The Final Girls

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")

The combination of horror and comedy is always a volatile recipe, and the failure to mix those ingredients just right can often result in disaster. But every once in awhile, a film comes along that manages to stumble upon the secret formula for success, with Cabin in the Woods being the most recent example. Now, three years after that film blew the roof off the Paramount Theater at the SXSW Film Festival, we have another SXSW debut that premiered to a cacophonous ovation: director Todd Strauss-Schulson's The Final Girls.

Max Cartwright (Taissa Farmiga) is struggling with loss after the tragic death of her mother, 80s slasher flick icon Amanda Cartwright (Malin Akerman). When she attends an anniversary screening of her mom's landmark film, Camp Bloodbath, a freak accident transports Max and her friends (Alia Shawkat, Alexander Ludwig, Thomas Middleditch and Nina Dobrev) into the film itself, where they're forced to abide by the rules of the movie's narrative in an attempt to survive.

Of course, everyone knows that anyone who has sex in an 80s horror film is bound to be butchered shortly after, so Max finds herself in the awkward position of trying to convince her mother's character not to sleep with the cocky, swaggering Kurt (Adam Devine), whose dialogue is almost entirely made up of sexual innuendo. Meanwhile, the attractive but vapid Tina (Angela Trimbur) is constantly trying to disrobe, which is a big no-no in this film, since a pair of bare breasts will bring the masked killer and his machete running.

Fans of the Friday the 13th or Sleepaway Camp series will find plenty to love here as the film gleefully pokes fun at genre tropes, and much of the fun comes from the fact that Max and her friends aren't just living in the world of the film - they're living in the actual film, complete with voiceovers, on screen credits, and flashbacks. There are so many hilarious moments that the film practically begs for repeated viewings, as audiences are bound to be laughing so hard that they'll miss some of the rapid-fire humor.

There are a few times when The Final Girls gets a little too stylish, such as poorly rendered early scene that involves a bottle of vodka rolling across the floor of a crowded theater, and there are a few moments where the film seems to forsake its own rules in favor of an extra laugh. But these are minor complaints, and the audience at the Paramount Theater certainly didn't allow these nitpicks to detract from the overall experience. The Final Girls is an immensely fun experience that finds a great balance between being a spoof of the genre, and a love letter to its absurdity.

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!

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