October 18th: The Final Girls
The Final Girls
Released: 2015
Directed by: Todd Strauss-Schulson
Starring: Taissa Farmigal, Malin Åkerman, Adam DeVine, Thomas Middleditch, Alia Shawkat, Nina Dobrev, Alexander Ludwig
A Nightmare on Elm Street. Halloween. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. And especially Friday the 13th. Legendary slasher movies from the 80s. Many of them, especially the non-name brand ones, became morality plays. Mean, promiscuous, and/or drug-addled teenagers got murdered by psychopaths, zombie demons, reincarnated murderers and hockey aficionados. The only one left was the one girl brave enough, tough enough and kind — even if only deep down — enough to survive the sharp implements of the murderer and the executing self-righteous scripts of the screenwriters. These girls became known as “the final girls”. Characters like Laurie Strode, Ellen Ripley, Sidney Prescott, Nancy Thompson and others established this trope in various clever or lucky ways. The Final Girls takes that concept and presents a horror-comedy with heart that sends up these kinds of movies.
Max Cartwright is the daughter of actress Amanda Cartwright, star of the cult classic Camp Bloodbath. Three years before the events of the movie, Amanda is tragically killed in a car accident. Max, therefore, loses the person most important in her world and needs to try to move on with her life. One of her friends, Duncan, invites her to a showing of Camp Bloodbath 1 and 2. As the daughter of one of the stars, she would be the guest of honor. As the film goes on, the theater catches fire, so Max, Duncan, and their friends Chris, Gertie, and Vicki escape through the movie screen. They then find themselves in the forest. Soon, they realize they are actually in the movie Camp Bloodbath and experience it in real time. This includes a younger version of Amanda playing the character Nancy. How will they get back home? How will they survive Billy the killer? How will they stop themselves from getting STDs? It’s the era of the AIDS crisis, remember.
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The part of this movie that stands out is its heart. Max misses her mother so terribly that when she miraculously has the opportunity to interact with one of her mother’s film characters, it is a bittersweet moment. Both Taissa Farmiga as Max and Malin Åkerman as Amanda/Nancy give beautiful performances. There is a scene at the end that is an emotional culmination of Max’s feelings. It really is enough to make you cry. Which I did. A little. Shut up. Horror-comedies have a difficult time balancing the two. While this movie definitely leans on the comedy more than the horror, the scares it does have are done well. And the comedy is done really well. There are some good bits from some qualified comic actors. It really is worth seeking this movie out.
Small Observations:
- Adam DeVine plays the sex-starved ’80s character from the Camp Bloodbath movie, Kurt. As usual, DeVine plays a complete and utter douche so well. There are so many asides he makes that vary from outlandish to so dumb they’re hilarious. Honestly, he almost steals the movie on his own.
- There is a part where the modern people are brought into a flashback showing how Billy became the deformed killer he is in the film. Why didn’t they try to stop the prank that sends him down the dark path? It may not have worked, but at least give it a shot.
- Really interesting from a film history perspective: There is no way that a slasher movie from 1986 would have an interracial relationship, even a brief sexual one. Movies in the ’80s were conservative to the point that they worried about alienating Southern audiences.
- MCU actors: 0 but one did a voice in a Marvel TV show
Overall Rank: A
A really entertaining film. Funny where it should be. Scary when it needs to be. Surprisingly heartwarming. Recommended.
