Not Your Final Girl

Ever wonder what it is about Christmas horror and unwanted pregnancy? Don’t worry, we’ve got this and several other dubious holiday needs covered. This episode, Candace and Ariel are talking about infamous and oddly goofy New French Extreme home invasion nightmare Inside (2007), as well as a different sort of home invasion (bad roommates) in indie horror comedy The Leech (2022).  This will be our...

Content note: Both films in our double feature this episode contain themes of suicide, and we will discuss it during the episode. One film also contains child death. Hello ghouls, we are back at it again with a nasty bummer of a double feature (positive) from what’s so far shaping up to be a nasty bummer era — the 2020’s. It’s just Candace and Ariel this time, talking about Bryan Bertino’s bleak a...

Content note: Multiple of our films today include sexual violence and this episode contains discussion of that.  We’re back! Just in time for The Season, Candace and Ariel are joined by regular guest, technical and emotional support, and Rob Zombie fanboy Pat Spurlock to talk about horror’s favorite wife guy — specifically House of 1000 Corpses (2003), The Devil’s Rejects (2005), and perhaps his m...

We're coming back with another new release, INDIE EDITION! No need to go to a theater to check this one out, ghouls- you can rent it on VOD or amazon now! Candace and Ariel give a spoiler-free mini review of filmmaker Andrew Jara's new film, THE EMPTY SPACE (2023). Cosmic horror meets humor and slice of life all while thoughtfully tackling the heavy theme of grief? Sign us the fuck up! Be...

It’s Pride Month, and much like the United States, we’re going back in time and getting scared of gay people. Come hang out while we talk about the little-known bleak cult horror of The Seventh Victim (1943), along with Hitchcock’s classic tale of murder, intrigue, and out-of-control carousels, Strangers On a Train (1951). We mention it within the episode, but as an additional warning, The Seventh...

This one goes all the way to the top… or does it? Candace and Ariel are joined by filmmaker and fellow podcaster Andrew Jara to talk about (suspiciously?) underwatched mind bending conspiracy moves – creepypasta/urban legend-inspired thriller The Empty Man (2020), and the atmospheric and noir-ish Broadcast Signal Intrusion (2021) Our connection was a little spotty during this recording, so please...

Candace and Ariel decided to divide and conquer at the theater to bring you a Very Special Mother's Day Episode: Ariel watched the latest in an iconic horror franchise EVIL DEAD RISE and Candace checked out the much-anticipated new Ari Aster flick BEAU IS AFRAID. In an unhinged move we bring you an entirely different format in which we give spoiler-free reviews to each other of these two movie...

This double feature is all about deceptive appearances, mysterious disappearances, and the cruel and beautiful landscape that serves as their backdrop. It’s desert horror, ghouls, and we’re talking about subtly supernatural thriller, Zzyzx (2006), and mockumentary style found footage film, Horror in the High Desert (2021).  Content note: one of these films, Zzyzx, deals with sexual violence, and o...

Folks, our keywords today are Grimy and Obscure. If that sounds like your kind of thing, then come along as we’re joined by our pod pals Nathaniel Muir and Blake Heath from Adventures in Movies while we talk about an honest-to-god oddball double feature: Alabama’s Ghost (1973) and Candyland (2023).  A correction: Candyland is available to rent on several platforms now. This movie does deal with se...

Candace and Ariel are emerging from the deep dark woods to tell you their spoiler-free thoughts on the new horror comedy out in theaters, Cocaine Bear!  Odd are you're either the type of person to see a film with a title like "Cocaine Bear" or you're not, so it's likely our opinion won't sway you one way or the other. But hey, aren't you dying to know our smoking hot take anyway? Listen to ou...

They’re splashy, they’re unpredictable, and unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of them (no offense to rock-dwellers, we respect the lifestyle). In this episode Candace and Ariel are talking to comic and TV writer Pornsak Pichetshote about a potential cultural reset in horror oddballs Malignant (2021), and Barbarian (2022). Pornsak Pichetshote is a Thai-American writer of...

Can you believe ‘tis the dang season once again? Not Your Final Girl may be low on holiday spirit this year, but we did dig a brilliantly unique, smart, funny, and heartbreaking double feature out of the attic for this episode: Jalmari Helander’s darkly satirical Rare Exports: A Christmas Story (2010) , and one of our all-timers, Lewis Jackson’s equally whimsical and disturbing Christmas Evil (198...

Happy Halloween, girls and ghouls and freaks! Candace and Ariel have been churning the midnight butter, as the saying goes, and working to bring you our third annual Vintage Halloween. This year we’re showing love to pre 1970’s horror with artist, musician, and sound wizard Pat Spurlock (aka Phantom Stranger, the Boogeyman, our technical and emotional support, etc) about German expressionist class...

October is finally here, and boy do we have some spooky season programming for you. Live from Not Your Final Girl HQ (not really, but we’re suspending our disbelief here), Candace and Ariel are talking about two phenomenal Halloween specials – iconic and terrifying “live” broadcast Ghostwatch (1992) , and acerbic “live” news special WNUF Halloween Special (2013) – with their respective filmmakers,...

After chomping at the bit for this particular movie for far too long, your fave un-final girls got to watch an early screening of Smile and were absolutely blown out of the water. This one scared the shit out of us, and as hardcore horror fans we do not throw that phrase around lightly! Feature film debut of writer/director Parker Finn, Smile entertained, upset, and disturbed us. By the time the m...

Hey girls, did you know? That uhm… ghouls just wanna have fun. And okay, it’s not actually October yet, but Candace and Ariel are exploding from their graves early to come at you with a trick-or-treat core musical monster bash double feature: chaotic made-for-tv movie The Midnight Hour (1985) and iconic “longstanding social phenomenon” (thanks for this analysis, Ebert) The Rocky Horror Picture Sho...

Candace and Ariel got the chance to see Barbarian in theaters and you know what that means, ghouls: another spoiler-free minisode for you to snack on and whet your appetite for seeing some more big-screen horror.  We refuse to even a LITTLE BIT give away anything about this movie. No mysterious house, questionable choices, or AirBnb trip gone wrong can drag it out of us. Listen to our thought...

Parenting seems hard enough even when you don’t feed on the lives of mortals, right? Candace and Ariel are launching Spooky Season Lite here in mid-September with two stories of monster women, their monster daughters, and the supernatural bonds that often look just like sharing genes: blood-drenched and atmospheric Byzantium (2012) , and witchy indie-rocking coming-of-age story Hellbender (2021)....

Candace and Ariel sneak away for another break to briefly discuss recent black comedy/whodunit parody Bodies Bodies Bodies or, as we like to call it, B3. Do tongue-in-cheek twitterspeak and shitty rich teen shenanigans do it for you? Listen to our short, spoiler-free review and find out for yourself! Seen the movie already? Let us know what you think on socials and we'll see you next time we go to...

Your (Not Your Final) Girls are back at it again with another oddball double feature, and this one comes with earworms. We’re talking about the fun yet malignant musical folk horror of The Wicker Man (1973), along with the persistently hard to classify aspects of werewolf tale, coming of age story, and sleeper musical Good Manners (2017). The music in these movies is fantastic - take it from two s...

It's time to join Candace and Ariel for another smoke break in the back room as we give our spoiler-free thoughts on the much anticipated horror/sci-fi fine dining by filmmaker Jordan Peele: Nope! We get into the stunning film score, nods to other titans in the genre, sibling vibe check, and some of the many possible metaphors in this heady and fun summer blockbuster. This is one you can sit with...

Content note: Be advised that both films we discuss in this episode depict sexual assault. Two movies we love so much we can’t believe we haven’t talked about them yet, one about a goatherd living a socially ostracized life in 15th century Germany, the other about an alien who hunts men for meat in 21st century Scotland. Incongruous double feature, right? Wrong. Today we’re talking about Hagazussa...

Not Your Final Girl is returning to the vampire beat, this time with the expert perspective of our guest Annie Rose Malamet, film writer and host of the excellent podcast Girls, Guts, & Giallo. Get ready for a retrospective of lesbian bloodsuckers, revolving around transgressive Universal monster flick Dracula’s Daughter (1936), and Harry Kümel’s erotically charged Daughters of Darkness (1971)...

It's time to join Candace and Ariel for another smoke break in the back room as we give our spoiler-free thoughts on Joe Hill's short story brought chillingly to life by Scott Derrickson: The Black Phone! We loved this fun summer blockbuster dark nostalgia romp and think you might too. Catch it in a theater near you! Links: IG- instagram.com/nyfgpod Twitter- twitter.com/nyfgpod FB- facebook.com/ny...

We’re coming at you fresh out of the Chattanooga Film Fest 2022, ghouls. Corie and Sarah, hosts of Gag Me With a Chainsaw, help us wrap up another year of dark, weird, devastating and hilarious indie features and shorts. Yes, we spent entire days watching movies. Yes, our brains are whirring loudly and hot to the touch. And we’ve brought you the fruits of our filmgoing labor - some stuff to check...