The Final Girls (2015) Directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson
I saw this trailer on IMDB and when I saw that Adam Devine was in it, I had to watch it. I love Workaholics and I liked Pitch Perfect (no homo) so basically anything he’s in I tend to enjoy. Then I saw the concept of the movie and was instantly intrigued. If you have been reading my blog you know my love for 80s slasher movies. I have probably seen more than anyone except Jack on the Jack and Nick Horror Show, I’ll probably never reach that level of knowledge lol. So I downloaded the Amazon Prime app to my PS3 and rented this movie.
Max Cartwright waits in the car while her actress mother, Amanda auditions for a movie. When she gets back Amanda complains that a 1986 slasher film called Camp Bloodbath, which is now a cult classic, ruined her career. On the way home, the two get into a car accident and Max survives.
Three years later, on the anniversary of her mother’s death, Max studies with her best friend Gertie and crush Chris. Gertie’s stepbrother Duncan is a horror super fan and convinces Max to attend a special double-feature showing of Camp Bloodbath and Camp Bloodbath 2: Cruel Summer as a special guest. During the screening, Max isn’t happy that Chris’s possessive ex Vicki is there. During the movie the crazy crowd accidentally sets the theater on fire and everyone scatters. Max rips a hole in the screen and they escape.
Max, Gertie, Chris, Duncan and Vicki wake up in the woods. Suddenly a van rolls up blaring that awful Toni Basil song “Hey Micky”. Inside the van are three characters from Camp Bloodbath: Kurt, Tina, and Nancy Max’s mom. They ask how to get to Camp Bluebird and the group just stares on, so the van drives off. Ninety-two minutes later the van rolls up again asking the same question and Duncan tells them where the camp is, so they drive off again. Another ninety-two minutes rolls by and the van returns, so they ask for a ride saying they’re new counselors. The group realizes after all this that they have been transported inside of the movie. They reach the camp and group wanders around and checks things out. They walk out into the woods and witness Billy (the Jason Voorhies like killer) murder two counselors. Duncan, sure that he wont be killed, since he’s not part of the movie decides to take a selfie with Billy and taunt him. Billy throws his machete and buries it into Duncan’s side. They then realize that they are now characters in the movie and can be killed too.
The group decides to stop the characters from banging, because whenever you have sex in the movie, Billy murders you. Chris distracts the horn dog Kurt (Adam Devine) and Max persuades Nancy her mother to stay a virgin, while Vicki sticks with the final girl Paul. Gertie bonds with the counselor Black. When Gertie brings up the topic of Billy Murphy, the counselors are alerted to the fact that the urban legend of Billy is real and will come to kill them. They have a cool flashback scene where Nancy tells the story of Billy and how he was badly injured in a prank, causing him to be severely burned. During the flashback the group gets transported back to 1957 and the whole scene is black and white, which is pretty cool. In a panic, the counselors try to flee the camp. Kurt and Paula flee in the car, while Duncan emerges from the woods, still alive. The two hit Duncan with the car and crash into a pole, and the car explodes killing them both.
Now aware that the characters that originally survive in the movie can also die, Max and the others decide to save anyone that they can. They dress the slutty girl in a life jacket and oven mitts to keep her from getting naked. They also decide that Max is the only remaining virgin and is the new final girl. They plot to get Billy’s machete into her hands so she can kill him at the end. Meanwhile, Max and Nancy bond and theorize that if Nancy survives the movie she can go home with Max and be whoever she wants to be.
The group booby-traps the cabin and they let Tina slut it up. Cherry Pie by Warrant starts blaring and Tina dances around removing her clothes. Once she flashes her tits Billy appears in the distance and walks towards her. Chris tells Tina to hold off until Billy is within striking distance so they can set the traps. Tina doesn’t listen and she falls down into a bear trap and dies. Chris slams the door behind Billy and they release a log that slams Billy into a door and he gets impaled on a bunch of deer antlers. Blake goes down to grab Billy’s machete and gets stabbed to death. Gertie goes to check on him and Billy starts chasing them. They scramble upstairs into another trap where they shoot flaming arrows into Billy’s chest. Gertie and Vicki get trapped under a shelf and Billy kills Gertie. Vicki tells Max to leave and she pulls a rope that causes a bucket of gas to fall on Billy, which explodes the whole room, killing Vicki and Billy. Max, Chris and Nancy lay in the grass below the window when Billy blows through the window in slow motion, the three scramble to get to their feet and start running from Billy all in slow motion. They try to jump over a gulch but don’t quite make it. Billy stands over them and tries to kill them, until Max has Nancy tell the Billy story again, which causes the flashback to return. There they witness Billy get hit by a car and the old counselors play the prank on young Billy again. During the scene they realize where Billy takes his victims. Max and Nancy take off while Billy stabs Chris.
Max leaves Chris at an abandoned chapel in the woods and goes to rescue Nancy, Chris tells her that Nancy can’t be saved. Max finds her at Billy’s barn and the two women fight him. Nancy realizes that Max can’t defeat her because she’s not the final girl yet. She sacrifices herself by luring Billy with a striptease; Max tells her Nancy’s real life counterpart is her mom. Nancy is killed and Max collapses. She wakes up now the final girl, and has the power to kill Billy. Max battles him and eventually cuts his head off with his machete. A wounded Chris arrives and they kiss while the credits role in the sky behind them. Max wakes up in the hospital, alive and back with her friends. Then the group hears Billy’s music (basically Jason’s chee chee chee aah aah aah music) and they realize they are now in the sequel Camp Bloodbath 2: Cruel Summer. Duncan is excited and says the sequel is better than the original, Billy blows through the door and runs after them. Max uses a drip stand as a weapon and lunges at Billy, and the movie comes to an end.
This was a really fun idea. It shows homage to old slasher movies whilst making fun of them at the same time. It accurately picks fun at the old slasher tropes such as a masked killer, the slutty girl, the horn dog jock, and the virginal final girl. There are some funny scenes where Tina tries to figure out why Vicki’s iphone wont play in her boombox, mistaking it for a cassette tape. All the characters are likeable which is extremely rare for a horror movie these days. The death scenes are all pretty great and they also poke fun of the genre. The antler impalement is similar to Silent Night Deadly Night. The character of Billy is obviously a nod to Jason, anyone can see that, but is the name a nod to Silent Night Deadly Night? Maybe, who knows? I also noticed the names are kind of a nod to slasher movie characters. Nancy from Nightmare on Elm Street and Tina from Friday the 13th Part 7 were the first two I noticed, there may be others. The acting was pretty good for an independent movie, the jokes were pretty funny but nothing Step Brothers level of hilarity. I really enjoyed this movie it was a good time and didn’t linger at all. I would suggest this to any slasher movie fan, you’ll enjoy the subtle homages and the 80s feel of the movie. I would give Final girls a B+. It could have been funnier but I guess if they have a sequel maybe it will be better? Still a very good movie and I would recommend it.
