Halloween Horrorfest: The Final Girls

As a Horror film fan, one of the sub-genres I have always had an affinity for was the slasher movie, in particular the 80's slasher movie. There was such a glut of them in the early 80's that even I haven't seen them all, but among the most notorious of them were the summer camp set slashers such as Friday the 13th and it's sequels as well as the similar, and some say superior, The Burning. It's these films that get a ripe parody treatment done in the style of Last Action Hero in The Final Girls. 

Max (played Tessa Farminga) has recently lost her mother Amanda (played by Malin Ackerman) who was a struggling actress whose most notable role was in a cheesy 80's slasher movie called Camp Bloodbath. She begrudgingly attends an anniversary of the cult film along with her boyfriend Chris (played by Alexander Ludwig) as well as her friends Gertie (played by Alia Shawkat) and Duncan (played by Thomas Middleditch). When the theater suddenly catches fire, they try to escape by cutting through the screen and exiting out the back of the theater only to find themselves transported into the movie instead. Realizing that they are in big trouble, they quickly have to figure out a way to stay alive at least long enough to find a way out of the movie and back into real life.

There's a certain tongue in cheek sensibility to this film as it takes the self aware meta-humor and taking it to the next level as the "real world" characters use their knowledge of not only the film they are in but horror films in general to survive the film. It's also fun to see them freak out as the film they are in transitions to such stylistic touches as the film they are trapped in turns black and white for a flashback or becomes slow motion. The film is also peppered with some nice stylistic touches, recalling the 80's setting of the film within a film. No where is this more evident than in the climactic showdown between Malin Ackerman's character and the film's killer, Billy (clearly fashioned after Jason Voorhees of the Friday the 13th sequels). That same scene also contains perhaps the best use of Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes" I think I have seen in a film. The film also has a lot of heart in it as well, as Max finds herself face to face with her recently deceased mother, or rather the character she played in the film, Nancy and the moments between the two are very well performed by Malin Ackerman and Tessa Farminga. Nancy is originally supposed to die in the film after sleeping with another character, Kurt (played by Adam Devine). By preventing this from happening, they wind up changing how the entire film plays out, which I thought was a fun plot twist. 

Overall, The Final Girls is a fun throwback to the 80's slasher movies while gleefully poking fun at them as well. Knowing those films well, I have to say this film pretty much perfectly captures and recreates the feeling of the films from that era while also being something fresh and fun in it's own right.