[Book Review] The Final Girl Support Group

Final girls hold deep meaning and significance for horror fans, and author Grady Hendrix shows an acute understanding of this with his latest offering. Following on from previous works including My Best Friends’ Exorcism and Paperbacks from Hell, in The Final Girl Support Group, the writer explores the final girl in absorbing and emotive detail that a ninety-minute slasher film does not have the space or time to provide. Furthermore, Hendrix is deftly aware of the intertextual nature of both the slasher genre and the tropes at play within it. However, his talent extends beyond mere knowledge and homage as he commits to reconfiguring and updating what is often seen as a tired and outdated corner of horror. Included within the book is a remark upon how: ‘time won't be kind to them, their fifteen minutes were up fifteen years ago’. Time indeed has been brutally cruel to the women of this text but as the fandom of horror’s fictional final girls attests to, their fifteen minutes is far from over. 

Inspired by the final girls of our favourite horror franchises and the actresses who portray them, Adriene, Marilyn, Dani, Lynette and Heather are all real-life victims of the most unimaginable crimes (that have subsequently been made into horror films for profit) where they have each emerged as sole survivors. United in their tragedy, they convene together to hold ‘group’ sessions which are presided over by trained therapist Dr Carol. It turns out that despite being an anchor for the women, the group has grown to become paradoxically dysfunctional. The support system which they nurtured sixteen years ago has begun to fray in the last twelve months with members now questioning the purpose and co-dependency such an environment has created.  When one of the group fails to attend a scheduled meeting, tragedy soon surrounds them when it becomes apparent that someone has information and violent intentions, placing them all in jeopardy. These women may have one foot in the past but society and fate seem hellbent in conspiring against allowing them the opportunity to look to the future. 

Told through the perspective of Lynette (whose final girl status is questioned because she has not been ‘blooded’), Hendrix takes great care to ensure that his most fully rounded character is presented with the respect and sincerity that a final girl deserves. The entrance to Lynette’s home includes a cage (reminiscent of Laurie’s fortified house in Halloween 2018) and her longest relationship outside of the group happens to be with a plant she affectionately names ‘Fine’, because loneliness comes with the territory when you are a final girl.  Proving that he is an articulate writer with a passion for detail, each chapter opens with its own heading referencing tropes or film titles we associate with horror. In between each chapter are samples of alternative media ranging from subreddits and diary entries to police interview transcripts. This choice gives the book roots in both the past and the present in addition to demonstrating how fluid horror can be. 

The Final Girl Support Group provides a stirring meditation on the theme of survival and the cyclical nature of trauma which the women are repeatedly exposed to. I initially wondered if a male author would be able to communicate the fear women live through every day and the lengths we go to in order to take care of ourselves, but Hendrix knows that we lock bathroom doors and that we assess rooms for exits without thinking twice. As a result, the exhaustive nature of constant precautions and checks the final girls have to make as a result of their trauma with the negative impact this has upon their lives feeling disturbingly familiar.  Throughout the text, there is a deep sense of history repeating itself with the real-life traumas of the women being turned into film franchises. In many cases the crimes they lived through are recreated, subjecting them to torment and putting them under close scrutiny once more by a scandal-hungry press circuit. 

In turn, this feeds into another prescient motif of final girls having their narratives told by others, namely by morally bankrupt journalists and those in positions of authority.  Along with the dismissal of their voices, the often triggering and complicated existences of the women presents them with daily challenges in forming trusting relationships with others. Despite surviving, the final girl loses it all and is condemned to ‘browsing locksmiths the way other women browse the windows at Tiffany's’. While their narratives are stifled and their lives are devoid of meaningful connections, their identity is also forcibly removed as they are unable to carry ID, driving licenses and must stay off databases if they are to stand any chance of survival. 

It’s not just the perpetrators who the women need to protect themselves from however, as Lynette and her friends must navigate and endure both newcomers and old additions to the group including a ‘fallen final girl’ and ‘the final, final girl.’ Finding themselves under continual threat, the final girls need to discover who is to blame but can they put their individual differences aside and join together one more time to take down their pursuer? 

As an avid fan of the slasher sub-genre, horror franchises and above all, final girls, this was truly a book that I couldn’t stop reading but didn’t want to finish for fear of it no longer being in my life. Each time the women rose up again to fight, I felt their essence, their ability to kick-back, think smart and also refuse to allow one event in their lives to define who they are. This is the startling beauty of The Final Girl Support Group, that once immersed in its messages of self-belief and healing, you will soon begin to feel as though you belong to the group yourself. If you are in need of some sisterhood and solidarity, pull up a chair and join the session. Doubters beware, the final girl is here to stay. 

Available now from Amazon and all good bookstores

RELATED ARTICLES

---

---

EXPLORE

---

MORE ARTICLES

---

---