FINAL GIRL - THE HALLOWEEN HORRORS COLLECTION

By Guest Reviewer The Creepy Concierge 

Director Tyler Shields takes a well-known and much-loved horror-trope and turns it into an actual movie. If it’s not obvious from the title then the so-called ‘Final Girl’ is usually the last female standing at the end of your average ‘damsel-in-distress’ slasher fest after everyone else has been dispatched. Often by herself, often at the mercy of a masked maniac, the Final Girl is the poor soul who has to go mano a mano with the villain of the piece. But what if there’s more than one villain? How can the innocent, usually inexperienced and unprepared last-woman-standing win the day? By not being particularly innocent or inexperienced and in this case, very well prepared.

FINAL GIRL has most, if not all, of the greatest hits of modern slasher cinema we the eager viewer could ever wish for.  Social commentary. Check. Damsel- in-sort-of-distress. Check. Over privileged boys having their way with frankly deserve-better-girls. Check. Oh, and a very fetching red ensemble on lead actress, Abigail Breslin (Still Water and Zombieland: Double Tap). 

FINAL GIRL (2015) directed by Tyler Shields (Outlaw) is a curious but not unengaging hybrid of Nikita, I Spit on Your Grave and Ready or Not and, largely works for what it is. The villains, and there more than a few, are suitably boo-and-hiss worthy and our leading lady is fetching, compelling and not entirely unpractised in the art of self-defence. To say more would spoil the surprise. Backsides get kicked, cruelty gets its just deserts and a few people, who need taking down a peg or two, get taken down a peg or two. And that, in this instance, is rather fun to watch. The film does flick back and forth courtesy of a handful of narrative interrupting flashbacks but the whole affair has a nice, curiously retro, vibe.

Technically it’s not bad for a low-budget entry. Cinematography is crisp and there is a bit of Cundey blue thrown in there (though not by Cundey) through the woods at night, where most of the drama plays out. Though I’m sure I wouldn’t be saying that if I was in our heroine’s/victim’s shoes. Not that they’d fit. Production design, make-up and costuming pick up the vintage vibe and run with it leaving us with a picture where things don’t quite fit together but still fit together. If that makes any sense. Breslin proves to be a credible horror/action heroine. And the naughty boys doing the very naughty things are, by and large, very good at making you hate them. If you like The Purge et al you may well like this and, if you’re partial to a bit of comeuppance cinema, then you can’t go far wrong with this little pot boiler.  Wes Bentley (American Beauty) is in it too, sporting not one but two haircuts. And, if that isn’t enough to tempt you, I don’t know what is.

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