December 9, 2011

#1-3 The Death Rattle & Behind the Couch's Top 10 Final Girls

Behind the Couch
#1 Jannicke in COLD PREY - Jannicke is unquestionably born and bred from Final Girl stock. Good natured, intelligent, funny, mature, pretty, reliable, considerate and loyal. It is she who tends to her injured pal when he breaks his leg snowboarding, she who spies the creepy hotel they seek shelter in and she who tries to make everyone stick together and stay calm when the killer shows up. However she’s far from perfect – which adds to her likableness. She may be in a stable relationship but she balks at the idea of moving in with her boyfriend and demonstrating the level of commitment that action would entail. We also see her break down with the stress of their situation at the hotel. Of course this happens when she’s alone; when she’s with her friends she maintains a brave face for their sake more than her own. In Cold Prey II, we get to see her maternal side through her friendship with Daniel – a fellow patient at the soon to close and eerily deserted hospital.
When the shit hits the fan she keeps her cool and equips herself with strength, a shot gun and brutal determination to stay alive – often putting herself in grave danger to protect others.

The Death Rattle
#1 Jamie Lloyd in HALLOWEEN 5 - What I'm about to say is sacrilege, but I've always preferred Danielle Harris over Jamie Lee Curtis as the "damsel in distress" when it comes to the HALLOWEEN movies. I obviously understand the importance of the Laurie Strode character as portrayed by Jamie Lee in the first two HALLOWEEN films, and she's is without a doubt irreplaceable as the iconic Scream Queen, but Danielle Harris is my girl. With Harris being around the same age as me when she portrayed Jamie Lloyd in the fourth and fifth installments of the HALLOWEEN franchise, her character was always a lot easier for me to connect to. Harris is great in Part 4 as well, but it's in the fifth installment that she shines.

Harris turns in a strong performance, portraying a mute for over half the film and generally partaking in some rather demanding scenes for someone her age - both physically and, I assume, emotionally. Something worth noting about the actual character of Jamie is a certain decision she makes towards the end of the film. When it comes to most Final Girls in slasher films, there comes a point where she's either backed into a corner and is forced to adapt, or she makes a conscious effort to stand up for herself and confront the "boogeyman". In HALLOWEEN 5, Jamie Lloyd is purely in survival mode at a certain point, and while most children in their right mind would have waved the proverbial white flag, she has enough sense to play on the mental instability of Michael Myers as a means of buying some time and distracting him; while it's ultimately not Jamie who's responsible for the downfall of Myers in this particular film, her fighting spirit and survival instincts allowed her to overcome a seemingly unstoppable force almost twice her size.

Behind the Couch
#2 Yasmine in FRONTIER(S) - When we first meet Yasmine, she’s participating in a robbery that coincides with a protest march against an extremist right-wing politician who has been elected to the French presidency. She’s also just discovered she’s pregnant. Despite helping with the robbery, Yasmine displays a sense of conscientiousness and responsibility. It is she who insists they take their friend to hospital when he’s shot, even though it would mean a possible encounter with right-wing leaning police. Throughout her ordeal with the fascist Hitler lovin’ inbreeds who take her and her friends captive at the inn in which they seek refuge, her spirit remains unbroken. Parallels with Nazi Germany, meditations on the freedom of the individual and an utterly grueling ‘torture porn’ narrative ensure the viewer is gripped throughout the taut ordeal that is Frontier(s) – and Yasmine is our anchor. Demonstrating pluck, dignity and courage – even when totally surrounded by evil – she represents what we’d all like to think ourselves capable of doing in desperate situations. That she’s pregnant and vulnerable adds fuel to her already intense fire.

The Death Rattle
#2 Beth in HOSTEL II - Ironically, one of the last people who came to mind, but one that would eventually end up very high on the list. Beth (played by Laura German) is an art student who's studying abroad (in Italy to be exact) with a couple of her American friends. One weekend, they decide to take a train out of Italy, but their potentially relaxing getaway turns tragic when they find themselves abducted and essentially sold on the black market to wealthy clients with morbid fetishes. HOSTEL II isn't even close to being a slasher movie, as it's part of the infamous "torture porn" sub-genre that director Eli Roth unintentionally helped put on the map, but the character of Beth possesses the qualities of a strong Final Girl: extremely sensible, no-bullshit attitude, and deceptively tough. In other words, she's not the kinda chick you'd wanna acquire on the black market, and one of the film's antagonists finds this out the hard way in a scene that would make feminists worldwide clap like seals.

Behind the Couch - SPOILER ALERT
#3 Brigitte Fitzgerald in GINGER SNAPS - Ginger Snaps might be about sisterly love, sibling rivalry, burgeoning womanhood relayed through lycanthropic metamorphosis, but it’s also about a young girl yearning to think for herself, find her own voice and step out of her sister’s shadow. While Ginger is changing, physically, Brigitte is developing mentally. Branching out and standing on her own means a schism appears between the sisters, but in the end, because she loves her sister so much, and because she has to in order to ensure her own survival - Brigitte puts werewolf Ginger out of her misery in the most humane way she can. That she often makes awkward teen blunders, feels uncomfortable in her own skin and dabbles in ‘chemistry’ along the way, ensures she’s a highly likeable, though admittedly moody heroine.

The Death Rattle
#3 Chloe in HIGH LANE - While the French-language HIGH LANE is a very unoriginal film with strong similarities to a number of horror movies like THE HILLS HAVE EYES, THE DESCENT, and WRONG TURN, its Final Girl is a standout and obviously one of my favorites. A group of friends go hiking up in the mountains of Croatia, only to find themselves hunted by a savage redneck. Even though the content of the film is all too familiar, it's still a worthwhile entry in the backwoods slasher genre because of its style and the fact that the characters are, for the most part, likable. Amongst those characters is Chloe, played by Fanny Valette. Not much to speak of when it comes to her character or how she's set up to be the Final Girl, but her actions in the back end of the film alone are what made her a no-brainer as far as my picks were concerned. Chloe essentially goes from being your standard Final Girl to unleashing a ferocity the likes of which I rarely see from a character such as hers. We're talking eye-gouging, scratching, clawing, and genital-twisting! The point being, Chloe is not someone you mess with, regardless of whether you're a mountainous savage redneck or not.

13 comments:

  1. This has turned out to be a pretty interesting list, Aaron. A couple of your gals were quite surprising. I’m also ashamed to say I’ve never seen High Lane – but I’m going to hunt it down like an inbred redneck and watch the shit out of it. It sounds a little like Cold Prey, in that while it isn’t particularly original, it still has a few fresh twists and a really likeable cast of characters. That’s one of the elements I love about Cold Prey – there’s actually a little emotional engagement there which heightens the impact when the inevitable blood flows. Thanks again for asking me to contribute – it’s been a lot of fun!

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  2. Nice to see some new (and in some cases brave) choices here fellas. The first two Cold Prey films are two of my favorite slashers films to come out in a while. I really enjoyed your Final Girl series.

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  3. Cheers Brad! Yeah, I'm also a huge fan of the Cold Prey films, though I've yet to see the third one, which I believe is a prequel. Really glad you thought some of our choices were 'brave'! :oD

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  4. James: Definitely check out HIGH LANE. I didn't even mention it in my post, but there's sort of a love triangle thing going on involving Chloe and two of the male characters. An unfortunate oversight on my part since it's an important part of her character. Oh well. She kicks ass, and that's all anyone really needs to know.

    Brad: Thanks for the feedback, my man.

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  5. Great list! I couldn't agree more on your top three, err...six.

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  6. Very cool collaboration you guys did. I enjoyed it thru and thru.

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  7. Excellent list! I haven't seen High Lane, but I couldn't agree more with all the other picks. And I'm always glad to see Hostel 2 love. TOTALLY underrated film. The only lady I'd add is Anna from Martyrs. Poor dear.

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  8. Thanks, Emily. I was really close to squeezing Sarah from INSIDE and Anna from MARTYRS on the list (Anna would have been in the top three) just because of the amount of punishment they take, but I obviously left them out. I'm glad you liked the list! HOSTEL II is great... I saw it in theaters when it came out, and there were only two other people in the theater. Awkward.

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  9. You guys came out and finished this list up nicely, and once again you both have a same numbered pick on each of you lists that I absolutely love, and that is number 2.

    After watching it a few times, I find Frontier(s) to be a simply fantastic little horror film that was much better than it receive credit for and the same can be said for Hostel Part II. I love both female characters in each of those films, and, while being in the same sub-genre, both of them are so very strong, and so very different from one another that unintentionally pairing up the two on parallel ranking numbers is somewhat fascinating.

    On a side note, I wrote a "In defense of..." article for Hostel Part II for a website that never happened and plan on just putting it up on my blog at some point. In any event, there are plenty of reasons why I enjoy that film, but German is numero uno, and I am happy to see that film get some love from a few cool peeps!

    Awesome list, guys and I am happy you both strayed away from the usual suspects!

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  10. Thanks for the feedback, Matt. Glad you dug our number deuces. I'm honestly not a fan of FRONTIER(S) at all, but I do love the character of Yasmine, and the only reason she didn't end up on my list (aside from the fact that James picked her) is because there were other ladies who I wanted to champion. The performance of the actress who plays Yasmine is pretty amazing towards the back end of the film. Also, very cool to see the HOSTEL II love from you and Emily; it's not a favorite, but I think it's solid for what it is and unfairly shit on by people.

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  11. Nice wrap up you guys! I agree about HOSTEL 2. I liked it a lot better than the first and much better script and characters. HIGH LANE I wrote a review for about six months ago and never bothered with posting it. The first 30 minutes or so are really good, but after that.... considering the villain in that movie, Danielle Harris could likely have whipped the shit out of him, too. And you guys have gotten me curious to re-watch FRONTIER(S) again. Only watched it once!

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  12. Yeah, but it wasn't Danielle Harris who took him on; it was CHLOE! So there. Thanks for the feedback, Brian!

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  13. I really need to see High Lane subbed (as opposed to dubbed). It was distracting and sullied the viewing experience. I should give it another go, especially since Chloe was so high on your list.

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