Double Feature: Tragedy Girls/The Final Girls
The double feature , two movies back to back, or as it’s better known these days, the start of a binge watching session.
There’s almost an art into putting movies together, not unlike making a mix tape (or a playlist, for the younger generation) On the one hand, you can do something obvious, like a movie and its sequel. But the real fun is putting movies together that, while not related, compliment each other well.
An example, one of my favorites to watch together is Ginger Snaps and Teeth, in a ‘horror as metaphor for the female experience’ double feature.
Today’s double feature is nothing so high concept but it’s two very underrated female led horror movies that are smart homages to the genre and are a lot of fun. They are Tragedy Girls and The Final Girls.
First up is Tragedy Girls, a 2017 horror comedy about a pair of true crime bloggers/aspiring serial killers, played by Brianna Hildebrand (Deadpool) and Alexandra Shipp (X-Men: Apocalypse) who kidnap the serial killer terrorizing the town and use him to help get more known on social media.
This movie really impressed me, it had a smart script by Chris Lee Hill and Tyler McIntyre, that feels like a Heathers meets Scream for this current generation. The chemistry between Hildebrand and Shipp is believable, and there are some great gory kills with practical effects that will keep you gore hounds very happy.
Its not a movie I’ve heard too much on, which is surprising considering the two leads both being part of the X-men and X-men related movie universe. It’s one that definitely deserves a larger fan-base. It’s at the time of this writing, streaming on Hulu.
Next up is an homage to the cheesy slasher movies of the 1980’s, The Final Girls. This movie is one I’ve heard of and have been wanting to see for years now and finally watched it last night.
This one stars American Horror Story alum Tessa Farmiga as the daughter of actress Amanda Cartwright (Malin Akerman- Watchmen) a scream queen of the ‘80s who dies in a car accident.
While grieving she gets bribed to going to a double feature of her mother’s horror franchise, and soon after both her and her friends get sucked into the world of the movie and not only have to contend with surviving the movie but also she has to deal with seeing her mom again as well.
This one was so much fun, I loved the meta nature of it, they can see the credits rolling, things like that, and it’s worth watching, but the opening sequence, which is the “trailer “ for the movie they get trapped in, is worth the price of admission alone in entertainment value.
The only real nitpick I have with this movie is that they refer to the movie her mom did as “20 years ago” which I can only imagine is my same perspective of 20 years ago that it’s actually closer to 40 years ago when the slasher movie got made, and there’s no aging makeup on Malin Akerman to make her look any older so she looks the exact same in present day as she did in the past, which took me out of the movie briefly.
Nitpicks aside, in the end, you too will wish that more people knew of these movies. I wish especially that people were more into The Final Girls because the sequel would have been even more awesome I’m sure.
Have any other double features you’d like me to cover? Or even just watch. Hit me up in the comments or on Twitter @reel_geek and let’s geek out on some fun horror movies.
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