Monsters and Final Girls

This one is for the girls who love monsters.

Or at the very least girls who relate or have empathy for monsters.  I don’t want this to get twisted, because just by looking for some things for this post. I found there are some super disturbing things on the internet and I don’t want you guys to get the wrong idea, I’m not talking about romantic love… let's be clear on that.

I’ve always been a girl who loved monsters.  That’s not to say I was never afraid of them, just that some intrigued me.  Especially their motives and usually half baked reasons for the things they do. I sometimes find their reasons compelling but generally, it’s pretty pathetic which just humanizes them more to me. That they make really stupid decisions because they’ve been hurt or taken advantage of in some way, which is extremely human. I think the defining factor between the kinds of monsters I care about and the ones that I hate mindlessly, is emotion.

For example, I will never care about Sauron, The White Witch, etc. I never have a reason to care about them, their just straight-up villains, with not really any depth at all. A force of pure evil, a proper antagonist.

Then there are the ones that I like, because of how much charisma and flair they bring to that antagonistic role. I like them because their terrible and good at it, the ones that never ask for forgiveness just a well fleshed out villain. Moriarty, Scar, Roman Sionis.  They entertain me, but their deaths are earned and almost ensured.

Then there are the classic antiheroes. The conflicted, the dramatic, the ones that send the fangirls and me, into fits of hysterics. The misunderstood and brooding, pretty much every male character I have ever written. Loki, Kylo-Ren, Murtagh, the ones that have the best chance at getting redeemed usually in death. (I’m not bitter)

Most of the villains I like probably fall into that last category, It’s popular and for good reason, it works. But lately, I find myself drawn to a whole other type of monster, and worse they don’t really fit in a category. They’re a bit of a mix.

(possible spoilers)

Split/Glass

I watched Glass recently, and even though I remembered Split hazily. I remember that it had all the trappings of a thriller. I thought it was a good movie but was mad that it didn’t really have much of a conclusion. Casey never stopped being a victim and the beast was still alive, and I was very unhappy about that. ( I also would like to state that I hate how this movie portrayed people with DID. I don’t know why anyone would get their information from a movie in the first place, but I felt like it needed to be said. )

James Mcavoy is phenomenal in this role; he changes his body language, tics, and expression, even speech for every personality. They are all so separate from each other and when I watched it for the second time it was super clear who was who.  He deserves recognition for it.

On to Glass, There is a complete change in tone in this movie. It’s more like a superhero drama, which felt like a good change because if you see Kevin as a supervillain rather than someone with a mental illness. Casey isn’t a victim in this one, which made me so incredibly happy.  She’s the girl the beast let go. In a way, it is a bit of a weird Beauty & the Beast dynamic with the exception that they are both so damaged and in similar ways.

Of course, none of that excuses what he did, he killed and maimed people. At least his alters did, but the fact that Casey wanted to save him, even after being almost killed too stuck with me. Some people argue that she has Stockholm syndrome which would make a lot of sense, but I prefer to think that she saw the broken man behind the monster and wanted to save him. Much like Christine with the Phantom.

I have buckets of emotions about these two. And I know there was really no other way for it to go. That’s why it’s tragic

Ready or Not

Another movie I didn’t expect to get so attached to.

Stunning aesthetics! It's basically a girl marrying into a family who’s gaming empire may have come from nefarious means. This was supposed to be a simple thriller. Grace gets married to her loving fiancé Alex and then finds out she needs to play a game. She agrees thinking it’s weird but rich people are so bloody strange anyway. She pulls the Hide & Seek card and things escalate from there.

It becomes a rather deadly game, that was never really a game. 

Don’t ever ship people in a horror movie that’s all I’m going to say, it won’t end well for you.

So Alex has this alcoholic screw up brother Daniel. He’s the only one besides Alex who seems to want to keep Grace alive.  He’s incredibly conflicted and thinks their whole family deserves to die anyway.  He does have the best lines, so I know his humor and natural charisma are probably the reason I liked him so much.

This jaw clench gives me life.

He was so torn at one point he finds her and gives her a 10 second head start. Then counts as slowly as possible before ratting her out. Later on in the film, he drops all pretense of caring about his honestly awful family and straight-up saves her life.

He doesn’t want to kill her a choice that costs him.  For a soulless cretin, he had a lot of empathy, and now so do I. (I have watched pretty much every edit on youtube of these two, help)

I tried very hard not to pick conventionally attractive monsters, harder than you guys would think. Daniel here is the one exception. (So I love Adam Brody, but at least I can admit it)

Alien vs Predator

I feel like Scar is the best example of a monster in appearance. I got to shout out Mirriam Neal for this one, she’s the Queen of monsters.

I love the Alien movies at least the older ones haven’t seen any of the new but haven’t heard good things about them. This one was a favorite because Lex was awesome and her and Scar make such a good team in the end.

I just loved that they developed a level of respect for each other and that she barely reacted when he took off his mask and when he marks her with the alien blood for her kill. He manages to convey a lot of emotion for not speaking and having a face like that.

Does he kill people, yes he does. I suppose in a way all the ones I have mentioned so far have.  In his defense, he was going to save the one guy, but then he attacked him. So it was practically self-defense. He’s a soft boi!

I'm not really sure what point I'm trying to make here. I like monsters, some are better than others.  I'll let Jeff Winger put a cap on this.

I mean he's not wrong. 

Final girls

So aside from me being haunted by monster bois. I have a whole new appreciation for final girls. I don’t know what it is about the girl starting off naïve and seemingly weak. Only to go through something insanely traumatic and not only survive it but take down their tormentor in the process.  I dunno I love it!  I feel like my twenties have been somewhat feral and similar in a way. I’ve learned to hold my ground and fight back.

So watching these girls survive hellish situations and come out covered in blood in and a thick layer of cynicism is somewhat of a revelation. It’s surprisingly motivating and something that resonates with me.

Sydney Prescott is one of my favorites. She was a bit broken before the story even began, but her will to survive inspires me also the way she broke a few of the rules set by slasher flicks. Did she make some dumb decisions, um yes. But all things considered, I love how she ended things.

Casey, who I kind of briefly mentioned. She's the most broken of them I think. But seeing her deal with her trauma. And become a stronger person in the sequel is inspiring. A hardcore survivor 

I think Grace made me laugh the most. She was freaked out for a good portion of the movie but after several attempts on her life. She just said screw it and started bashing heads in.
(The quarantine mood)

I don't really know what I'm trying to say in this post. I'm sure this says something about me psychologically. I love seeing final girls take the killer or ex-boyfriend out. I like the monsters that hold a sliver of humanity in them. Broken and flawed slightly monstrous things appeal to me.

I myself am a monstrous thing.