‘ The Final Girls’ is a fun run through ’ 80s slasher flicks
In horror- movie lingo, the “final girl” is the last female character left standing, the one who fights and defeats the evil killer, or at least gets away.
If you knew that already, you’ll like “The Final Girls” quite a bit. If you didn’t, you might anyway. Todd StraussSchulson’s meta send- up of ’ 80s sex- equals- death slasher movies keeps its goofy good humor throughout and tosses a little almost- genuine feeling into the mix for good measure.
Strauss- Schulson begins his movie with another movie: “Camp Bloodbath,” a typical ’ 80s slasher flick that has become a cult favorite. One of its stars is Amanda ( Malin Akerman). Now, in the present, she is a struggling actress who can’t shake her horror- movie past. She’s a single mom to Max ( Taissa Farmiga), but tragedy strikes and Max is left on her own.
Three years later, fate has left Max lonely and serious. She hangs out with her best friend, Gertie ( Alia Shawkat), whose half- brother, Duncan ( Thomas Middleditch), has programmed a screening of “Camp Bloodbath” for its devoted following— on the anniversary of Amanda’s death. Max grudgingly agrees to make an appearance, thinking it’s a chance to at least see her mom on screen again, as well as a chance to see Chris ( Alexander Ludwig), a cute guy she’s been spending time with. He shows up but, unfortunately, with his demanding ex- girlfriend, Vicki ( Nina Dobrev), in tow.
A fire in the theater forces them to escape through the screen, but they somehow wind up not on the other side but inside the movie —“Camp Bloodbath.” ( In a clever bit, they realize this when the same characters drive by to ask them for directions every 92 minutes, the length of the movie.) Once they figure out where they are, they have to try to figure out how to get home — and how to survive.
All the characters are there: on- the- make Kurt ( Adam DeVine), slutty Tina ( Angela Trimbur), New Wave fan Blake ( Tory N. Thompson), tough head counselor Paula ( Chloe Bridges) and, of course, Nancy— played by Amanda.
They’re trying to avoid Billy ( Dan Norris), the masked psychopath seeking revenge with a machete and a knife. Duncan believes that, since he and his friends aren’t part of the real movie, Billy won’t know what to do with them and will leave them alone. He is incorrect. Strauss- Schulson employs lots of nice touches to remind us that we know what’s going on, and that Max and her friends know what’s going on, and that the other counselors don’t.
Eventually, everyone bands together to fight off Billy, with the usual dismal results. But there is time for a sweet chat between Nancy and Max that taps into the emotions of losing a loved one. This, naturally, is followed by all kinds of violence and mayhem, because in this kind of movie, and in the movie in this movie, it has to be.
The horror spoof isn’t exactly new, and movies like the superior “Cabin in theWoods” have tackled the meta aspect before. But Farmiga is quite good, as is Ackerman, and there is something about DeVine’s nonstop libido that manages to make him as funny as he is obnoxious. Mostly, it’s all in fun, a wink and a nod toward the movies many of us grew up with and, like the “Camp Bloodbath” fans, don’t mind revisiting.