Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The Final Girls’

Written by Scott Edwards

There is nothing wrong with changing the script on a daily basis. I mean who would want to live the same day over and over again without some sort of change?  With so much that the world has to offer, you could give yourself a chance to be anyone or anything that you want to. Making the decision to break out of your comfort zone however is completely up to you and even if someone tries to get you out, you are the only one that can make it happen.

Three years ago, Max Cartwright lost her mother and best friend in a car crash. Still having problems with coping with her loss, her friend’s brother Duncan has come up with a plan to get her out once again. With Camp Bloodbath playing at his theater, Duncan would love to see the daughter of one of the stars of the movie make an appearance, but it is playing on the anniversary of Max’s mother's death and she is having mixed emotions. With her friend Gertie and study partner Chris at her side, Max knows that she will be in for a fun night, no matter how hokey the movie might actually be.

Watching her mother play Nancy in the movie, Max is brought back to the better days before she passed away, but when the killer comes in to perform his duty, Max needs to get some fresh air. Walking up the aisle way, a fire erupts in the theater and with no chance of getting to an exit in time, Max and her friends cut through the screen to try and flee to safety. Waking up in a green field, the group does not know where they are or what happened to the theater, but when an old VW van comes rolling up the road, they have fears that they are going crazy. Seeing two characters from Camp Bloodbath looking for directions, the group continues their trek up the road only to see the two characters again and asking the exact same questions. Fearing that what he knows is right, Duncan times the next appearance of the van and confirms what is happening, the group is stuck in the movie.

Arriving at the camp, Max and her friends are trying to find a way out of the movie and back home, but the problem is that the movie will not let them go. Having to follow the storyline that the movie follows, the group is thrown into the middle of the murderous spree that Billy Murphy has brought to the camp. Coming to the conclusion that they will not be able to leave the movie until it ends, the group decides to follow the heroine of the movie to stay safe, but when they start messing with who dies in the movie, the script adjusts to include the outsiders into the rotation. Everything seems fine and dandy when nobody dies in the cabin, but it is a horror movie and it has to deliver what the fans want to see. When the main heroine dies, the group has to find another ‘Final Girl’ to take her place and kill the monster that has his sights set on so many more victims.

Think of Last Action Hero, but with a horror setting and you have got yourself a winning formula. I have heard nothing but good things about this movie ever since its release and now that I have seen it, I was not wrong to listen to the hype. I love the premise and watching Max as she has to deal with facing her mother again, who is not really her mother, but the character who had hopes and dreams like her mother would, well, you start pulling for the pair. The deaths in this movie were just fantastic and a great throwback to the classic ’80s slasher flicks that we all know and love. There is little to say bad about this movie, people die in the fashion that they should and the dialogue from the original movie fits right in with the genre. I enjoyed it, it had enough killing, blood and humor to keep you occupied until the final credits start to roll. Stay Scared.

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