"Final Girl" (2015) - Film Review
World-renowned photographer Tyler Shields has made his feature film directorial debut on psychological thriller "Final Girl" and the film fits in well with the aesthetics and social commentary often present throughout his photographic pieces.
"Final Girl" tells the story of a girl named Veronica who is trained to take down a group of misogynistic killers who lure women into the woods to be hunted for sport. As far as a narrative back story goes, there are more questions than answers. But this simply aids to the film's hyperreality setting in which mood lighting and eerie shots contribute to a story that reads more like an arthouse piece in which viewers are left to simply follow the heroine's battle against the villainous serial killers.
Just as much of Shields' work has addressed some heavier societal issues, "Final Girl" can be interpreted as a statement about societal misogyny and violence against women. Abigail Breslin holds her own as an action-star on a highly artistic backdrop. Alexander Ludwig portrays the film's main antagonist, Jameson, and his performance is downright skin-crawling in its spot-on embodiment of narcissistic male entitlement. The supporting players are also commendable, and when brought together, we'd liken the group of killers to that of Alex DeLarge and his "droogs" in "A Clockwork Orange."
Though the visual aesthetic of "Final Girl" may look familiar to the most avid followers of Tyler Shields' work, the film is by in large a refreshing change of pace to much of the cinematic content of Hollywood receiving of wide distribution. We'd highly recommend viewing this film and look forward to more of what's to come from Tyler Shields as a film (or television, perhaps?) director.
Final Girl is available for viewing in limited theatrical release and video-on-demand.
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