10 Meta Horror Movies That Deserve More Attention
8. The Final Girls
The Final Girls opens with screen-queen actress Amanda Cartwright dying in a car accident. Years later, her daughter Max heads to a screening of Camp Bloodbath, which Amanda starred in. When a fire breaks out, Max and her friends run to safety towards the screen, transporting them into the movie. To stay alive, the group have to avoid every slasher trope imaginable.
Unsurprisingly, The Final Girls makes jokes about how bad the dialogue is and how everything inside the Camp Bloodbath universe looks fake.
However, most of the gags are much smarter than expected. Gertie thinks she's having a stroke when everything turns black-and-white, not realising she's entered a flashback. Max's group try not to have sex, knowing that horny teens are always the first to die in a slasher.
Rather than being a meta-gag-churning machine, The Final Girls focuses on developing the characters and telling a heartfelt story. Although Max gets to reunite with her deceased mother inside the movie, Amanda can't recognise her daughter, since she's locked into her character, Nancy. This dilemma makes all their interactions surprisingly emotional and thought-provoking.
Even though The Final Girls takes self-aware comedy to the max, it's far more than a schlocky parody.