to play a mom who starred in slasher films.
The heyday of slasher films were 1979-1982 or so. In the beginning, Akerman tosses it off as a movie that she made twenty years ago which would have made it around 1992 (as the action then goes forward three years.) Then we're told the movie is set in 1986 but from the music and the hairstyles, "Camp Bloodbath" looks like it should have been set in 1981.
There was a thread on this already. It's stated in the movie that 'Camp BloodBath' released in 1986. If you believe she was 17 or 18 in 1986 then she died anywhere from the age of 40-42. It's a little hard to believe, but Malin, in real life, is already 37.
shareDP
shareAbout Malins age.
The movie being set in 1986, doesn't necessarily mean it was shot then. You know how Mad Men is filmed now, but is actually set a long time ago. Someone said it was released that year, I'm not saying that isn't true, just that I don't remember hearing anything about when it was released, only when it was supposed to be set. (But there could totally be a line about it being released 86, but if so I don't remember it.) Just saying that maybe it was filmed later?
They had to get someone young enough to play a camp counselor but old enough to pull off camp counselor's mom. Åkerman did just fine in both roles, I thought.
shareYes, there is a line in the movie that states Camp Bloodbath was released in 1986. The Final Girls was first conceived around 2007, but it took so long before a studio would take a chance on it that it skewered the timeline. If you wanna get annoyingly technical there were other anachronisms too -- such as the inclusion of the 1990 Warrant song Cherry Pie and a reference to the Michael Jackson song Bad, which was released in 1987. This is a low-budget horror-comedy not a lavish big-budget period-piece, so putting too much thought into the era is kinda pointless (and this sort of fastidious dissection is precisely why episodes of The Goldbergs open with narration that states "It was 1980-something..."). Personally, I thought Akerman was awesome and completely believable in both roles regardless of the murky timeline.
shareThe heyday of slashers carried on through the entire 80's. In 1982 they were barely just hitting their stride. Granted most of the best of them came out in the earlier half of the decade. How old were you in 1986? If anything the music would make it later than 1986 since Cherry Pie wasn't released until 1990. Some of the dialogue doesn't fit either.
Ackerman is almost 40 now. Who else would they have gotten to play the mom that could convincingly look young enough in the Camp Bloodbath world where the majority of the movie takes place? A lot of movies might have used an even younger actress for the mom and then just used makeup effects to age her for the one scene of her in the present.
Loved it, but this bugged me too tbh. I am a year younger than Ackerman. I was in 2nd grade in 1986. If I had a college-aged daughter (let's say 19/20), I would have been pregnant in high school, not making slasher movies as a young woman.
Why not set this movie in 1999 or something? That would make more sense. Other than one gag about a smart phone, the part set in the present day didn't factor in too heavily.
Also, Cherry Pie came out in the 90's lol. Albums were way out of fashion then - it was mostly cassettes! Sure, there were album collectors and certain bands put out special editions, but seeing a seventies-style LP for Cherry Pie amused me.
Anywho, cute movie. I gave it a 7/10.
They're coming to get you, Barbara!
Record albums weren't "way out of fashion" in 1990 when Cherry Pie was released. In fact, it was pressed on vinyl in at least ten different countries. Most metal and hair band fans preferred vinyl to cassettes or CD's.
Cassettes were played in cars and beat boxes, but most people still had turntables and listened to both CD's and vinyl at home. In fact, Nirvana's Nevermind, released in 1991, sold hundreds of thousands of copies on vinyl when it was first released.
A few years later, most major record companies began to phase out vinyl because it was largely outsold by CD's. By the late '90s, even cassettes had been phased out and CD's were the primary format for music.
I'm not saying record albums didn't exist, but they weren't the typical medium for music at the time. Yes, there were record stores, mostly for genre music like punk and ska, and special editions. Source: am in my mid-thirties, meaning I was in junior high in 1990.
The MAIN point, however, is that Cherry Pie wasn't released until 1990, and this movie was made in 1986, which is mentioned multiple times.
They're coming to get you, Barbara!