Scream Girl

I was looking for an entertaining film to watch on Halloween, and I sure wasn't disappointed with THE FINAL GIRLS. The basic premise is that a group of friends at a horror marathon end up getting trapped in the movie itself and have to find a way to survive. Brilliant, right? Arguably the best part of the movie is the way that it makes fun of horror clichés, particularly those in the slasher genre. They also poke fun at the horrible writing and bad acting. Basically, it does for slasher films what CABIN IN THE WOODS did for "cabin in the woods"/Evil Dead-type films. The acting, even though some of it was intentionally bad, was decent. There weren't too many well-known actors, so nobody really stood out in that respect. I did recognize Taissa Farmiga and Malin Akerman, and for what it's worth, they did well. However, my favorite character was the dumb blonde. She provided the most laughs for me. Adam Devine was OK, but it reminded me too much of his work in PITCH PERFECT. From a technical standpoint, everything was rather solid. Camera-work was good, and I thought they did a good job toning down R-rated violence for a PG-13. They even get a good joke out of using black-and-white for a flashback sequence. All things considered, THE FINAL GIRLS was a clever genre sendup that makes mostly good use out of the material its parodying. To sweeten it further, there were a couple of scenes that seemed stolen from my dreams, as Taissa Farmiga's character and I have something in common that I won't spoil for those who haven't seen the film. Let's just say there was one part that got me a little emotional. The only thing that keeps me from going higher with the rating is that the film kind of backs off from a "your destiny is up to you" message and falls back on the clichés it had been making fun of up to that point. Other than that, I thought it was an easy watch with plenty of laughs that should entertain most viewers who are into horror movies.

Let's star in a horror movie. A PG-13 horror movie that is based on slasher films. Well if that sounds a bit toothless, I can assure you that many will look upon it that way. There's almost no blood on display (except for one scene) and there are also other "major" ingredients missing. The original plan was to make it an R-rated movie, which did not happen obviously. There are quite a few fun bits of trivia like that in the audio commentary (though according to them only 14 year olds listen to them - another joke in case that wasn't clear).

Now up until now that may all have sounded quite harsh, which was not my intention. The movie is good fun, but I wanted to make sure people know what they get themselves into (no pun intended). A CGI crash early on in the movie is quite well done and nice to watch. As are the characters, that are a bit of a parody of whatever went on in the 80s. The actors have a lot of fun and it shows. Still there are too many conveniences and coincidences, an ending that tries to be clever and other things you'll either like or be annoyed by. Try to watch it without thinking too much and you'll have a good time - do not compare it with things like Cabin in the Woods though

The combination of horror and comedy is always a volatile recipe, and the failure to mix those ingredients just right can often result in disaster. But every once in awhile, a film comes along that manages to stumble upon the secret formula for success, with Cabin in the Woods being the most recent example. Now, three years after that film blew the roof off the Paramount Theater at the SXSW Film Festival, we have another SXSW debut that premiered to a cacophonous ovation: director Todd Strauss-Schulson's The Final Girls.

Max Cartwright (Taissa Farmiga) is struggling with loss after the tragic death of her mother, 80s slasher flick icon Amanda Cartwright (Malin Akerman). When she attends an anniversary screening of her mom's landmark film, Camp Bloodbath, a freak accident transports Max and her friends (Alia Shawkat, Alexander Ludwig, Thomas Middleditch and Nina Dobrev) into the film itself, where they're forced to abide by the rules of the movie's narrative in an attempt to survive.

Of course, everyone knows that anyone who has sex in an 80s horror film is bound to be butchered shortly after, so Max finds herself in the awkward position of trying to convince her mother's character not to sleep with the cocky, swaggering Kurt (Adam Devine), whose dialogue is almost entirely made up of sexual innuendo. Meanwhile, the attractive but vapid Tina (Angela Trimbur) is constantly trying to disrobe, which is a big no-no in this film, since a pair of bare breasts will bring the masked killer and his machete running.

Fans of the Friday the 13th or Sleepaway Camp series will find plenty to love here as the film gleefully pokes fun at genre tropes, and much of the fun comes from the fact that Max and her friends aren't just living in the world of the film - they're living in the actual film, complete with voiceovers, on screen credits, and flashbacks. There are so many hilarious moments that the film practically begs for repeated viewings, as audiences are bound to be laughing so hard that they'll miss some of the rapid-fire humor.

There are a few times when The Final Girls gets a little too stylish, such as poorly rendered early scene that involves a bottle of vodka rolling across the floor of a crowded theater, and there are a few moments where the film seems to forsake its own rules in favor of an extra laugh. But these are minor complaints, and the audience at the Paramount Theater certainly didn't allow these nitpicks to detract from the overall experience. The Final Girls is an immensely fun experience that finds a great balance between being a spoof of the genre, and a love letter to its absurdity.

The Final Girls is a very unique take on the ever growing meta horror sub-genre. It takes a group of characters and inserts them into a fictional 80s horror movie slasher, Camp Bloodbath. Once there they must try to not only return to the real world, but also survive the movie before being hacked to pieces by little Billy Murphy. And once in the movie we meet those lovable, clichéd characters that most of us are familiar with, the virgin (aka the final girl), the quiet shy girl (aka the cute girl who sadly doesn't survive), the sexy party girl (aka you have zero chance of surviving), the jock (aka the sexual deviant), the wannabe hero (aka you aren't the real hero so you're gonna die), and a few more body count extras.

The movie for the most part is very funny, especially early on in the movie when we first meet the original characters in the movie. Everyone is so over the top when we first meet them that it's hard not to have a smile on your face at anytime they are speaking. Every conversation leads back to some sort of sexual innuendo and it's great. But then there are other times when we get some one on one time between a mother and her daughter and the movie is surprisingly touching and emotional during those moments. It's this aspect of the movie that gives the movie a pulse, you care about these characters (even if the movie isn't as dark and daunting as it seems to be).

But that's not to say the movie is perfect, there are times when I found myself disappointed with the script and the direction the movie was taking. It's not that it was terrible, but there was so much room for a movie like this that I wish it had thrown in a few more ideas. After all the movie is barely 90 minutes long and I feel the majority of people wouldn't mind sticking around a bit longer to see some other ideas flourish.

The Final Girls is one of the better movies to fly under the radar and if you count this as a horror movie (which it's very light on horror) it would certainly quality as one of the best of the year. Like I said, the movie packs a surprisingly emotional punch but also doles out plenty of zany mayhem to keep you interested. Hopefully this this movie is a big enough hit on VOD that it somehow gets a sequel because we all know sequels are bigger, badder, and crazier than the original, especially those wacky 80s slashers!

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!