MONSTERZERO NJ’S 12 RECENT HORRORS/THRILLERS WITH ASS-KICKING HEROINES!
Who doesn’t love a good final girl!? Most horror fans do! So, here are twelve recent horrors/thrillers where our heroines made an especially strong impact kicking the ass of evil!
Jane Levy
Ella Ballentine
Julianne Hough
Click on the titles here to go to the review page for the corresponding movie!
This newest installment of Halloween Hotties features three relatively new faces in horror that made quite an impression in their maiden appearances. These three actresses made for memorable final girls in their respective horror/thrillers and we can only hope they will grace the horror genre again and soon!
(Click on the highlighted links to read a review of the film’s that our Halloween Hotties have appeared in)
#1 CHLOE ROSE!
Canadian actress Chloe Rose made for quite a resourceful and strong-willed heroine as Dora Vogel in Bruce McDonald’s Halloween set fright flick Hellions. The young actress made quite an impression as a pregnant teen who must fend off a pack of demonic little fiends, who want her unborn child. In interviews to promote the film, she has expressed her interest in returning to the horror genre and we sure hope her wish comes true…soon!
Aside from a small role in Joe Dante’s teen friendly horror The Hole, Girlhouse is Ali Cobrin’s first time doing final girl duty and she pulls it off with flying colors! She gives us sweet girl-next-door Kylie who is forced to work at the steamy Girlhouse to earn money for college. When the girls come under attack from the deranged Loverboy (Slain), she proves more than a match for the vicious masked killer! Miss Cobrin has acted in a number of projects since this cool slasher and hopefully another horror role is awaiting this beautiful and talented lady!
While Bound To Vengeance isn’t technically a horror flick, there was enough gore and intensity in this vicious crime thriller to pass as one. Russian born actress Tina Ivlev made a big splash with her dynamite performance as a young girl kidnaped and held prisoner by a group of deviants. Her Eve not only breaks free and goes on a quest for revenge, but also sets out to free the sleazy group’s other hostages…and she does so with bullets and blood flying! She’s a busy actress and hopefully that will include more horror roles in the near future!
(Clicking the highlighted links brings you to corresponding reviews and articles here at The Movie Madhouse!)
Girlhouse is simply one of the best old school style slashers that I have seen in years. Yes, it has some modern touches, but at heart, it’s right out of the 80s slasher era.
The story opens in 1988 with a chubby and shy boy (Issac Faulkner) being teased and humiliated by two mean girls (Camren Bicondova and Baylee Wall) …and a bit later, his vicious revenge. We then cut to modern times where pretty, down-on-her-luck college student, Kylie (Ali Cobrin) has accepted an invitation to join Girlhouse, a secluded and hidden mansion where a group of nubile young woman live and are filmed on webcams, non-stop, for broadcast on the Girlhouse site. Members pay to watch and chat with the girls who are free to get as sexual as they want with their viewers. It’s up to them how far they go for their internet voyeurs and Kylie needs the cash the site pays for her tuition at school. She gives it a go with some playful striptease, and her girl-next-door beauty is an overnight hit. Kylie also attracts the attention of Girlhouse regular Loverboy (Slaine) who is a somewhat chubby, reclusive and disturbed computer tech. When a mean prank by one of the other girls sets him off, Loverboy blames Kylie and uses his skills to track down the location of Girlhouse and take out his revenge…online for all the members to witness.
Written by Nick Gordon and directed by Trevor Matthews and Jon Knautz, this is both old-fashioned slasher flick and a cleverly contemporary one, with its use of webcams and its reality TV/Cyber Sex set-up. Sure, there are a lot of films that use laptops and cameras to convey action nowadays, but this is not found footage and only uses the format occasionally to successfully generate suspense. Strip away the modern tech and approach and you still get the classic slasher formula of a deranged individual stalking a girl-next-door type to avenge a prank or humiliation. The film establishes immediately that Loverboy is the chubby kid in the prologue, all grown up and all the more twisted. It gives him personality and establishes him as an unnerving threat long before he puts on his equally disturbing mask and enters Girlhouse to exact his cruel and vicious revenge. The girls are all given enough time to let their personalities sink in before the killing starts and thus, we are sympathetic and if that’s not enough, the kills are quite brutal and graphic and it’s hard to not feel bad for even the least likable of the women. Kylie is obviously our final girl and is smart, resourceful and fills the classic shoes very well, especially in the chilling and suspenseful last act. Matthews and Knautz know and use the formula well. They generate some nice chills and suspense, and the brutal opening sequence establishes the atmosphere almost immediately. Even when the film is introducing our characters, the audience knows that something bad is coming…and when it does, the filmmakers orchestrate the night of terror in classic form. There is a very effective score by Tomandandy and some stylish cinematography by Chris Norr to support the filmmakers vision.
As for the players in this slasher, Ali Corbin makes a hell of a good final girl. She’s sweet, yet sexy and when her lethal admirer comes knocking, Corbin gives us a clever and resourceful fighter in her Kylie. A classic and yet, quite modern final girl. Actor Slaine makes for a very disturbing Loverboy. He oozes creepiness and there is a lot of smoldering anger and frustration behind his blank stare. His character gets established early, so when he puts on his bizarre mask, we don’t need to see his eyes or facial expressions to know what is going on under there. Slaine is also a large man, and he has enough physical presence to make quite a satisfactory killer. The mostly female supporting cast are all effective in being varied types that avoid being too stereotypical. Adam Dimarco makes a charming romantic interest for Kylie and James Thomas makes Girlhouse entrepreneur Gary Preston a fairly likable person when a role like this is usually reserved for a generic sleazy creep. A good and functional cast that serve the film’s purposes well.
Overall, I really liked this flick a lot. As a fan of the 80s slasher movies, I really enjoyed how this film used the formula loyally and updated it at the same time. It reminded me of some of the better flicks of the 80s slasher era and yet had its own style and remained contemporary. Matthews and Knautz have some definite potential and know their material. They gave the film atmosphere, style, suspense and some brutally shocking moments. They used the modern technology angles well…and cleverly…and were equally successful in presenting the time-honored trappings of an effective killer and a endearing final girl. A damn good slasher and a fun/scary horror flick.
MonsterZero NJ's Movie Madhouse 