Maybe because our world feels really heavy with nostalgia but we are choosing to look back for our entertainment. Especially with the Eighties. The world was adored the Netflix original show Stranger Things whilst most horror films out at the moment are ridiculous heavy on the synth (like, cool it guys.) The era that brought us shoulder pads, big hair, and leg warmers is perhaps are most loved period and we look back with a glassy eyed wonder telling us that it was “the best” for this, that, or other.
With this period in mind, director: Todd Strauss-Schulson‘s spoof horror The Final Girls follows the same rambunctious need to capture the movies of yesteryear but does so with a twinkling adoration.
The Final Girls revolves around Max who loses her mum in a car accident on the way back from an audition: Her mother Amanda has always wanted to be an actress but her only big claim to fame was a bit part in a slasher film named Camp Bloodbath. After the actual death, Max tries to move on with her life but is invited to a cult screening of the slasher as a special guest. When a fire burns through the movie theatre, Max and her friends escape by cutting a hole in the screen but wake up in the film where a manic fictional killer turns out to be a very real threat.
In a world where everyone is turning The Eighties for easement, The Final Girls manages to find a home purely because the cheesy slasher antics are giving a loving homage here. With a tongue doing back flips within its cheek, The Final Girls musters a lot of passion for the genre it is satirising. There have been many other films to tackle slasher films in a jokingly way; Scary Movie and Shriek! I Know What You Did Last Summer (the superior spoof film, by the way,) have all poked fun at genre. Though it hilariously points out The Slut, The Stud, and the titular virginal Final Girl as those before it, the film choses to mimic these classic with the updated characters. Having them interact with the film’s characters with this fresh knowledge really build the film up greatly and with originality.
The thing about The Final Girls is that it isn’t an outright spoof. It’s a clever and refreshing spin on the genre that says “isn’t it silly that this always occurs but, also, watch out for that machete?” The comedy pokes fun at the technical elements too: The flashback sequences throw characters mercilessly into black and white, there are slo-motion scenes where they address the change in pace, and the whole thing restarts after 92 minutes. It’s excellent fun to romp through these tropes yet still be unsure about what will happen. Director Todd Strauss-Schulson also uses clever camera shots that zoom and spin around delectably well.
What helps is that you care about the characters. Max and her mother Amanda are built up so seamlessly well within the first few moments that the echo of grief is very real. It also helps that Taissa Farmiga is such a gifted young actress that you are immersed into her emotions as she tackles the horror on the big screen. Malin Akerman’s doe-eyed, soft spoken schtick works here as both charming mother figure and the innocent young character of the film. Both enact this believed connection that carries the film beyond it’s jokes. Supporting actors Nina Dobrev, Alexander Ludwig, and Alia Shawkat all put in admirable performances but Angela Trimbur’s hyper-active “slut” Tina has some of the funniest comedy moments in the whole film and her dance scene is genius.
The Final Girls has genuinely passion for the absurdity of such horror flicks. It loves them in it’s mockery and finds an emotional core at the centre of the laughs and blood-bath.
