Last Girl Standing

I don't know why others have felt this movie deserves such negativity in their reviews.

The story is good and the acting and technical aspects of the film are professional and of a high standard.

I found I was drawn into the story as each actor played their character brilliantly - especially the gorgeous Akasha Villalobos and stunning Danielle Evon Ploeger.

The film won't win any awards for flashy special effects or groundbreaking technical work - but its not that kind of film. It is a solid, well-made movie which tells a believable story.

I'll start off by saying that this isn't a bad movie, it is very detail orientated and the camera work is highly immersive to where you get to feel for the main character and can enjoy most of her struggle. The problem is that in this immersion we are given very little to actually identify with in the character, who is literally only defined by her one traumatic experience that the movie opens up with, we learn nothing else about her or who she is. This means that the film never really rises above a certain level and could have done with an extra few minutes in the beginning to give us some idea of who this girl was before everything happened to her.

Aside from this there are some problems in terms of pacing and story since the movie takes a painful amount of time to show the audience what it already knows, or at least highly suspects. This wouldn't be so bad if it all then paid off in some unexpected way, but it mostly goes the same way as any psychological drama in this vein and ends with the same conclusions that have been gone over many times before. I will say that the third act is executed very well despite its predictable nature and there are definite moments where this film shows that it has potential, it is just overall too basic and shallow in meaning to really get beyond a certain level.

Overall this film has some definite strengths and is worth a watch due to its camera work, acting and directing. With other eyes on the writing this concept could have been executed better, but it needs more fleshed out characters and a slightly less tired plot to have matched up with the style it possesses. I still enjoyed it but it is hard to recommend because it is not enough drama or horror to specifically appeal to fans of either genre and both will probably find it lacking unless they have very particular tastes.

Even if you don't enjoy the story... it's shot really well!

The movie starts with a brutal massacre a-la-Jason-Voorhees courtesy of a masked man called "The Hunter". In this sequence we receive the first batch of slasher movies clichés, last "heroine" and all. Of course, she kills the bad guy (obviously) and from there we jump 4-5 years into that last survivor's life.

Camryn is just a typical girl struggling with all the aftermath of that horrible experience. But, unlike what we see in most of these girls in other movies (the last survivor trying to go on with her life), she is a very shy and almost obnoxious kind of girl. No new friends, no nothing...except for her job.

Aside for the daily nightmares, everything is OK in her life until one day Nick arrives to her job, as the new cashier. And then, all of a sudden and without any sort of rational explanation, weird things start to happen and Camryn's life goes to hell.

At that point, we receive a new batch of clichés: now for a "is it real or not?" type of thriller.

And then...13 minutes before the movie ends we need to endure the beginning of one of the worst endings I have ever seen.

The only "redeeming value" of this movie are the practical FX for the killings. They're pretty good, especially for an indie flick.

Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is complete garbage. The movie is predictable as hell, so much that there's simply no way that anyone will not know how it will end. It's just a matter of "expertise" at these kind of movies: if you've seen a lot of them you can predict that lame ending more than an hour before it arrives. If this is the first time you see one of these then you'll see the ending coming 15-20 minutes before. And if no matter who the viewer is he/she can predict the ending from miles away...you have a very very bad movie in your hands.

Other than the aforementioned FX dept. Writer/Director Benjamin R. Moody can't seem to do anything "right": photography is bad, the script is awful, acting is weak and it doesn't have one shred of originality. Anywhere.

The concept of "What happens to the final girl after the credits roll?" is very interesting and has the potential for greatness. Unfortunately this movie does it in an uninteresting and very dull way. Suffice to say that if you've seen a lot of slasher movies in your life then you've basically seen this one. Because although it may seem like an original idea, the way Mr. Moody did it is just...well the opposite of that.

And if you were thinking "well, at least it's a scary movie"...well no, it has nothing actually scary in it, except for maybe 60-90 seconds of mildly "scary" stuff.

Don't waste your time with this movie. It's boring as hell, as derivative as a high school project and has almost nothing to offer.

Apparently the director's reason for making this cheap, independent slasher movie was the question "what happens to the final girl after the credits roll?". He answers his own question in a no budget way in this derivative and uninteresting movie, that seems to hinge on a familiar old twist that I already saw played out - better - in previous slasher sequels and the like. It's hardly original.

Akasha Villalobos plays the sole survivor of a massacre at the hands of a bizarrely-costumed killer in the film's opening sequence. She struggles to adapt to normal life afterwards, but ends up alienating herself from her social group. The problem the viewer has is that the character is completely unlikeable and as an actress Villalobos is quite horrible, never displaying a moment of emotion despite her character's ordeal.

Of course it transpires that the bloodshed isn't over yet as LAST GIRL STANDING hinges on a major twist ending involving another killer. The cheap gore effects flow freely here but the twist itself is quite laughable and overstated. Sadly this is a film that never quite manages to overcome a lack of talent and budget and ends up being completely forgettable as a result.