The Final Girls

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.

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

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

I am fresh off of watching this and wow, this was a lot of fun. I was afraid that this was going to turn out like every other recent film with a young cast and be riddled with MTV type clichés but it wasn't at all. The cast was great and film as a whole was pretty funny and brutal (for a PG-13 Film).

The premise was great and original, they really came up with a clever way to spoof the 80's slasher genre. The sub plot was even well done and made for some fairly emotional scenes. The film worked on all levels and was blast to watch. I really enjoyed it

It's weird but when I really like a film I find it hard to say a whole lot about it. When I hate a film I can shoot out four or five paragraphs no problem, but I enjoyed this film so much that I am finding it hard to come up with much to say. Just watch it.

8/10

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.