The first trailer for the horror-comedy “The Final Girls” has been released. The movie is yet again another attempt to capitalize on the gore and guts of the horror business, while also encompassing a bigger audience with its humorous twist. You can see it below.
The film was shown earlier in the year at the South by Southwest Film Festival and earned rave reviews from many of the critics, drawing some comparisons to the Scream franchise.
“The Final Girls” is about a high-school senior named Max, who has recently become an orphan. She decides to go to a screening of a B-horror ‘80s slasher movie “Camp Bloodbath,” that her late mother starred in. However, the group finds themselves in danger when mid-movie a couple of inebriated teens set fire to the theatre. Max and her friends determine that their only way out is to cut a hole in the movie screen, but after doing so they find their selves in the midst of the “Camp Bloodbath’s” plot. Just like a messed-up version of Narnia’s wardrobe, the group is transported into the silver screen and must defend themselves against the stereotypes of the ‘80s horror movie genre.
However, now that Max and her crew are trapped inside “Camp Bloodbath,” Max is able to interact with her deceased mother once again. Max not only takes up the opportunity to reunite with her mother, she also tries to save her from her demise within the movie’s plot by the camp’s killer, Billy.
Max is played by actress Taissa Farmiga, who is known for her starring role in the first season of American Horror Story. Along with Taissa, the movie also stars Vampire Diaries’ Nina Dobrev, Vikings’ Alexander Ludwig, Arrested Development’s Alia Shawkat and Pitch Perfect’s Adam Devine. So, there is definitely a slew of familiar faces thrown into the horrors and conventions of the ‘80s horror film genre.
The film gets its name The Final Girls, from the typical horror set up where “…the final girl kills the bad guy, and the credits roll.” This and the trailer make it clear that the movie does not shy away from incorporating and poking at all the ‘80s era stereotypes. Therefore, the characters find themselves being thrown into slow-motion shots, black-and-white scenes and even in the midst of narrative texts that solidify exactly what is going on in the twisted movie world they have found themselves in.
One of the funniest moments in the trailer is captured with Alia’s character questions if she is “having a stroke,” when their world is suddenly turned black and white. Another being, when one of the Max’s friends questions whether all of the blood at “Camp Bloodbath” is really just corn syrup, as typical Hollywood blood is, but is surprised to find out that it most definitely is not after taking a taste off one of Billy’s victims.
Although Max’s friends realize they just have to be like “the last girl” and hide out till the end, so they can kill Billy and become the heroes of the film, Max is determined to save her mother from her untimely fate in the movie. The trailer only hints at this underlying plot, but it seems this is where the movies true drama will lie, as Max and her friends attempt to save her mother from the camp’s resident killer Billy and his machete.
The film incorporates humor into the horror genre in a refreshingly new way. By throwing modern-day teens into an exaggerated flashback, the movie successfully ridicules while also paying homage to the early days of scary movies.
Todd Strauss-Schulson, who previously worked on numerous other teen comedies such as A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas and The Inbetweens, brings plenty of experience in this field of humor as the director of the movie.
The movie is being released on October 9, just as audiences seek out Halloween-related films. It will be rivaling with Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, which is also an attempt at a horror-comedy mash-up. However, from the trailer’s it seems that The Final Girls may come out on top.
The movie is able to be innovative in its comedy, as the characters are aware that they are within a film’s plot. Since the campground was the only movie set in “Camp Bloodbath”, there is no escape for the group until Billy is killed. Therefore, they must use their knowledge of what typically happens in these sorts of horror films, to escape the dangers and become “the final girls” and boys that make it out alive and allow the credits to roll.
Catch The Final Girls in theatres on October 9, 2015.