Slash Fic

The Final Girls (2015) is one of those self-aware slasher movie spoofs. One with a heart.

Taissa Farmiga is a young girl whose mother is an aspiring actress, who’s big role was as a scream queen in cult slasher movie Camp Blood Bath. But her mother Malin Akerman is killed in a car crash.  Cut to 3 years later. Obnoxious friend Thomas Middleditch convinces her to go to a midnight screening of Camp Blood Bath as a special guest. She reluctantly goes, along with Middleditch’s (half-)sister, Alia Shawcat, and Farmiga’s maybe-boyfriend, Alexander Ludwig. To her dismay, Ludwig’s ex-girlfriend, Nina Dobrev is also along.

At the theater, some rowdy fans cause a fire, and Farmiga leads her friends through the screen to escape. But through the screen turns out to be into the movie.

They find themselves beside a road, when a van full of camp counselors drives by - the opening scene of the movie. After 92 minutes, the length of the movie, it drives by again. Finally, they pretend to be counselors too and jump on board.

Middleditch, a confirmed horror hound, is very psyched to be in the movie. When Farmiga realizes that her dead mother is now the bubbly, scantily clad girl asleep in the back, she is terrified but filled with a great longing to be with her again.

Soon, the slasher shows up. Middleditch isn’t worried, because he doesn’t get killed in the movie (he isn’t even in it). But it turns out that the rules don’t work that way, and he is bloodily slaughtered. SPOILER- he comes back to life, and is immediately hit by a car.

So we get the usual “What to do if you find yourself in a slasher movie” stuff - mostly they try to keep the teens from having sex. They find themselves in a flashback, which is fun and even comes back as a plot device. Mixed in with this is Farmiga’s chance to get to know her mother as a young woman, as a peer and friend. Also, trying to keep her alive.

This may not be the greatest example of this genre, but it is pretty funny. It’s also pretty generous and has a good ending - SPOILER - it was all a dream, no it wasn’t, but everyone (who wasn’t from movie world) is still alive. And there’s a hook for a sequel.