Max (Taissa Farmiga) reluctantly attends an anniversary screening of 1980s cult slasher film Camp Bloodbath (that starred her late mother (Malin Akerman)) with her group of friends. When a fire ignites in the movie theater, Max and her friends cut a hole in the screen in hopes of getting to the exit door behind the screen, but they instead find themselves trapped inside the movie.  They must team up with the fictional camp counselor characters (Of Camp Blue Finch) of the movie (including the character Max mom’s plays) to fight the burn scarred killed named Billy (who hides behind a mask and wields a machete.  Max thinks it is a second chance to save her mom, but Camp Bloodbath may still have to play out according to plot where only the final girl will be able to kill Billy with his weapon.

 

THE FINAL GIRLS is an enjoyable horror movie with plenty of comedy and meta moments as the score announces when the killer is going to strike.   I do hope a sequel is made as there is a sequel to Camp Bloodbath.   It makes fun of 1980s horror movies while being a love letter to those same movies. ).   I appreciate the level of detail and homage that went into making this movie as it also honors the meta approach first popularized with the SCREAM movies.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Cast and crew audio commentary with director Todd Strauss-Schulson, production designer Katie Byron, actors Taissa Farmiga and Thomas Middleditch

Second audio commentary with writers M.A. Fortin and Joshua John Miller as they talk about the story and how the script started being developed back in 2009

 

Deleted and extended scenes with optional commentary as the director explains why the scenes and certain moments were cut for pacing and tone

Two alternate ending with optional director commentary where the theatrical ending is a fusion of the two endings and the director explains what didn’t work with both endings

 

VISUAL EFFECTS PROGRESSION reel as you see how they blend the visual effects seamlessly into THE FINAL GIRLS

Previz of five key scenes in the movie

Theatrical trailer and previews for other releases from SPHE

 

You can download the director’s production notes if you insert the disc into a DVD-ROM or other compatible computer drive.

 

FINAL ANALYSIS: THE FINAL GIRLS is a great and fun tribute to the horror movies of the 1980s and I hope they will make a sequel (which is fun as the first one).

 

This review is ©11-14-2015 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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