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.

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.

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!

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")