The Final Girl’s Support Group review and analysis

The Final Girl Support Group is the third novel that I have read by Grady Hendrix and it may be the one that I was the most enthralled by. I greatly enjoyed this novel from a pure entertainment perspective. It has a highly unique story that Hendrix hooked me into from the first page and kept me riveted in throughout. Hendrix does an impressive job of keeping me invested page after page with a great mystery that has stellar pacing. I’m a sucker for horror films and I especially love slashers, so this felt like a love letter written directly to me. The references are blatant but somehow not on the nose. This is a very delicate beam to balance that Hendrix straddles masterfully.

Where Hendrix struggled is in the delivery of his messages. The undertones would have landed better had they been delivered more subtly and covertly, yet Hendrix drilled it down our throats. Messaging works better when it is not spoon-fed to the reader. Hendrix is highlighting and criticizing men’s apparent inherent propensity to violence and mistreatment against women. He uses his main character, Lynette, to overly reinforce this point. The point Is salient and in this country of Red Pilled men and incels, very relevant. However, Hendrix’s message would have resonated more if it didn’t feel as if he had an agenda instead of simply trying to highlight a point.

Despite its relevance, TFGSG relies on extreme negative characterizations of men to make its point. It becomes propaganda when an author fails to showcase any of the people of the demographic they are criticizing in a neutral light. Every male in TFGSG is either a murderer or a vile piece of shit. There isn’t a single male depicted as being complex or even possessing a single redeemable quality. Male readers are likely unaware of how widespread the mistreatment is that women receive from men, so Hendrix likely uses these characters to show how women see men on a macro-level. Hendrix depicts each of the male characters in a negative light to reinforce the point that all men have the potential for gender-based mistreatment. Hendrix is using these characters to show women’s general trepidations about men as a whole. This is fair to highlight but the portrayals leaned into the extreme and without a neutral character balancing them out, feel biased and rooted in stereotypes.

This is an important perspective for guys to view, but I don’t think it works if the author is distorting it. I don’t want to “Not All Men” anyone but every single male, even the little boy, is depicted in a highly unflattering light. This is bad characterization that borders on propaganda. Hendrix’s otherwise salient points will fall on deaf ears since it appears that he is overly biased and not giving men a fair shake.

TFGSG tells the story of 6 women who are survivors of a mass murderer. The novel plays on the horror trope of a “Final Girl”; a woman or teenage girl who is the final survivor of a villain in a movie. The women: main character, Lynnette; Heather, Dani, Marilyn, Julia, and Adrienne. There used to be a seventh, but Chrissy betrays them by selling murder memorabilia, violating the Final Girl code. Each of the women represents a real-life slasher film and their attacks mirror each movie. The films are: Silent Night, Deadly Night, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Scream, and Friday the 13th.

Five of the women join a clandestine support group led by a therapist to help navigate their collective trauma. The plot of the novel follows Lynette as she comes to believe that the group is under attack from an unknown assailant. She is an extraordinarily paranoid, if not hysterical woman so the other four final ladies have trepidation over believing her story. We see the novel from Lynnette’s trauma-induced point-of-view. Hendrix does a terrific job of depicting Lynette as an unreliable and emotionally unhinged protagonist whom both the reader and characters in the novel rightfully have pause on trusting.

We see that Lynette isn’t fabricating her attack but it’s clear from everyone’s response to her that she has accumulated years of unreliability. The reader eventually sees why and how she has earned this reputation as she jumps to several erroneous accusations. This is great writing. Lynette is a complex character who is a product of a life-changing traumatic experience, and she is written as such. There were several opportunities for Hendrix to fall into the trope of making Lynnette a Mary Sue, yet he wisely evaded them. Lynette overreacts, jumps to conclusions, is irrational and frequently makes inaccurate accusations. She’s a woman with flaws and makes mistakes. This makes her a frustrating character but one that is authentically very human. I imagine that this is exactly how many women with her level of trauma could respond, making the novel feel authentic.

This authenticity makes the novel less horror and more of a crime-mystery. The source material that the novel is based on is largely fantastical, so it’s highly ironic that outside of one deus ex machina the novel is largely grounded in reality. Hendrix is using the Final Girl trope to criticize men’s real-life propensity to engage in gender-based violence. He also questions why we seem to love seeing this in horror films too. This can only be accomplished if he drapes TFGSG in reality.

TFGSG is very fast-paced. As much as I enjoy the novel, this might be the rare book in which a film or tv adaptation could be significantly better. The novel feels like a screenplay in many ways and as if it were written to be a mini-series. The novel is highly visual as Hendrix does a stellar job of creating imagery. I feel as if I am physically immersed in what Lynette is seeing. I’m repeating myself but this will translate very well to its forthcoming television adaptation.

The biggest issue that I have with the film is the use of Stephanie. I highly dislike the direction that Hendrix decided to take the character in. Hendrix decided to portray Stephanie as a victim of Sky’s grooming and manipulation into her into becoming a killer. Instead of holding Stephanie accountable for the decisions she made, Hendrix decides to portray her in a sympathetic light and as another example of a woman/girl who has been victimized by a man. The novel becomes less of a critique and more misandrist at this point. I’m cognizant of the lesson Hendrix is trying to convey but it feels as if he is pushing an agenda that every man is intrinsically evil to women and Stephanie’s character reinforces this.

I didn’t like the twist that Stephanie was a part of the murderous plot. This felt like one twist too many. The novel would have worked much better if Stephanie was actually the mastermind and not simply a henchwoman. Making Stephanie a co-conspirator doesn’t allow her for personal agency because according to Hendrix, she isn’t fully responsible because she wasn’t fully in control, robbing her of any independence. Hendrix uses Sky and Stephanie’s relationships as an example of how men treat women as pawns for their scheme. This absolves Stepanie of any accountability and again feels more like anti-male propaganda. At this point, Hendrix sacrifices story for messaging. He has a point that he is trying to make and he uses the plot as a sacrificial lamb to iterate it.

Having Stephanie being the one to use Sky would have turned the novel on its head. This would have cut the legs out from under Hendrix’s message but it would have made for the strongest twist and better storytelling. Women remain victims in TFGSG. Even Lynette with all of her years of preparation, finds it all fall apart at the first sign of pressure and she again becomes prey. Allowing Stephanie to become the mastermind would have made her a villain but allowed a woman to elevate from victimhood. Either route – being Sky’s co-pilot or a true Final Girl would keep Stephanie a victim. I’m not sure if this is the point Hendrix wants to leave us with but it’s what we receive from him.

The climax left me scratching my head. Hendrix rooted the book in reality but turned to the fantastical to kill his villain. Heather’s monster is The Dream Killer, a reference to Freddy Krueger, a supernatural entity. Heather gives hints throughout of an otherworldly element at play. This eventually comes to the forefront when she serendipitously appears to save Lynette from Sky during their final confrontation. This supernatural element would have worked much better if it remained as an unexplained reference rather than an active plot point. Hendrix seemed like he didn’t know how to save Lynette, so he opted for a magical way out. This fails because the book is grounded in reality up to this point and every moment afterward, so it feels completely out of place as an illogical plot device.

Hendrix chose an interesting if not fitting end. Sky’s fate is never definitively confirmed but we can infer that he succumbed to his injuries. We only learn Stephanie’s sentencing, implying that Sky was dead and couldn’t stand trial to be convicted. This takes the spotlight off of a man and centers the women, keeping with the theme. Even though I disliked the route he took, I enjoyed that he went with an unfamiliar ending. Lynette finds her calling and becomes the new Adrienne. She becomes a refuge for traumatized women as she welcomes Stephanie into the Final Girl Support Group. In many ways, the novel ends optimistically, as Stephanie is given a chance at retribution and Lynette seems to discover her purpose. Hendrix contradicts himself as the point of the novel is to criticize men’s violence and mistreatment against women. Stephanie engages in the same behavior that he is scrutinizing yet he absolves her by giving her a path to contrition that he doesn’t extend to any of the male characters.

The Final Girl Support Group is an entertaining film with a necessary message that Hendrix drops the ball on with his delivery. How you say things is nearly as important as what is said, and Hendrix has a condescending tone. He paints the men that he is critiquing with a universally unflattering brush. Hendrix is biased and negatively distorts the depiction of every male character in a way that is irreflective of men in real life. Men’s misbehavior towards women needs to be highlighted, but to suggest that all men are intrinsically awful without a redeeming quality is inaccurate. This makes me believe that Hendrix has an agenda.

The propaganda doesn’t take away from a highly entertaining story. Hendrix continues to push himself creatively, building upon an eclectic bibliography. Hendrix has a deep passion and appreciation for horror films, so it was fun to watch a fellow lover of the genre nerd out. Hendrix could have gotten cartoonish with the horror references, but he showed admiration while still telling a serious story. I’m not sure, however, how much a non-hardcore fan would appreciate the horror references. The FGSG is a love letter to the genre that will resonate with horror lovers. It’s a titillating story, so it could be a fun read even if you’ve never seen a horror film. While still enjoyable, it likely won’t land as well, feeling like you’re eavesdropping on an inside joke unintended for you. Despite this, The Final Girl Support Group is no worse than an entertaining novel but at its best is an enthralling story that plays on the history of slasher films giving us a fun homage to the genre.

---8.1/10