Revenge: A clever genre critique of the final girl and the horror genre

Revenge via Neon

Shudder’s newest release, Revenge, has become a sleeper cult hit in 2018, which has made audiences miss the intelligence of the film’s story.

In my previous article on the problems with the final girl trope in horror slashers, I talked in-depth about the plagues of caricatures and an outdated goal of keeping with the status quo hidden within the seemingly progressive element of the final girl.

The trope, which is a good idea on the surface, has led to problems with certain types of women, namely the outgoing party girls, being punished for not following horror movie logic and the reasonable loner who restrains herself and follows the rules is celebrated to the point of being put on a pedestal for all horror audiences to admire.

Despite the intention to have the survivor be a smart and resourceful woman, it has led to an attitude where women in horror must only be reserved and appropriate in order to survive the night. The party girls often suffer for their decision to have fun and be a bit vapid. This attitude has gotten so bad that we have often find ourselves cheering on the brutal demise of these characters, simply because they didn’t follow the rules and were too busy having sex or drinking.

It has become an official rule (made official in Scream) for people, specifically women, to never have sex or even have a sexually charged personality if they don’t want to be punished. Sex and fun for these girls often lead to a grisly and incredibly disrespectful and disturbing demise.

It is in the midst of all this where Coralie Fargeat’s action horror film, Revenge, comes in and shoots all of those horror slasher conventions with a high-powered rifle.

Revenge — Courtesy of M.E.S. Productions

Revenge, which first debuted at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, has been making notable waves in the film industry, all the way down to its initial trailer, which is flooded to the brim with heavily critical comments on the film’s supposed “anti-man” agenda.

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The belief stems from the film’s plot, which focuses on a beautiful socialite named Jen (played by Matilda Lutz), who goes away for a vacation with her older, married boyfriend and two of his hunting buddies happen to show up as well. But afterwards, her vacation turns into a nightmare as she is raped by one of his friends and almost killed by all three men, in an effort to not face the potential consequences for it. However, she pulls through and survives, now faced with a new goal: silence all three men and take vengeance for what happened to her.

It’s easy to look at Revenge‘s plot and think the film is “anti-male” propoganda, judging from the fact that the three men are portrayed to be absolute monsters and having seen it, the men are certainly that here. However, the intelligence of Revenge goes beyond simply turning men into the hunted here for Lutz to chase after. Coralie Fargeat’s action-packed revenge spree is both a stunningly progressive film and a hard-hitting critique at the genre’s own treatment of women.

TORONTO, ON – SEPTEMBER 10: Matilda Lutz and Coralie Fargeat attend the “Revenge” premiere during the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival at Ryerson Theatre on September 10, 2017 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images)

Revenge‘s feminist themes are plenty obvious as the film goes on. Fargeat leaves no room for subtlety and she doesn’t need to. Jen’s incredible strength in surviving a near-fatal fall from a cliff, treating her wound with a hot beer can, and teaching herself to be adept at using weapons is showcased with the utmost intensity, as Jen screams her way through the pain and comes through stronger than ever and ready to take her revenge.

Her resilience and bravery in slowly picking the group apart one by one, often in blood-soaked extravagance, serves as the main element for the audience to attach themselves to. Audiences (especially women) can walk into Revenge and find it possible to relate their own personal strengths to that of Jen, making it easy to form a connection with her in the process.