The Final Girls (2015) Review

"Where do they keep the chainsaws here?"
-Vicki Summers



A group of teenagers attend a screening of a 1980's slasher movie, Camp Bloodbath, only to find themselves trapped inside the movie.  Now they not only have to survive the movie, but they have to find a way back to the present.


What Works:

This movie is a deconstruction of 80's slasher movies, especially the Friday the 13th movies.  It gets pretty meta and reminds me a lot of movies like Scream, The Cabin in the Woods, and Tucker and Dale vs. Evil.  This movie does a great job of playing with classic tropes and they are all pretty hilarious.  For example, any time someone takes their clothes off, the killer shows up.  The main characters know this is the case and address it, but don't know why it's happening.  This movie is filled with moments like this and I love it.

The main cast also makes a lot of decisions the audience would make.  They spend a good chunk of time just trying to escape the movie and leave the camp.  Unfortunately, the movie won't let them leave so easily, which forces them to actually face the killer.  It's nice to have competent characters in a slasher movie and creative writing to force them to stay in the movie.

We also get a bunch of scenes with the characters using the movie against the killer.  They even induce a flashback scene to try and get the upper-hand.  At one point they are forced to run in slow-mo.  They even duct-tape extra clothing on the horniest character.  It's great stuff.

What surprised me the most about this movie is how emotional it is.  At it's core, this film is about a daughter coming to terms with the loss of her mother.  Our two lead actors, Taissa Farmiga and Malin Åkerman, have some fantastic scenes together and some powerful moments.  Their final scene together is probably the best in the movie and I really wasn't expecting to feel so much.  

Finally, the final showdown between Farmiga and the killer is nothing short of epic.  We get a machete fight against a blood-red sky.  It's awesome and an exciting way to end the film.


What Sucks:

My only complaint with this movie is the lack of gore.  It's rated PG-13, unlike the Friday the 13th movies.  This really needed to be rated R.  Some of the deaths are strangely edited to try and hide the lack of gore, but that just made them more distracting.  


Verdict:

The Final Girls is a really strong deconstruction of the slasher genre with a lot of fun moments, a really creative story, an excellent 3rd act, and a surprising amount of emotion.  It could have used more gore, but it has still definitely got it going on.

 9/10: Great 

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