User Reviews

The Final Girls may appear to be another stupid campy horror spoof a la Scary Movie but rest assured, it's not. It's most comparable to The Cabin in the Woods, but while that movie deconstructed horror as a whole, The Final Girls' focus is specifically on slashers. It's about a slasher movie star and her daughter who get into a fatal car accident. The daughter survives and years later, her and her friends go to see the slasher movie her mother starred in, then something happens in the theater and somehow the group ends up in the film they were watching. It may sound dumb but all disbelief can easily be suspended due to the smooth transitions, clever dialogue, great acting, and characters you actually care about.

Once they enter the "movie" world, it's simply a blast to watch. Slasher tropes are pointed out, made fun of, and even implemented well when necessary. The virgin girl is the only one who can kill the killer and it must be with his own machete. Sound familiar? Also, anyone who has sex ends up getting killed. Yeah, it's Friday the 13th all over again, except with a new cast. Every character has a personality and has their place in the movie. There's the jock douche, the slutty space cadet, the innocent shy girl, the hipster, you name it. They all work perfectly together, and it's hard to single out one actor as a highlight because the acting throughout is highly impressive for a horror movie. Mainly the two female leads (Max and her mom) have tangible chemistry and some truly heartfelt moments.

So is The Final Girls scary? Not exactly, but does have some badass shots like the killer jumping out of a window in slo-mo while he and his machete are on fire, and someone actually dies by falling face first into a bear trap. Ouch. More importantly though, The Final Girls is funny without being dumb. It's clever humor, and it works around the plot so you have fun while being totally invested in the story. The most surprising thing about this movie is the amount of heart it has. Rarely do tearful personal conversations work in slashers, but here they make up some of the most powerful scenes.

Simply put, The Final Girls is an adventure, and for any meta-horror comedy fans, it's one you should not miss.

Grieving the loss of her mother Amanda Cartwright (Malin Akerman), a one-time horror scream queen, young girl Max Cartwright (Taissa Farmiga) is thrown into the film that made her mother famous, the 80's slasher flick, "Camp Bloodbath". Very a-kin to "Friday the 13th", a slasher/serial kill is on the loose murdering the kids. Billy Murphy (Daniel Norris) was teased to death by the camp mates and wants his bloody revenge. Max and her friends (Alia Shawkat, Alexander Ludwig, Thomas Middleditch and Nina Dobrev) must work with the camp mates to try and survive.

I was dubious about this film when I read the summary. Not only was it littered with 'kids', it was also on a cable channel which is not known for quality films. I watched it all the same and was pleasantly surprised at it. It is a weird re-hash, parody, and homage all in one. It was like "Scream" (1996) the way it knew it's content, crossed with "The Last Action Hero" (1993) the way it poked fun at itself, and "Cabin in the Woods" (2011) the way it developed - but just a little cuter, colourful and fluffier. It does not take itself too seriously, nor the genre that it is working with, nor the era that the 'original' movie was set in. There are times where it is cheesy and camp, there are times where it looks cheap - but all in all it works. Plenty of clichés and standard slasher tropes but used well to get the plot across rather than thrown in just to use them. I would not necessarily say that this film is scary, more an adventure film set in a horror film. I imagine it's kind of like what would happen if the current MTV generation took a virtual tour of an 80's slasher/horror film. There is nothing too offensive, plenty of suggestion rather than action, a little bit of bad language, very mild drink and drugs use, nudity and some violence and gore (but used as much in comedy as in horror).

While this film was pleasantly surprising and nice, it's the kind of film I could most of the family in front of, whereas, personally, I prefer the kind of films you can't safely put family members in front of for fear of offending them. Give me "Friday the 13th" (1980), "The Burning" (1981), "Sleepaway Camp" (1983), or even "Cheerleader Camp" (1988). But still, this was a lighthearted way to reminisce, it was fun, and at 91 mins it was easy to sit through. Released in 2015 with a relatively low budget of $4.5 million, I am sure you will catch this film repeated on cable channels in the future, so I say, why not give it a go. 7 /10

The Final Girls is a very unique take on the ever growing meta horror sub-genre. It takes a group of characters and inserts them into a fictional 80s horror movie slasher, Camp Bloodbath. Once there they must try to not only return to the real world, but also survive the movie before being hacked to pieces by little Billy Murphy. And once in the movie we meet those lovable, clichéd characters that most of us are familiar with, the virgin (aka the final girl), the quiet shy girl (aka the cute girl who sadly doesn't survive), the sexy party girl (aka you have zero chance of surviving), the jock (aka the sexual deviant), the wannabe hero (aka you aren't the real hero so you're gonna die), and a few more body count extras.

The movie for the most part is very funny, especially early on in the movie when we first meet the original characters in the movie. Everyone is so over the top when we first meet them that it's hard not to have a smile on your face at anytime they are speaking. Every conversation leads back to some sort of sexual innuendo and it's great. But then there are other times when we get some one on one time between a mother and her daughter and the movie is surprisingly touching and emotional during those moments. It's this aspect of the movie that gives the movie a pulse, you care about these characters (even if the movie isn't as dark and daunting as it seems to be).

But that's not to say the movie is perfect, there are times when I found myself disappointed with the script and the direction the movie was taking. It's not that it was terrible, but there was so much room for a movie like this that I wish it had thrown in a few more ideas. After all the movie is barely 90 minutes long and I feel the majority of people wouldn't mind sticking around a bit longer to see some other ideas flourish.

The Final Girls is one of the better movies to fly under the radar and if you count this as a horror movie (which it's very light on horror) it would certainly quality as one of the best of the year. Like I said, the movie packs a surprisingly emotional punch but also doles out plenty of zany mayhem to keep you interested. Hopefully this this movie is a big enough hit on VOD that it somehow gets a sequel because we all know sequels are bigger, badder, and crazier than the original, especially those wacky 80s slashers!

I was looking for an entertaining film to watch on Halloween, and I sure wasn't disappointed with THE FINAL GIRLS. The basic premise is that a group of friends at a horror marathon end up getting trapped in the movie itself and have to find a way to survive. Brilliant, right? Arguably the best part of the movie is the way that it makes fun of horror clichés, particularly those in the slasher genre. They also poke fun at the horrible writing and bad acting. Basically, it does for slasher films what CABIN IN THE WOODS did for "cabin in the woods"/Evil Dead-type films. The acting, even though some of it was intentionally bad, was decent. There weren't too many well-known actors, so nobody really stood out in that respect. I did recognize Taissa Farmiga and Malin Akerman, and for what it's worth, they did well. However, my favorite character was the dumb blonde. She provided the most laughs for me. Adam Devine was OK, but it reminded me too much of his work in PITCH PERFECT. From a technical standpoint, everything was rather solid. Camera-work was good, and I thought they did a good job toning down R-rated violence for a PG-13. They even get a good joke out of using black-and-white for a flashback sequence. All things considered, THE FINAL GIRLS was a clever genre sendup that makes mostly good use out of the material its parodying. To sweeten it further, there were a couple of scenes that seemed stolen from my dreams, as Taissa Farmiga's character and I have something in common that I won't spoil for those who haven't seen the film. Let's just say there was one part that got me a little emotional. The only thing that keeps me from going higher with the rating is that the film kind of backs off from a "your destiny is up to you" message and falls back on the clichés it had been making fun of up to that point. Other than that, I thought it was an easy watch with plenty of laughs that should entertain most viewers who are into horror movies.

When you have such a fascinating premise it is rather hard not to get interested and excited, but often times the execution of said premise proves to be abysmal and therefore ruin what could have been a fantastic opportunity. While I don't feel that's the case for The Final Girls, the effort is not met without flaws. The mixture of horror and comedy is an extremely difficult blend to successfully pull it off, and to not fall into a place of "is funny because of how bad it is" which tons of films have sadly come down to. The good thing about the Final Girls is how cleverly it tackles that notion by primarily being a satire, a spoof on 80s horror clichés, most notably those coming from the slasher subgenre.

The main characters find themselves in a movie theater where there is a homage to a very popular 80s horror flick, called Camp Bloodbath, which stars Max's (Taissa Farmiga) late mother (Malin Akerman), who was an actress mainly known for her role in that film. Having passed only three years since a car accident that tragically took her mom's life, Max is conflicted about watching her deceased mother in a film where she gets killed by a masked maniac. The emotional element is present to provide a bigger depth to the story, which works quite well in my opinion. After a weird incident in the movie theater, a fire starts spreading and amidst the chaos, she grabs a machete and opens her and her friends' way through the movie screen, and that is how they get sucked into the Camp Bloodbath film. Having in their group a guy who is a huge fan of the movie proves to be really helpful as he knows what needs to be done to get out of the film's universe.

The Final Girls manages to poke fun and pay homage at the same time, and does it with an adequate level of silliness, it doesn't feel over-the-top by any means. It's a well-balanced tone that makes this film all-around enjoyable although I believe that the PG-13 rating did hurt it quite a bit, if it had been rated R, it could have been explosive, so that's the only thing that's lacking in my opinion.

I highly recommend it, you'll definitely have fun!

Let's star in a horror movie. A PG-13 horror movie that is based on slasher films. Well if that sounds a bit toothless, I can assure you that many will look upon it that way. There's almost no blood on display (except for one scene) and there are also other "major" ingredients missing. The original plan was to make it an R-rated movie, which did not happen obviously. There are quite a few fun bits of trivia like that in the audio commentary (though according to them only 14 year olds listen to them - another joke in case that wasn't clear).

Now up until now that may all have sounded quite harsh, which was not my intention. The movie is good fun, but I wanted to make sure people know what they get themselves into (no pun intended). A CGI crash early on in the movie is quite well done and nice to watch. As are the characters, that are a bit of a parody of whatever went on in the 80s. The actors have a lot of fun and it shows. Still there are too many conveniences and coincidences, an ending that tries to be clever and other things you'll either like or be annoyed by. Try to watch it without thinking too much and you'll have a good time - do not compare it with things like Cabin in the Woods though

The teenager Max Cartwright (Taissa Farmiga) misses her mother Amanda Cartwright (Malin Akerman), who died three years ago in a car accident. Amanda was a horror movies actress that has become famous because of her character Nancy in the cult slasher film "Camp Bloodbath 1 & 2". Max is invited by her friend Duncan (Thomas Middleditch), who is the brother of her best friend Gertie Michaels (Alia Shawkat), to participate in the lecture in the end of the session of "Camp Bloodbath 1 & 2" promoted by the fans in the movie theater. Max meets the handsome Chris Briggs (Alexander Ludwig), who has broken up with his girlfriend Vicki Summers (Nina Dobrev), and they stay together. Out of the blue, there is a fire in the theater and Max, Chris, Duncan, Gertie and Vicki try to escape through the screen. But soon they find that they are trapped in "Camp Bloodbath 1" with the characters Nancy, Kurt (Adam DeVine), Tina (Angela Trimbur) and Paula (Chloe Bridges) in the summer camp. Further, the serial-killer Billy Murphy (Dan B. Norris) is hunting them down.

"The Final Girls" is an entertaining parody to slasher films that has potential to become cult-movie. The story entwines "Friday the 13th" or any other slasher in a summer camp with the idea of "The Purple Rose of Cairo" (1985), repeated in "Last Action Hero" (1993) and "Pleasantville"(1998), where the viewer joins the characters in the film. There are many funny moments and Malin Akerman is so beautiful that convinces performing the role of the teenager Nancy. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Terror nos Bastidores" ("Terror in the Backstage")

I am fresh off of watching this and wow, this was a lot of fun. I was afraid that this was going to turn out like every other recent film with a young cast and be riddled with MTV type clichés but it wasn't at all. The cast was great and film as a whole was pretty funny and brutal (for a PG-13 Film).

The premise was great and original, they really came up with a clever way to spoof the 80's slasher genre. The sub plot was even well done and made for some fairly emotional scenes. The film worked on all levels and was blast to watch. I really enjoyed it

It's weird but when I really like a film I find it hard to say a whole lot about it. When I hate a film I can shoot out four or five paragraphs no problem, but I enjoyed this film so much that I am finding it hard to come up with much to say. Just watch it.

8/10

This film has one hell of a premise that immediately grabbed my attention. It features the exact blend of comedy and horror that I love and that so rarely filmmakers do right. The severely underrated Club Dread is a perfect example of how so many people can miss the intended humour. Then you have hits like Tucker & Dale vs Evil, which not only is a great premise, but is also both hilarious and a bloody good time. People either seem to love or hate these films and it's most likely because it's so hard to balance the two genres. When done right, it's gold, when done wrong, it's terrible.

The Final Girls, for the most part, lands on the good side of the spectrum. Max, loses her mother in a car accident and 3 years to the day, is invited to a screening of her late mother's most famous film, a cheesy 80's horror flick called Camp Blood. During the screening the theatre catches fire, so Max and her friends have to escape and cut right through the theatre screen. Next thing they know, they're in the movie. The exact same movie her mother appears in, which now gives Max a second opportunity to be with her mother, only if she survives the deranged killer roaming the woods.

The film has a great opportunity to capitalize on a lot of horror clichés, much like the way The Cabin in the Woods did brilliantly. One character in particular, a Randy Meeks of horror films, is the perfect opportunity to connect the film characters with the viewer at home. What would Randy do if he were literally transported into the film Scream? This was an interesting approach that I hoped the filmmakers would take. They don't. They kind of walk the line, but they are pretty inconsistent with things.

Being in the horror film and knowing how it ends is perfect fodder for comedy gold. The film did make me laugh, many times, but I wanted to laughs to be really enjoyable. Instead I chuckled a lot throughout the film. Instead of being a comedy, the film has a surprising amount of drama thrown in. Max has an opportunity to reunite with her mother, only the person in the movie isn't her mother, she's the character her mother plays in the film. Again, great set ups for comedy gold, yet we get mild humour. I little disappointing on that end, but still enough comedy in the film to make me smile.

The filmmakers throw some interesting aspects of the genre at the viewers and the characters. The characters can actually hear the "ch ch ch cha cha cha" that accompanies a nearby victim or a flashback that transports the character even further back in time. Title cards that they can interact with, a specific time line of events to unfold. Every 92 minutes, things start over again because that is the length of the film. These things are clever and make for a unique viewing experience.

One of the biggest problems with the film is that it doesn't go far enough with the material. It's held back by the rating. The film features very little gore and no nudity. These things are staples of the horror genre, especially the 80's slasher films that the film is parodying. If the film has embraced these things and given us an R rated comedy, then it would have been a lot better. It felt restrained in a sense.

Not a wasted opportunity, not at all. The film is good and those who enjoy these types of movies will surely have a good time. I just think the possibilities could have been so much more. They had a great idea and didn't try and take it any further beyond that. This film easily, could have been one of my favourites of the year, instead it settles for being just a good movie.

If you ever sat down and thought to yourself, Pleasantville as a horror film would be brilliant. This film is for you.

My review could be half spoiler. No issues if you have watched the trailer, that reveals the most of it and spoils the few surprises it rarely offers. See, the idea is good, but where you are taking this idea to should have pondered a little more. What meaningless dim-wit story you're bringing the characters into. Is that even a story? It should have been the foremost job to find a good story which we are getting into. The simple basic isn't ticked. Also, the characters aren't crafted. They are nonsensical. Cast is something to have looked after too. Not impressed with the after-climax part either. Fantasy is acceptable, however, it's noticeable when it turns into supernaturally magic. Not recommended to anyone unless you're into your early teens. Quite a lot of early teens have a dark desire of watching slasher movies accompanying friends. Even if, I'd be surprised to know all enjoyed.

Highly Overrated movie.

PS: The title should have been The Last Slasher Hero. If you know you know, Legend Schwarzenegger.

The combination of horror and comedy is always a volatile recipe, and the failure to mix those ingredients just right can often result in disaster. But every once in awhile, a film comes along that manages to stumble upon the secret formula for success, with Cabin in the Woods being the most recent example. Now, three years after that film blew the roof off the Paramount Theater at the SXSW Film Festival, we have another SXSW debut that premiered to a cacophonous ovation: director Todd Strauss-Schulson's The Final Girls.

Max Cartwright (Taissa Farmiga) is struggling with loss after the tragic death of her mother, 80s slasher flick icon Amanda Cartwright (Malin Akerman). When she attends an anniversary screening of her mom's landmark film, Camp Bloodbath, a freak accident transports Max and her friends (Alia Shawkat, Alexander Ludwig, Thomas Middleditch and Nina Dobrev) into the film itself, where they're forced to abide by the rules of the movie's narrative in an attempt to survive.

Of course, everyone knows that anyone who has sex in an 80s horror film is bound to be butchered shortly after, so Max finds herself in the awkward position of trying to convince her mother's character not to sleep with the cocky, swaggering Kurt (Adam Devine), whose dialogue is almost entirely made up of sexual innuendo. Meanwhile, the attractive but vapid Tina (Angela Trimbur) is constantly trying to disrobe, which is a big no-no in this film, since a pair of bare breasts will bring the masked killer and his machete running.

Fans of the Friday the 13th or Sleepaway Camp series will find plenty to love here as the film gleefully pokes fun at genre tropes, and much of the fun comes from the fact that Max and her friends aren't just living in the world of the film - they're living in the actual film, complete with voiceovers, on screen credits, and flashbacks. There are so many hilarious moments that the film practically begs for repeated viewings, as audiences are bound to be laughing so hard that they'll miss some of the rapid-fire humor.

There are a few times when The Final Girls gets a little too stylish, such as poorly rendered early scene that involves a bottle of vodka rolling across the floor of a crowded theater, and there are a few moments where the film seems to forsake its own rules in favor of an extra laugh. But these are minor complaints, and the audience at the Paramount Theater certainly didn't allow these nitpicks to detract from the overall experience. The Final Girls is an immensely fun experience that finds a great balance between being a spoof of the genre, and a love letter to its absurdity.

A few years ago, I went to a panel at New York ComicCon all about "The Final Girls". The movie hadn't yet debuted but the cast and filmmakers were there to hype the production. I enjoyed the panel but forgot to see the movie...and finally got around to it tonight. And, it turned out to be a decent little film. And, when I say 'little' it's because the film was low-budgeted and seemed to come and go rather quickly. Fortunately, the DVD is available through Netflix and it's worth your time.

Before going on, it's important to note that I am talking about "The Final Girls"...not "The Final Girl" from 2010.

The story is about a group of five friends who inexplicably get stuck in a bad 1980s slasher film. While they know what's going to happen, they have a heck of a time avoiding death and only a seeming miracle can stop the killing machine, Billy.

The film is a combination of comedy and pathos. I wish the film had focused more on comedy but my wife disagreed and liked the mix. Regardless, the film has many clever moments and is a nice sendoff of the genre. Worth seeing. And, it's one of the few films that features outtakes at the end that actually ARE worth seeing.

A mostly lame horror deconstruction. A group of teens (including creepy Vera Farmiga clone Taissa Farmiga and Arrested Development's Alia Shawkat) are magically transported into a 1980s horror film (don't ask how; it's so stupid it makes my brain hurt) that stars Farmiga's deceased mother (Malin Akerman). Akerman is slated for an early death, but Farmiga attempts to defy horror movie conventions and save her. It's a fun conceit, but not much about it works. Partly it feels that the filmmakers were limited by budget. Not that this movie had to be really expensive, but the whole thing is digitally shot and special effected-up and it has this hideous look throughout. It's also limited by its PG-13 rating. It's all too bad, because the film has about five really big laughs in it. Angela Trimbur is best in show as the 1980s horror movie slut, and Adam DeVine (of Workaholics fame) is funny as the 1980s horror movie douche. The script was co-written by Joshua John Miller, star of Near Dark and Class of 1999.

Trash. That's what I thought it would be. However, I watched it because I was suffering Nina Dobrev withdrawal since she left The Vampire Diaries. This movie proved me wrong on so many levels. It was fun, clever, and something that seems largely absent in Hollywood nowadays -- ORIGINAL! The cast was good in their roles. The lead did a great job on the touching scenes with her mother, who didn't know she was her mother until the end of the film.

I gave this movie a 7-star rating. I would give it higher, but I do reserve 8, 9, and 10-star ratings for films that are really superb. Though, I really did like this movie. I recommend it to anyone who likes 80s horror films as well as horror spoofs. I will say that this is probably the best horror spoof I've ever seen. Most of them have lame writing, acting, and production value. This was really fun.

Three years after the death of her actress mother Amanda (who really should have kept her eyes on the road), teenager Max (Taissa Farmiga) is talked into attending a showing of her mum's best known movie, cult '80s slasher Camp Bloodbath. When a fire breaks out in the theatre, Max and four of her school friends are forced to escape through the screen where they find themselves trapped inside the movie, stalked by its hulking, mask wearing, machete wielding killer, Billy Murphy.

Written by M.A. Fortin and former actor Joshua Miller (who played the vampire kid in Near Dark), The Final Girls offers up no shortage of knowing clichés and clever meta-moments guaranteed to put a smile on the face of any self-respecting slasher fan: in order to improve their chances of survival, the pals must exploit their knowledge of slasher conventions, while dealing with such hurdles as black and white flashbacks and awkward moments of slow motion. Max also has the added issue of trying to preserve the life of camp counsellor Nancy, the character in the film that was played by her mother (a plot-line that adds genuine heart to the film).

However, as ingenious as the script undoubtedly is, The Final Girls does miss the mark slightly by being a strictly PG-13 affair, director Todd Strauss-Schulson keeping the action free of the gore and nudity that is synonymous with '80s slashers. For the film to be absolutely true to the genre it is having so much fun with, there should have been at least one skinny dipping scene, some gratuitous sex, and a bit of decent splatter, but all it can offer is a few bloodless death scenes and a couple of the actresses in their underwear. For shame!

6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for having camp slut Tina dance to Cherry Pie by Warrant (such a good tune that I'm willing to turn a blind eye to the fact that it wasn't even released until 1990).

Wasn't expecting much but got a pleasant surprise. Original and watchable!

If your an 80's Horror/Slasher FanBoy like myself then this film is for you. Clever nods to the audience, tongue n cheek, self aware/meta humour is in full force. Think the wit and humour of Scream blended together with Friday the 13th, plus some surprisingly emotional depth. Loved it! I cannot fathom why this did not get a cinema release, it is absolutely brilliant.

A clever, knowing, (though never self mocking) homage to 80s slasher flicks. The cast are uniformly brilliant and great to see Nina Dobrev in something other than the Vampire Diaries. If you love Scream and the self referential horror you are sure to enjoy this. Give it a try, this will go down as another of those hidden gems that COME ALIVE on DVD, rather like 'Trick R Treat.' Neglected and ignored when in fact it is sheer brilliance and really quite moving. Lovely commentary too!

Interesting premise but it's not intelligent enough to pull it off.

The 80's slasher flicks are loved by horror fans more than any other sub-genre of horror because they were fun. What made them fun ? The inventive kills, the over the top bad dialogue, the campy mood, the silly acting, the music, the legendary killer, the gore , and the nudity. So can a PG-13 film successful spoof 80s slasher convention ? This film is proof that it can. You just have to realize that this is not a movie that pays homage to slasher films by recreating the same kind of film. Its a spoof of the silliness of 80s horror. The characters are all likable, and all the actors are well cast. The story line is very clever. And while it may not be the first movie to deconstruct and bend horror film rules, it is one of the best. Watch it in the right mindset and you will not be disappointed especially if your a fan of 80's slasher horror. Do not go in to this one expecting lots of gore and nudity, and you are in for a wicked surprise.

I got the impression that THE FINAL GIRLS was advertised as a horror/comedy satirizing tropes from the early generation of slasher films from the 80's. And it was, to an extent, but it's mostly the heartfelt tale of a daughter mourning the loss of her mother and learning to let her go. That would've been good to know because I went in with a particular expectation that was let down pretty thoroughly. The mother/daughter team at the core of THE FINAL GIRLS is Malin Akerman and Taissa Farmiga. Amanda (Akerman) was a struggling actress who's one big hit was the cult classic slasher film CAMP BLOODBATH from the mid 80's, a Friday THE 13TH sort of horror film where she was a shy camp counselor who was hacked to bits by the machete-wielding maniac Billy Murphy (Dan B. Norris) after losing her virginity. Amanda dies in a car crash and her daughter Max (Farmiga) is still having problems coping three years later. When she's invited to a double-feature screening of CAMP BLOODBATH and its sequel as a special guest on the anniversary of her mother's death, she reluctantly agrees. Things get weird when a series of freak occurrences cause a fire in the theater and Max and her friends are forced to escape through the screen, finding themselves awakening moments later in the film. Trapped at Camp Blue Finch with a bunch of horny counselors and a murderous psychopath on the loose, Max and her friends must convince the film's characters of the danger they're in and devise a plan to escape back to the real world. Of course, it's made all the more difficult for Max when she comes face-to-face with her "mother" in the character of Nancy, the shy counselor with a guitar who's doomed to become a victim.

THE FINAL GIRLS might be better than I'm giving it credit for but I was personally disappointed in the end result. I sat down expecting something more along the lines of TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL with a focus on lampooning the clichéd elements of the Jason Voorhees franchise. THE FINAL GIRLS does this and, when it does, the movie is pretty fun. But, and I hate to sound cold-hearted, whenever the movie focuses on the mother/daughter angle, I get bored. It's disappointing enough that the movie is PG-13 so we get none of the bloody violence and gratuitous nudity associated with the slasher films it's poking fun at, but to then constantly downshift the pace to accommodate the Max/Nancy plot thread is rough. We kept injecting these heartwarming moments with Max assuming the more parental role for the eager-to-get-busy Nancy as she tries to keep the clueless teenaged counselor's clothes on, educating her on the fact that she doesn't have to sleep with the lecherous Kurt (Adam DeVine) just because he wants it. Look, the Akerman/Farmiga stuff works really well. Both of these women are great actresses and they've got some excellent chemistry here as mother and daughter (or "camp friends"), but it feels like we're bouncing between two separate movies and I found it increasingly annoying. Between the movie's heart, the toothless horror elements, and the hit-or-miss comedy, THE FINAL GIRLS only worked on the one level (Akerman/Farmiga) and everything else suffered. It wasn't nearly suspenseful enough to qualify as any sort of horror movie. The kills were mostly tame (with two exceptions…one involve a car and the other a bear trap) and Billy Murphy…the Jason Voorhees stand-in… wasn't all that scary with his big ol' tiki mask looking like something out of the Scooby-Doo movie. The comedy fared a little better but it still came up short.

THE FINAL GIRLS never elicited more than a half-hearted chuckle out of me but what comic relief we were provided helped the movie pass a little smoother. The supporting cast includes Thomas Middleditch (from the fantastic HBO show "Silicon Valley") as the resident CAMP BLOODBATH super-fan Duncan, Adam DeVine (form Comedy Central's "Workaholics") as the camp's sex-obsessed jock Kurt, and Angela Trimbur as the horniest counselor of the bunch, Tina. The three of them provide the funniest moments of the movie and almost every scene with them (especially Middleditch and Trimbur) is great. I also loved how the filmmakers created the world of the movie-within-a-movie. Once Max and her friends are dumped into the world of CAMP BLOODBATH, they're trapped and any attempt to escape circles right back around to the camp. On-screen title cards are physical three- dimensional objects that they can interact with, and flashbacks are a trippy journey into the black-and-white world of the late 50's. Even with the toned- down PG-13, I could've loved this film purely for the creativity involved if we'd gone the comedic route, spending more time building laughs on the inherent goofiness of slasher films viewed through modern cynical eyes. Or we could've gone the other direction and taken a hard R-rating with the horror angle. Either way I feel we still could've found a way to incorporate the very personal tale of Max and Nancy, and then we'd have had more fun in the meantime. But it is what it is, and THE FINAL GIRLS is a decent 90 minute distraction but little more for me.

It started off alright, but it got repetitive/predictable real fast and the ending was super lame.

Nancy is an actress who gained notoriety for starring in the 80s slasher Camp Bloodbath. Now she can't find work because everyone associates her with that role. After an audition she and her daughter Max drive back. Max points out that they are in debt but Nancy just goofs off. They crash.

Three years later Max is in college and we learn that Nancy died in the accident. It's the day of a double feature of Camp Bloodbath 1 and 2. One of Max's friends begs her to go and also signs her up for the Q&A. We also meet all her other ugly friends who show up for the movie. It's one of those theater were kids show up with bottles of alcohol and smoke cigarettes... That can only lead to disaster and sure enough, the theater bursts into flames. Our friends escape through the silver screen and end up...in Camp Bloodbath.

At first confused, they quickly learn that they have to let the movie play out instead of interfering or trying to escape, which they can't. Max meets her teenage mom out to lose her virginity. The plot of the movie is of course that everyone who has sex dies. The virgin is the final girl and gets to kill the killer. So Max implores Nancy to keep her clothes on. Quickly they meet the killer, Billy. They think they are immune from him but one of them learns the hard way that they aren't. When the actual final girl from the movie arrives, she quickly manages to get herself killed in a car crash, that forces our gang to devise a plan to kill Billy themselves and somehow return to the real world.

There's a lot to like in The Final Girls for those who enjoy slashers and 80s throwback movies. While it's never fun to see characters in a theater watching a movie, here's it's relatively short. Once they are inside the movie things are handled well. The 80s world is so stereotypical it almost seems like a criticism of the heavy reliance of 80s movies on stereotypes. A lot here is very witty and entertaining. And it's got the lovely Malin Akerman in the best role I've seen her yet where she gets to be cute and sweet. And the scenes of her singing and dancing are fantastic. Chloe Bridges is also gorgeous but gets a sorry short role, why didn't she get the lead role? That brings me to my first criticism. The bipolar casting. On the one hand the got Akerman, Briges, Dobrev, and Ludwig. But then they got the rest, a bunch of uggos starting with the lead on whose face the camera unfortunately spends endless time and in close-ups. That said everyone does a great job acting, but why settle when surely you can get a great looking cast.

The second and more important problem is that this movie is PG-13, which for an 80s-inspired-and-themed slasher, is moronic and inexcusable. How many more horror movies will have to be ruined by short-sighted and incompetent executives and occasionally writer/directors? It just doesn't work. There's no nudity, gore, violence, which makes the horror aspect far less threatening and frightful. While the production apparently contributed a lot info to IMDb, notice that budget and box office info is mysteriously missing. Something tells me the whole PG-13 idea backfired. A lesson I hope they'll learn for the sequel.