‘Men don’t have to pay attention the way we do…’
Ahh the Final Girls. A phrase first coined by Carol J. Clover in her book Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film, the concept of the Final Girl has since taken on a life of its own, inspiring films, TV shows and this pathetic excuse for an article, right here. We all know the big hitters, of course. Nancy. Laurie Strode. Ripley, even. These are characters who have become just as infamous as the malevolent killers that stalked them for so many years. The Final Girl Support Group takes all those legendary final girls, changes their details ever so slightly, and throws them together in a fast-paced, ghoulish plot that leans into the ultra violence and darkness so associated with the slasher genre…
Told from the point of view of Lynette, just one more damaged Final Girl in a support group that meets under the guise of a therapy session once a month, The Final Girl Support Group begins with an unknown killer picking off the Final Girls one by one. Lynette feels compelled to act.
I’d never heard of this book (released in 2021) or Grady Hendrix until my wife, the only person on earth more obsessed with death and murder than me, silently added it to my reading pile with a knowing, yet sinister, nod. And when I did finally get round to it, I wasn’t to be disappointed. By making these Final Girls composites of famous and pre-existing characters (Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Hellraiser and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are all represented in some form or another), Hendrix creates a checklist for movie buffs to tick off whilst revealing various Easter eggs that nod to other horror franchises. This is not merely an exercise in cramming in as many pop culture references as possible, however (see Ready Player One). Instead, Hendrix ensures that The Final Girl Support Group is a homage to a genre that he clearly adores and this passion ensures that this meta-slasher never devolves into fan fiction.
The Final Girl Support Group is a book that acts as both a gripping page turner full of plot twists and cliffhangers and a love letter to a genre that is very close to my own heart. Horror fans assemble!