slasher homage, a la Friday the 13th. So much so, that there’s even a “Ki, Ki, Ki, – Ma, Ma, Ma” style sound effect at the beginning. I was totally stoked at that point! But still not fully aware of what was to follow though, it turned out to be so much more than that. Which brings us to The Final Girls.
This movie has some familiar faces. Taissa Farmiga (American Horror Story), Adam Devine (Workaholics – who is fucking hilarious in anything he does I might add), Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development) and Nina Dobrev (The Vampire Diaries). So it doesn’t take much time to like/dislike the characters.
The story follows Max (Farmiga), as she attends a midnight showing of the slasher flick “Camp Bloodbath” with her friends. Which happens to star her Scream Queen mother, who had died suddenly in a tragic car accident three years before – to the day. After a Final Destination moment, a blazing fire erupts in the movie theater. Looking for escape, the teens magically step through the movie screen. They soon find that they are now in the movie!
I felt this film was a truly creative re-hash of all that was awesome in 80’s slasher films. All character clichés were present. Dumb jock, slutty chick, nice girl, nice guy and badass chick. There was even depressing background story for the antagonist, Billy Murphy. Which fueled his revenge fire that was slightly comparable to Jason Voorhees or Cropsey (The Burning). One of the things that sets The Final Girls apart from just any old slasher, is the fact that the characters are self-aware of horror movies. Making for some really funny dialogue. Another aspect that sets the film apart is the tone. This film actually has a heartbeat, one that beats louder than the clichés and really drives the third act. There was actually depth and emotion to the characters, that’s usually non-existent in these types of films.
The technical aspects of the film are quite well done. There were decent special effects that would keep any horror hound happy. Pretty stylized cinematography. Which in a movie like this wouldn’t even have been necessary, only added to its charm. Kudos to director Todd Strauss-Schulson. He did a wonderful job with this film. The writing team of M.A. Fortin and Joshua John Miller did a very impressive job melding ’80s horror references with comedy in a very relevant and hip way. The aforementioned Miller, actually portrayed Homer in the underrated 1987 vampire flick Near Dark. Very cool.
I really enjoyed this flick. It was a slasher movie to the tee. But it was just fresh enough and original enough that it can stand proudly on its own alongside its predecessors. If you’re looking for something different on your Horror movie dinner plate, The Final Girls may be your meal ticket.
Don’t take just my word for it!
Check out the Trailer below:
IMDB:6.7/10
ZombiSurvivor:7.8/10
As always thanks for reading and STAY SCARED!
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-ZombiSurvivor
