The Movie with the Clipboard and Guitar: A Review of The Final Girls
The Final Girls does what it wants reasonably well without the scope, depth or charisma that 2012’s The Cabin in the Woods showed.
Todd Strauss-Schulson’s sophomore effort is visually impressive with a great cast and a ton of polish. Writers M.A. Fortin and Joshua John Miller command the genre spoof and are only a solid story line away from sticking the landing.
On the anniversary of her mother’s death, Max Cartwright (Taissa Farmiga) is convinced by horror buff Duncan (Thomas Middleditch) to attend a horror movie double feature with her best friend Gertie (Alia Shawkat). Max’s crush Chris (Alexander Ludwig) and his ex-girlfriend Vicki (Nina Dobrev) show up to join the party and form a good old fashioned horror movie cast.
When the theater catches fire, the crew slice through the silver screen and wake up in what quickly appears to be Camp Bloodbath, a fictional slasher film. They then have to protect the camp counselors, and themselves, from Billy, a Jason-esque killer looking to take them all down.
Man does this movie nail [some of] the cast. Nina Dobrev and Tom Middleditch’s humor admittedly carry the film to its second act. Even mean girl Vicki quickly becomes quite enjoyable later on. Once the counselors come into the picture, the jokes really start flowing and the film hits its stride.
That’s why I was surprised the writers chop away the film’s charm character by character until we’re left with the weakest part of the film, final girl Max and nice-guy jock Chris. Godzilla (2014) popularly marketed Bryan Cranston’s character that audiences were shocked learn dies in the first part of the film. Similarly, Middleditch’s Duncan meets his demise soon after the crew meet Billy for the first time. They even have the audacity to bring BACK Middleditch’s character briefly to kill him off again, with two others.
By the movie’s third act, all of the humor is butchered and we’re left with mother-daughter combo Max and Amanda with hunk, Chris. Farmiga delivers a moody cardboard performance partnered with Ludwig’s repetitive nice guy routine, more suited to The Hunger Games’s Gale or Peeta characters.
It’s a shame because the film has clever and funny moments. When the crew is lost early on, they wait through Camp Bloodbath’s 92-minute run time just to find themselves back at the beginning. Black-and-white flashbacks happen in real time and Billy jumps from a window in slow motion, part of a visually stunning sequence. The fresh camera moves are fast, sleek. A car crash early on is something I’ve never seen before, almost over the top but perfect and brutal. At some point, the film loses its self-aware edge and becomes a race to kill off characters and pick its final girl.
The romance at the film’s conclusion is lame. All of their friends are dead. Max’s mother is dead, again. There is no room for a kiss, asks the kids from the Elm Street franchise. Only in the film’s pseudo, post Bloodbath credit ending (think Alien, or Nightmare on Elm Street) which coincidentally brings back Middleditch, does the film bring back that meta edge it needed the entire run time.