Author | Grady Hendrix |
---|---|
Audio read by | Adrienne King |
Language | English |
Genre | Horror Mystery |
Publisher | Berkley |
Publication date | 2021 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (hardback), ebook, audiobook |
Pages | 352 pages |
ISBN | 9780593201237 First Edition Hardcover |
OCLC | 1202772135 |
813/.6 | |
LC Class | PS3608.E543 F56 2021 |
Preceded by | The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires |
Followed by | How to Sell a Haunted House |
The Final Girl Support Group is a horror-themed mystery novel by American writer Grady Hendrix, published July 13, 2021 by Berkley Books. A television series adaptation has been announced.
Bloody Disgusting voiced their interest in the novel prior to its release, naming it one of "13 Horror Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2021". [1]
Lynnette Tarkington is one of several women who make up the "Final Girl Support Group," a group of women who are the sole survivors of horrific massacres. Adrienne was a camp counselor who survived a killer who claimed that he was seeking revenge for a nonexistent son. Marilyn was attacked by bloodthirsty cannibals. Dani's brother Nick escaped from a mental asylum and, on Halloween, slaughtered anyone who stood between him and his sister. Julia was left a final girl after her boyfriend and one of his friends decided to turn her into a final girl, and Heather had to face a "Dream Killer." Lynnette herself had to deal with a situation dubbed the "Silent Night Slayings" by the media. Their experiences left a lasting impact on their lives that has endured into their later adulthood.
Lynnette is barely hanging on, as she spends her time outside of the group sequestered in her apartment. The others are seemingly not much better in their lives, as the infamy and subsequent movie series about their experiences have made moving on difficult. The support group is one of the only things in her life that makes Lynnette able to leave the safety of her apartment. When Adrienne is found murdered in her home, Lynnette is certain that someone is out to finish the work that their respective killers failed at: to kill all of the final girls once and for all. [2]
While writing the book, Hendrix chose not to read other books centered on final girls, as he did not want to be influenced. He completed a first draft of the novel in 2014, but was unable to sell the manuscript due to Riley Sager announcing that he would be penning the novel Final Girls . Hendrix has stated that he was glad the novel did not sell, as he later rewrote the second half of the novel as "I was sticking the landing, but I was sticking a C-minus landing." In an interview, he also stated that he wrote The Final Girl Support Group as a standalone novel, with no intent for a sequel. [3]
The Final Girl Support Group was released in hardback and ebook formats on July 13, 2021, through Berkley. [4] [5] An audiobook adaptation narrated by Friday the 13th actress Adrienne King was simultaneously released via W.F. Howes, an RBmedia company and Penguin Random House Audio. [6] [7]
Critical reception has been positive. [8] [9] USA Today gave the novel 3/4 stars, writing that "It’s a thin and bloody line that separates horror fun from the truly horrific, and Grady has a lot of fun walking it as he writes his final girls a triumphant conclusion rarely afforded survivors in real life." [10] The AV Club praised the novel's tension, as they felt that the "wicked pleasure of Hendrix’s book comes from just how effectively he sets up the life-or-death stakes of Lynnette’s situation—and how clearly outmatched her and the other women seem to be." [11]
Year | Award | Category | Result | Cite |
---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | Goodreads Choice Award | Horror | Won | [12] |
Bram Stoker Award | Novel | Nominated | [13] |
Adaptation rights were optioned prior to the book's release date by Annapurna Pictures, with the intention to turn the novel into a television series. Per Deadline , Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain will serve as screenwriters while Grady Hendrix will executive produce with Megan Ellison, Sue Naegle, Patrick Chu, and Adam Goldworm. [14]
I Know What You Did Last Summer is a 1997 American slasher film directed by Jim Gillespie and written by Kevin Williamson. It stars Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Freddie Prinze Jr., with supporting roles played by Johnny Galecki, Bridgette Wilson, Anne Heche, and Muse Watson. The first installment in a franchise, it is loosely based on the 1973 novel of the same name by Lois Duncan. The film centers on four teenage friends, who are stalked by a hook-wielding killer one year after covering up a car accident in which they supposedly killed a man. It also draws inspiration from the urban legend known as "The Hook", as well as the slasher films Prom Night (1980) and The House on Sorority Row (1982).
A scream queen is an actress who is prominent and influential in horror films, either through a notable appearance or recurring roles. A scream king is the male equivalent. Notable female examples include Barbara Steele, Sandra Peabody, Linda Blair, Felissa Rose, Olivia Hussey, Marilyn Burns, Neve Campbell, Daria Nicolodi, Dee Wallace, Jamie Lee Curtis, Mia Goth, Samara Weaving, Heather Langenkamp, Shawnee Smith, Emma Roberts, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Linnea Quigley.
The final girl is a trope in horror films. It refers to the last girl(s) or woman alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story. The final girl has been observed in many films, including Psycho, Voices of Desire, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Halloween, Alien, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream. The term was coined by Carol J. Clover in her article "Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film" (1987). Clover suggested that in these films, the viewer began by sharing the perspective of the killer, but experienced a shift in identification to the final girl partway through the film.
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Final girl is a trope in horror films.
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