The Final Girls (2015) Review

I read about The Final Girls a while ago but wasn’t sure if it would be any good, however a couple of people on Twitter said it was an amusing film worth a watch. So I did exactly that sat down and watched it and really enjoyed it.

“I’d have rated this even higher if there was some decapitations along with blood and limbs flying all over the place.”

Budget – $4.5 million

Trivia – The script was originally optioned by New Line Cinema, but the studio wanted to eliminate all of the deep character moments and the mother-daughter plot. Eventually, it wound up being produced by Sony, a studio which liked the emotional core but decided to tone down the slasher movie aspect to attain a PG-13 rating.

Trivia – Many of the scenes were shot in order. However, the real world scenes which open the film were shot at the very end of the production, after the cast had ample time to bond, to help ensure that the audience would believe the relationships of their characters.

The film starts with a scene that I don’t want to talk too much about as it sets the story and it’s better if you see it yourself. However the film really kicks off when Max played by  Taissa Farmiga from American Horror Story is persuaded to go to the screening of a film her mother (Malin Akerman 37 years old playing a teen virgin) starred in during her younger days as an actress. Max was failing at school when a horror nerd offered to do all her course work for her if she simply came along to the cinema to watch the film Camp Bloodbath, she reluctantly agrees to go along. She brings her best friend along with a jock lad that fancies her but his bitchy ex-girlfriend tags along.

For me the two best characters were Tina and Kurt who played their shallow 80’s stereotype to perfection

During the film there’s an elaborate sequence of events that end up with the movie theater on fire, the only escape available to Max, her best friend, the nerd, her potential boyfriend and his ex is to cut a hole in the cinema screen and jump through it. After doing this Max wakes up in a forest along with the other characters, this is where they run into a bus being driven by the characters of the Camp Bloodbath film. Too shocked to answer they let the bus go past, then 92 minutes later it returns, this time they talk to the characters and let them go on their way. Another 92 minutes later the bus shows up again the nerd works out that this is the length of the Camp Bloodbath film this time they get a lift with them posing as councilors.

Once at the camp they end up going searching for something in the forest and it’s here they witness for the first time the killer from the film and the first murder. They decide to not interfere, at first it appears that the killer won’t harm them but that turns out to be a massive mistake. It’s from here that they work out the only way to escape is to let the film play out, however things go wrong big style. The film is then about the group of people from the real world trying to find a way to destroy the killer and end the movie.

Taissa Farmiga in my opinion would make a great final girl/scream queen in any “real” slasher film and Malin Akerman is just great no matter what!

The Good

The character are all really well done especially the characters from the Camp Bloodbath film a dumb sex mad 80’s jock who thinks he’s funny and the stupid “sexy” character who wants to take her clothes off and have sex with everything. The whole premise of the film is great as well, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this done in a horror film before, people ending up in the world of the film. It’s so well done they even have to step over the lettering which would have been on screen during a flashback, there’s so many small things that make this film enjoyable.

The Bad

For me the main bad thing is the lack of gore, I think mainly done to get the rating down. Personally I’d have loved to have seen it be much more R rated. It’s supposed to be a homage to the 80’s slasher films yet there’s no over the top deaths, such a pity as the over the top cheesy acting of the characters in the Camp Bloodbath film is there in all it’s glory. I’d have rated this even higher if there was some decapitations along with blood and limbs flying all over the place.

Such a pity a flaming machete was wasted due to the PG-13 rating

The Inbetween

The ending I found predictable but I also felt there was not really another way to do it, I can’t decide if it was good or bad. I’d love to hear others opinions on the ending, it clearly leads to a sequel which I hope we get one day!

I found this film immensely enjoyable and this might not sound like a compliment but it is it was like a two part episode of Buffy or Supernatural. Has this idea been done before? I know Behind the Mask The Rise of Leslie Vernon and New Nightmare blur the lines between reality and films but I don’t recall anything similar to this which is a surprise.

Overall Rating