THE FINAL GIRLS (***1/2)

(2015) A lower-budget comedy/horror flick with a great premise: Max (the always-terrific Taissa Farmiga) is a young lady still grieving the car accident death of her mother, a B-movie actress whose greatest claim to fame was the hit '80s slasher film called Camp Bloodbath (an obvious riff on Friday the 13th).  Talked into attending a special anniversary screening of the horror film to commemorate her mom, Max isn't prepared for a bizarre set of circumstances that actually drop her and her small group of friends into the movie on the screen - where she not only comes face to face again with her own mother as a young woman (though in the film's character), but must also band together with her friends and the film's characters to survive.  Though the action seems a bit drawn out toward the end, the film itself is wonderfully done; a lot of fun once Max and company are dropped into the world of a 1980's slasher flick, and who will become the "Final Girl" - the last survivor of the movie who must take one last stand against the crazed, supernatural killer.  Funny, original, and with a surprising amount of heart.  (rated PG-13)

THE FINAL GIRLS trailer