Thursday Movie Picks (Halloween Edition): The Final Girl

 

For the 40h week of 2022 as part of Wandering Through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks as it’s Halloween season. We go into the subject of the final girl as it’s a standard trope in horror films as it always play into the last young girl/woman who survives everything as she has to be the one to tell the story. Here are my three picks as they’re based on films from the previous decade:

1. Dana Polk-The Cabin in the Woods

Drew Goddard’s 2011 film is definitely a homage of sorts to horror films of the past as it involves five young people staying at a cabin unaware that they’re part of simulation that is controlled by technicians who play with the fates of people. Kristen Connolly’s performance as Dana Polk is sort of typical as she plays the virginal girl who is often fated to survive yet is suspicious over what is happening as it does play into her own survival. Especially as she has to encounter moments of violence and uncertainty that would allow her to take action.

2. Max Cartwright-The Final Girls

In the role of Todd Strauss-Schulson’s film as the daughter of a horror film star, Vera Farmiga’s performance is also unique take where she is attending a screening with her friends where a fire breaks out and they’re suddenly in the film where Max’s mother Amanda is in as the camp counselor Nancy who doesn’t survive in the film-within-a-film. All of a sudden, everything goes sideways where the character of Nancy finds herself breaking away from the plot schematics with the help of Max and a few of her friends as they play with the many clichés but also try to survive this killer who has damn good reasons for wanting to kill a bunch of people.

3. Tree Gelbman-Happy Death Day

Jessica Rothe’s performance as Tree Gelbman in Christopher B. Landon’s comedy-horror film series is truly one of the most unique take on the final girl persona. Notably as her character gets killed and then wakes up in a guy’s room pondering what has happened to her and why she keeps getting killed. Rothe’s performance is full of wit and charisma as she allows her character to go from a selfish and problematic character to eventually confronting her own issues within herself as well as just do what is unexpected and be kinder to people including those she would care about leading up to a winning sequel.

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