FILM · 2015 · USA
The Final Girls
50 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (50)
- #001
Angela Trimbur improvised the entire dance scene. To get into character she drank energy drinks and prepared herself to dance wildly.
- #002
When Tina becomes overly focused on the fly buzzing around the room, it is not a digitally created insect but was prompted by an improvised moment.
- #003
The original ending had Max and Chris waking up in the hospital as the only survivors. Because it was considered too depressing, director Todd Strauss-Schulson wrote and shot a new ending in which their friends also survive. Both endings tested badly, so the scene used in the film's final cut is a mix of moments from both versions.
- #004
During the credits bloopers there is a scene of Kurt in the hospital. This is not actually a mistake, but comes from an alternate version of the ending in which Duncan reveals that the studio loved Kurt's character so much that they brought him back for the sequel.
- #005
Initially the trailer for "Camp Bloodbath" was not planned to be shown until the kids arrive at the restaurant. Test audiences had trouble distinguishing the film's tone from the first scenes, so it was moved to the very beginning.
- #006
Director Todd Strauss-Schulson had always imagined Alia Shawkat as Gertie, but her manager brushed him off, so he found her email address and boldly contacted her directly.
- #007
During rehearsal Thomas Middleditch got caught on the velvet rope in the movie theater. Director Todd Strauss-Schulson decided to add this to the film as a joke, to linger for a moment on the cardboard standee for "Camp Bloodbath 2: Cruel Summer."
- #008
The script was initially optioned by New Line Cinema, but the studio wanted to remove all the deep character moments and the mother-daughter storyline. It was ultimately produced by Sony, a studio that liked the emotional core but decided to soften the slasher direction in order to achieve a PG-13 rating.
- #009
Many scenes were shot in sequence. However, the film's opening scenes were shot at the very end of production, after the actors had been given enough time to bond, to make the audience believe in the relationship between the characters.
- #010
At the Girl Scout camp where much of the film was shot, there was no cabin large enough to hold the camera crane needed for the elaborate booby-trap scene, so the crew had to build it from scratch. There was no money in the budget to tear it down, so the cabin was built structurally sound enough that the camp could use it after filming was completed.
- #011
The reveal that Gertie slept with an autistic man was written in a very mean-spirited way, and Alia Shawkat genuinely had a problem with it, so she decided to construct her own dialogue. The writers and director praised her instincts about the scene.
- #012
In the original script, after the kids enter the film they begin to undergo physical and psychological transformations. The girls' waists shrank, their breasts swelled, and Gertie fell so in love with her newly discovered beauty that she tried to sabotage her friends to make sure they could never leave.
- #013
The song the camp counselors play after the first murder is "Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore," the same song the counselors play in the pre-credits sequence of Friday the 13th (1980). They also wear similar yellow shirts.
- #014
"Camp Bloodbath" has a total running time of 92 minutes, the same length as The Final Girls (2015).
- #015
The car crash at the beginning of the film was entirely computer-generated, but the car crash and explosion at the camp were done practically.
- #016
The actors were encouraged to go off-script, and much of Thomas Middleditch's and Adam Devine's improvisation was kept in the final cut.
- #017
When Duncan tells the film characters that the outsiders are camp counselors, they board the van in exactly the order in which they die. Max and Chris look at each other and are seen in the van in the next shot, but are never shown getting in. This is an early sign of the film's plot disconnects (Max is focused on her mother, and Chris has never seen the film) and foreshadows their ultimate survival.
- #018
The original script was written with an R rating in mind, but it was decided to turn it into a PG-13 film. Todd Strauss-Schulson fought hard for his own approach to the film but was later happy with the final result.
- #019
In the first draft of the script, Max was suicidal after her mother's death, and her attempt to hang herself was interrupted by a phone call from Gertie.
- #020
Adam Devine (Kurt) and Chloe Bridges (Paula) first met after they were seated next to each other on a plane for the shoot. DeVine, who was unaware that Bridges was in the film, was confused when he struck up a long conversation with her. They fell in love on set and married in 2021.
- #021
The original edit of the slow-motion sequence ran over 3 minutes. Director Todd Strauss-Schulson wanted to keep it as it was, but faced resistance from nearly everyone and had to shorten it.
- #022
Billy Murphy's origin story (a prank by kids at summer camp turning into an urban legend), his pose on the "Camp Bloodbath 2: Cruel Summer" poster and his being set on fire are references to The Burning (1981) and the character Cropsy.
- #023
Both Alia Shawkat and Malin Akerman had broken their left hands before the production. Although Akerman's injury is not very noticeable, there are numerous scenes in which Shawkat has difficulty moving her fingers.
- #024
Todd Strauss-Schulson planned to shoot a scene in which star Alexander Ludwig was shirtless, but was worried that Ludwig's physique was too sculpted for the character he played. Ludwig agreed to stop exercising and to watch his carbohydrate intake, which came to nothing since the scene was never filmed.
- #025
Chris's confession that he is scared was a last-minute addition intended to strengthen his character.
- #026
When the crew first entered the cabin where they were to shoot, they discovered that a tarpaulin stretched over the window cast an ethereal blue glow across the room. They decided to use it to color an intimate scene between Max and Nancy.
- #027
Nancy and Tina, two of the lead girls in "Camp Bloodbath", take their names from Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) and Christina "Tina" Gray (Amanda Wyss) in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
- #028
The scenes in the montage sequence were not clearly scripted; the actors and crew members simply shot them whenever they had an idea or a free moment.
- #029
Todd Strauss-Schulson used Adderall for several days while working on the script, and that is how drugs entered the story.
- #030
All the shots of the sky were digitally replaced.
- #031
In the original version of the script, Billy Murphy was named "Hatchet Face".
- #032
In the DVD and Blu-ray commentary, it was stated that Chloë Sevigny initially wanted the role of Paula but had to leave due to scheduling conflicts.
- #033
The writers modeled Tina on P. J. Soles's character Lynda van der Klok in Halloween (1978) and Jodi Draigie's character Morgan in The House on Sorority Row (1982).
- #034
In an earlier draft of the script, the kids were aware that they were stuck inside a montage while the montage continued.
- #035
The long scene in which the kids first encounter Billy Murphy in the woods was shot over the course of one day. Tension ran high across 55 setups, and the crew kept working after sunset, strategically shooting so that it would still look like daylight.
- #036
Alexander Ludwig (Chris Briggs) also appeared in an unrelated film, Final Girl (2015).
- #037
Using "Bette Davis Eyes" as Amanda's/Nancy's theme was Todd Strauss-Schulson's idea. Initially the screenwriters hated the idea of using the song, but in the end they warmed to it.
- #038
This was Taissa Farmiga's first PG-13 rated film (all of her previous films had been rated R), and also her first horror and comedy film.
- #039
The flyer for the double feature of "Camp Bloodbath" lists the address of an empty store in Los Angeles, California. The Varsity Theatre is actually in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
- #040
All of the scenes in the movie theater were shot in one day.
- #041
The music playing over the end credits was composed as the music for the slow-motion sequence, but the producers hated it.
- #042
According to her résumé, Amanda Cartwright (Malin Akerman) played Carol King in "Slay Bells," Jessica Albert in "Chopping Mall," Barbara Macy in "Stepmom 2: Revenge of Diane," Monica Stin in "Co-Ed Massacre," Amanda Hart in "Hart to Hart," Jenny Kravitz in five episodes of "Sconyers," Rose Bush in one episode of "The Westphals," Layla in three episodes of "Carriere Diaries," and various characters in "Smoking in the River," "Fire!," "Meatballs in Paradise" and "Summer in Paradise." Later, while discussing how a voter went, she mentions that she played a bipolar mistress in episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000).
- #043
Paula and Max, the final girls in their respective versions of the film, wear white tank tops in their fight scenes against Billy and say the same catchphrase before finishing him off.
- #044
Paul Feig read the script and expressed interest in directing the film.
- #045
Vicki Summers (Nina Dobrev) whittles a piece of wood into a stake to harm Billy Murphy, just as she did in her role as Elena Gilbert on The Vampire Diaries (2009).
- #046
According to the end title sequence of "Camp Bloodbath," Paula was played by Claudia Schreer, Kurt by John Twobin, Tina by Caren Antomoff, Blake by Sam Basilone, Mimi by Sara Sivitz and Billy Murphy by James Fogel.
- #047
There is an age difference of about 16 years between Taissa Farmiga (Max) and Malin Åkerman (Max's mother).
- #048
Angela Trimbur also appeared in Halloween II (2009), a slasher film similar to "Camp Bloodbath."
- #049
This is the second time Todd Strauss-Schulson and Thomas Middleditch worked together. Schulson directed a short film in which Middleditch also appeared, and the two soon became friends. Schulson gave Middleditch the script for The Final Girls and told him to choose any role, strongly suspecting he might want to play Duncan.
- #050
The upside-down canoe at the fictional Camp Blue Finch is painted with green, red, yellow and black stripes on a white background, the traditional colors of the historic Canadian store Hudson's Bay Company (now known as Hudson's Bay). The iconic "Bay Blankets" shared the same color scheme.
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