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For those who don’t know about final girls, here’s a brief explanation. The Final Girl is a horror/slasher film trope. Generally you start with a group of young women and men who go to a remote location, often a lake or cabin. A silent killer picks them off, one-by-one, unless a couple are having sex or taking a shower then they will die together. This continues until only one person is left and this is The Final Girl who dispatches the killer…or thinks she has. Go to TV Tropes Final Girl and you’ll enter into a maze of related inks that will occupy you for hours. TV Tropes also breaks down this book. Examples of final girl films include Friday the 13th (1980), Halloween (1978), Black Christmas (1974 and one of the first slasher films), and Scream (1996). Two of my favorite films subvert the genre. In Tucker and Dale vs Evil, (2010) it’s the two rednecks who are the good guys in danger from the college kids. It’s gory but a very funny parody of horror/slasher films. The Cabin in the Woods (2011) subverts the entire horror genre including the Final Girl and has darkly funny moments. It’s also a treat for horror fans to pick out horror references within the film.
The Final Girl Support Group is an action thriller set in a world where the events we know from horror/slasher films have really happened. It answers the question what happens
“…After the cops eliminate them as suspects. After the press releases their brace-faced, pizza-cheeked, bad-hair-day class photos that inevitably get included on the cover of the true crime book? After the candlelight vigils and the moments of silence, after someone plants the memorial shrub?.
The Final girl Support Group is narrated first person by Lynette, herself a final girl. Her life is driven by the certainty that someone wants to kill her. Her only connection to people is throughout the support group and her one significant attachment is to a plant that she has named Final Plant or just Fine.
The Final Girl support group (so named by Lynette) has six members and has been meeting for 16 years. It’s led by Dr. Carol Elliott who has a major role in the story. These final girls have very different backgrounds. Besides Lynette, there is the very wealthy Marilyn, the druggie Heather, Julie who was crippled while fighting her attacker, Dani who lives out in the country with her wife and horses, and Adrienne, the first final girl and survivor of the Red Lake Killings. They have been meeting so long that they spend a lot of time in the sessions quibbling (why no snacks) and triggering each other. The ever volatile Heather shoots back at Lynette that she isn’t a real final girl. We find out later why she says that and I think a significant expansion to the trope and one I haven’t seen expressed before.
During the most recent session, they learn that Adrienne has been killed. The always paranoid Lynette immediately assumes that one of the “monsters” got to her. Soon after, other incidents occur — coincidence or coordinated attacks. Soon Lynette finds herself under suspicion and on the run, trying to figure out who is behind the attacks, why have they started now, and desperately trying to save the other final girls even if they aren’t convinced of the danger. And much to Lynette's dismay, the security measures aren't proving very effective.
Earlier I called this an action thriller, and it is, but the author takes a serious look at the world of the final girls. Throughout the book we experience the extent of Lynette’s precautions/paranoia and it’s an interesting look at how someone who is absolutely convinced someone(s) intends to kill her would interact with the world. He goes into her routines, establishing nightlines, never having her back to a door, always identifying possible exits, evaluating everyone for their threat potential. At a basic level, many of her precautions are good advice but here Lynette takes them to extremes. One of Lynette’s tricks to see if she is being followed is to memorize the shoes of people around her. Physical appearance and clothing can be altered but a stalker isn’t likely to change shoes.
The author also goes into the psychology of not only the final girls themselves but also their fans and the fans of the killers. There are extreme fans who want to marry the killers, emulate the killers, collect memorabilia of the killers and the crimes, and who vilify the final girls. I think this element elevates The Final Girl Support Group above being just another action thriller. He gives depth to the characters.
Periodically we get a page from D. Elliott’s session notes, police incident reports, police interview, final girl interviews, pages from books about final girls and the horror genre. These inserts contribute to an overall understanding of final girls and the horror tropes associated with them,
The author also does an excellent job keeping the suspense up and releasing significant bits of information at the appropriate time. I have to say that I didn’t see the who and why coming and this made it more enjoyable to read. I appreciate the author’s approach to this horror subgenera and the tropes associated with it.
For those who don’t know about final girls, here’s a brief explanation. The Final Girl is a horror/slasher film trope. Generally you start with a group of young women and men who go to a remote location, often a lake or cabin. A silent killer picks them off, one-by-one, unless a couple are having sex or taking a shower then they will die together. This continues until only one person is left and this is The Final Girl who dispatches the killer…or thinks she has. Go to tvtropes dot com and search “final girl” and you’ll enter into a maze of related inks that will occupy you for hours. Examples of final girl films include Friday the 13th (1980), Halloween (1978), Black Christmas (1974 and one of the first slasher films), and Scream (1996). Two of my favorite films subvert the genre. In Tucker and Dale vs Evil, (2010) it’s the two rednecks who are the good guys in danger from the college kids. It’s gory but a very funny parody of horror/slasher films. The Cabin in the Woods (2011) subverts the entire horror genre including the Final Girl and has darkly funny moments. It’s also a treat for horror fans to pick out horror references within the film.
The Final Girl Support Group is an action thriller set in a world where the events we know from horror/slasher films have really happened. It answers the question what happens
“…After the cops eliminate them as suspects. After the press releases their brace-faced, pizza-cheeked, bad-hair-day class photos that inevitably get included on the cover of the true crime book? After the candlelight vigils and the moments of silence, after someone plants the memorial shrub?.
The Final girl Support Group is narrated first person by Lynette, herself a final girl. Her life is driven by the certainty that someone wants to kill her. Her only connection to people is throughout the support group and her one significant attachment is to a plant that she has named Final Plant or just Fine.
The Final Girl support group (so named by Lynette) has six members and has been meeting for 16 years. It’s led by Dr. Carol Elliott who has a major role in the story. These final girls have very different backgrounds. Besides Lynette, there is the very wealthy Marilyn, the druggie Heather, Julie who was crippled while fighting her attacker, Dani who lives out in the country with her wife and horses, and Adrienne, the first final girl and survivor of the Red Lake Killings. They have been meeting so long that they spend a lot of time in the sessions quibbling (why no snacks) and triggering each other. The ever volatile Heather shoots back at Lynette that she isn’t a real final girl. We find out later why she says that and I think a significant expansion to the trope and one I haven’t seen expressed before.
During the most recent session, they learn that Adrienne has been killed. The always paranoid Lynette immediately assumes that one of the “monsters” got to her. Soon after, other incidents occur — coincidence or coordinated attacks. Soon Lynette finds herself under suspicion and on the run, trying to figure out who is behind the attacks, why have they started now, and desperately trying to save the other final girls even if they aren’t convinced of the danger. And much to Lynette's dismay, the security measures aren't proving very effective.
Earlier I called this an action thriller, and it is, but the author takes a serious look at the world of the final girls. Throughout the book we experience the extent of Lynette’s precautions/paranoia and it’s an interesting look at how someone who is absolutely convinced someone(s) intends to kill her would interact with the world. He goes into her routines, establishing nightlines, never having her back to a door, always identifying possible exits, evaluating everyone for their threat potential. At a basic level, many of her precautions are good advice but here Lynette takes them to extremes. One of Lynette’s tricks to see if she is being followed is to memorize the shoes of people around her. Physical appearance and clothing can be altered but a stalker isn’t likely to change shoes.
The author also goes into the psychology of not only the final girls themselves but also their fans and the fans of the killers. There are extreme fans who want to marry the killers, emulate the killers, collect memorabilia of the killers and the crimes, and who vilify the final girls. I think this element elevates The Final Girl Support Group above being just another action thriller. He gives depth to the characters.
Periodically we get a page from D. Elliott’s session notes, police incident reports, police interview, final girl interviews, pages from books about final girls and the horror genre. These inserts contribute to an overall understanding of final girls and the horror tropes associated with them,
The author also does an excellent job keeping the suspense up and releasing significant bits of information at the appropriate time. I have to say that I didn’t see the who and why coming and this made it more enjoyable to read. I appreciate the author’s approach to this horror subgenera and the tropes associated with it.
Keywords: final girl, slasher and horror movies
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