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The Final Girls may appear to be another stupid campy horror spoof a la Scary Movie but rest assured, it's not. It's most comparable to The Cabin in the Woods, but while that movie deconstructed horror as a whole, The Final Girls' focus is specifically on slashers. It's about a slasher movie star and her daughter who get into a fatal car accident. The daughter survives and years later, her and her friends go to see the slasher movie her mother starred in, then something happens in the theater and somehow the group ends up in the film they were watching. It may sound dumb but all disbelief can easily be suspended due to the smooth transitions, clever dialogue, great acting, and characters you actually care about.

Once they enter the "movie" world, it's simply a blast to watch. Slasher tropes are pointed out, made fun of, and even implemented well when necessary. The virgin girl is the only one who can kill the killer and it must be with his own machete. Sound familiar? Also, anyone who has sex ends up getting killed. Yeah, it's Friday the 13th all over again, except with a new cast. Every character has a personality and has their place in the movie. There's the jock douche, the slutty space cadet, the innocent shy girl, the hipster, you name it. They all work perfectly together, and it's hard to single out one actor as a highlight because the acting throughout is highly impressive for a horror movie. Mainly the two female leads (Max and her mom) have tangible chemistry and some truly heartfelt moments.

So is The Final Girls scary? Not exactly, but does have some badass shots like the killer jumping out of a window in slo-mo while he and his machete are on fire, and someone actually dies by falling face first into a bear trap. Ouch. More importantly though, The Final Girls is funny without being dumb. It's clever humor, and it works around the plot so you have fun while being totally invested in the story. The most surprising thing about this movie is the amount of heart it has. Rarely do tearful personal conversations work in slashers, but here they make up some of the most powerful scenes.

Simply put, The Final Girls is an adventure, and for any meta-horror comedy fans, it's one you should not miss.

Grieving the loss of her mother Amanda Cartwright (Malin Akerman), a one-time horror scream queen, young girl Max Cartwright (Taissa Farmiga) is thrown into the film that made her mother famous, the 80's slasher flick, "Camp Bloodbath". Very a-kin to "Friday the 13th", a slasher/serial kill is on the loose murdering the kids. Billy Murphy (Daniel Norris) was teased to death by the camp mates and wants his bloody revenge. Max and her friends (Alia Shawkat, Alexander Ludwig, Thomas Middleditch and Nina Dobrev) must work with the camp mates to try and survive.

I was dubious about this film when I read the summary. Not only was it littered with 'kids', it was also on a cable channel which is not known for quality films. I watched it all the same and was pleasantly surprised at it. It is a weird re-hash, parody, and homage all in one. It was like "Scream" (1996) the way it knew it's content, crossed with "The Last Action Hero" (1993) the way it poked fun at itself, and "Cabin in the Woods" (2011) the way it developed - but just a little cuter, colourful and fluffier. It does not take itself too seriously, nor the genre that it is working with, nor the era that the 'original' movie was set in. There are times where it is cheesy and camp, there are times where it looks cheap - but all in all it works. Plenty of clichés and standard slasher tropes but used well to get the plot across rather than thrown in just to use them. I would not necessarily say that this film is scary, more an adventure film set in a horror film. I imagine it's kind of like what would happen if the current MTV generation took a virtual tour of an 80's slasher/horror film. There is nothing too offensive, plenty of suggestion rather than action, a little bit of bad language, very mild drink and drugs use, nudity and some violence and gore (but used as much in comedy as in horror).

While this film was pleasantly surprising and nice, it's the kind of film I could most of the family in front of, whereas, personally, I prefer the kind of films you can't safely put family members in front of for fear of offending them. Give me "Friday the 13th" (1980), "The Burning" (1981), "Sleepaway Camp" (1983), or even "Cheerleader Camp" (1988). But still, this was a lighthearted way to reminisce, it was fun, and at 91 mins it was easy to sit through. Released in 2015 with a relatively low budget of $4.5 million, I am sure you will catch this film repeated on cable channels in the future, so I say, why not give it a go. 7 /10

The teenager Max Cartwright (Taissa Farmiga) misses her mother Amanda Cartwright (Malin Akerman), who died three years ago in a car accident. Amanda was a horror movies actress that has become famous because of her character Nancy in the cult slasher film "Camp Bloodbath 1 & 2". Max is invited by her friend Duncan (Thomas Middleditch), who is the brother of her best friend Gertie Michaels (Alia Shawkat), to participate in the lecture in the end of the session of "Camp Bloodbath 1 & 2" promoted by the fans in the movie theater. Max meets the handsome Chris Briggs (Alexander Ludwig), who has broken up with his girlfriend Vicki Summers (Nina Dobrev), and they stay together. Out of the blue, there is a fire in the theater and Max, Chris, Duncan, Gertie and Vicki try to escape through the screen. But soon they find that they are trapped in "Camp Bloodbath 1" with the characters Nancy, Kurt (Adam DeVine), Tina (Angela Trimbur) and Paula (Chloe Bridges) in the summer camp. Further, the serial-killer Billy Murphy (Dan B. Norris) is hunting them down.

"The Final Girls" is an entertaining parody to slasher films that has potential to become cult-movie. The story entwines "Friday the 13th" or any other slasher in a summer camp with the idea of "The Purple Rose of Cairo" (1985), repeated in "Last Action Hero" (1993) and "Pleasantville"(1998), where the viewer joins the characters in the film. There are many funny moments and Malin Akerman is so beautiful that convinces performing the role of the teenager Nancy. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Terror nos Bastidores" ("Terror in the Backstage")

This film has one hell of a premise that immediately grabbed my attention. It features the exact blend of comedy and horror that I love and that so rarely filmmakers do right. The severely underrated Club Dread is a perfect example of how so many people can miss the intended humour. Then you have hits like Tucker & Dale vs Evil, which not only is a great premise, but is also both hilarious and a bloody good time. People either seem to love or hate these films and it's most likely because it's so hard to balance the two genres. When done right, it's gold, when done wrong, it's terrible.

The Final Girls, for the most part, lands on the good side of the spectrum. Max, loses her mother in a car accident and 3 years to the day, is invited to a screening of her late mother's most famous film, a cheesy 80's horror flick called Camp Blood. During the screening the theatre catches fire, so Max and her friends have to escape and cut right through the theatre screen. Next thing they know, they're in the movie. The exact same movie her mother appears in, which now gives Max a second opportunity to be with her mother, only if she survives the deranged killer roaming the woods.

The film has a great opportunity to capitalize on a lot of horror clichés, much like the way The Cabin in the Woods did brilliantly. One character in particular, a Randy Meeks of horror films, is the perfect opportunity to connect the film characters with the viewer at home. What would Randy do if he were literally transported into the film Scream? This was an interesting approach that I hoped the filmmakers would take. They don't. They kind of walk the line, but they are pretty inconsistent with things.

Being in the horror film and knowing how it ends is perfect fodder for comedy gold. The film did make me laugh, many times, but I wanted to laughs to be really enjoyable. Instead I chuckled a lot throughout the film. Instead of being a comedy, the film has a surprising amount of drama thrown in. Max has an opportunity to reunite with her mother, only the person in the movie isn't her mother, she's the character her mother plays in the film. Again, great set ups for comedy gold, yet we get mild humour. I little disappointing on that end, but still enough comedy in the film to make me smile.

The filmmakers throw some interesting aspects of the genre at the viewers and the characters. The characters can actually hear the "ch ch ch cha cha cha" that accompanies a nearby victim or a flashback that transports the character even further back in time. Title cards that they can interact with, a specific time line of events to unfold. Every 92 minutes, things start over again because that is the length of the film. These things are clever and make for a unique viewing experience.

One of the biggest problems with the film is that it doesn't go far enough with the material. It's held back by the rating. The film features very little gore and no nudity. These things are staples of the horror genre, especially the 80's slasher films that the film is parodying. If the film has embraced these things and given us an R rated comedy, then it would have been a lot better. It felt restrained in a sense.

Not a wasted opportunity, not at all. The film is good and those who enjoy these types of movies will surely have a good time. I just think the possibilities could have been so much more. They had a great idea and didn't try and take it any further beyond that. This film easily, could have been one of my favourites of the year, instead it settles for being just a good movie.

If you ever sat down and thought to yourself, Pleasantville as a horror film would be brilliant. This film is for you.

When you have such a fascinating premise it is rather hard not to get interested and excited, but often times the execution of said premise proves to be abysmal and therefore ruin what could have been a fantastic opportunity. While I don't feel that's the case for The Final Girls, the effort is not met without flaws. The mixture of horror and comedy is an extremely difficult blend to successfully pull it off, and to not fall into a place of "is funny because of how bad it is" which tons of films have sadly come down to. The good thing about the Final Girls is how cleverly it tackles that notion by primarily being a satire, a spoof on 80s horror clichés, most notably those coming from the slasher subgenre.

The main characters find themselves in a movie theater where there is a homage to a very popular 80s horror flick, called Camp Bloodbath, which stars Max's (Taissa Farmiga) late mother (Malin Akerman), who was an actress mainly known for her role in that film. Having passed only three years since a car accident that tragically took her mom's life, Max is conflicted about watching her deceased mother in a film where she gets killed by a masked maniac. The emotional element is present to provide a bigger depth to the story, which works quite well in my opinion. After a weird incident in the movie theater, a fire starts spreading and amidst the chaos, she grabs a machete and opens her and her friends' way through the movie screen, and that is how they get sucked into the Camp Bloodbath film. Having in their group a guy who is a huge fan of the movie proves to be really helpful as he knows what needs to be done to get out of the film's universe.

The Final Girls manages to poke fun and pay homage at the same time, and does it with an adequate level of silliness, it doesn't feel over-the-top by any means. It's a well-balanced tone that makes this film all-around enjoyable although I believe that the PG-13 rating did hurt it quite a bit, if it had been rated R, it could have been explosive, so that's the only thing that's lacking in my opinion.

I highly recommend it, you'll definitely have fun!