Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

41 reviews

ewarde's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is nuts. I am not a horror movie fan, but this book is a sort of behind the scenes peak at the slasher dramas and it is insane. This book explores the concept of "the final girl" and makes you understand the connection between them and the killer. Its just a mind bending thriller from start to finish that makes you question everything.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Gore, Blood, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, and Confinement

Minor: Animal cruelty and Mass/school shootings

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I really enjoyed this one and I know a lot of people don’t t like this so it’s an unpopular opinion. I just was so invested in the story and the characters and I didn’t see a lot of things happening. I thought the concept was interesting and the topics thought provoking and I liked some of the discussions in this. I really liked Lynnette as the main character and the strength and growth she went through. This also made me weirdly emotional at times, but it’s just the dark themes and the horrible world it’s hard not to. This was also pretty funny at times. I don’t know something about this just worked for me. I liked the sister aspect which I think really made me enjoy this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Cursing, Death of parent, Child death, Blood, Body horror, Pedophilia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Vomit, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Torture, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Animal death, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Lesbophobia, Police brutality, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, and Misogyny

erica_reads_things's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book was SUCH an amazing introduction into Grady Hendrix's books for me. Wow. I'm very impressed with how he wrote women and from their perspective - super well done. Loved the homage he paid to classic horror films and stories. Things like how the chapters were named??? Genius touches that showed that he truly holds this genre dear. So so good!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Blood, Gun violence, Car accident, Violence, Death, Gore, Murder, and Misogyny

Moderate: Medical content, Stalking, Mental illness, Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, and Kidnapping

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Adult/minor relationship, and Toxic relationship

magikorbert's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

i really really wish they had given fu(bar)gate a different username in that lil reddit screenshot. it made me immediately suspicious of steph and it feels like it’s giving something away way too early

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Body horror, Gore, Death, Animal cruelty, and Adult/minor relationship

punkrockingnerd's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I really like it! It's def a work made by someone who loves the original horror classics but is willing to put a twist on them to make the stories more impactful. I wish the characters were more like a family, though. When bad stuff starts happening, I really wanted them to be more supportive of each other, but they dove right into fighting, and it wears on you after awhile. So... not found family, but it's a fun time!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Violence, Cancer, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Mental illness, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcohol, Car accident, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Ableism, Animal death, Torture, Cannibalism, Self harm, Confinement, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Emotional abuse

cjblates's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Stalking, Addiction, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Blood, Drug use, and Murder

travelseatsreads's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

3.5/5

A great fun read which plays of many horror/slasher tropes but I felt the end got a little too Rambo-ish for my liking which distracted from my enjoyment of some great twists.

I really enjoyed Grady's writing style though so will be going back for more.

Full review to come.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Toxic friendship, Grief, and Stalking

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Animal death

a_wren_that_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Body horror, Cancer, Death, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Violence, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Blood, Torture, Confinement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Rape

Moderate: Drug abuse, Addiction, and Drug use

Minor: Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, and Cannibalism

ricksilva's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I think I'm the perfect audience for this one. I've got enough familiarity with the 1980s "slasher" horror films that I appreciate the reference, but I'm not enough of a horror movie fan to get nitpicky.

So the concept is a support group for survivors of the "real events" that inspired those slasher films. The author uses renamed but pretty obvious stand-ins for Halloween, Friday the Thirteenth, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Scream, Silent Night Deadly Night (really kind of an amalgam of holiday-season horror tropes), and (I am guessing a bit here; this one got the the fewest details) Leprechaun.

The survivors, now middle-aged, meet regularly for group therapy with a therapist specializing in survivors of violence. Now, the violence has found them again. Holiday season massacre survivor Lynette had dedicated her life to isolation and self-protection, but her carefully-laid defenses fall apart and events go out of control rapidly.

This was a fun story with a lot of nostalgia and some solid deconstructing of the horror movie tropes that inspired it. The characters are all flawed and scarred, but they were great fun to cheer on. The plot was loaded with twists, some predictable, but a decent amount unexpected.

The story is extremely violent, especially in the flashbacks to the horror movie scenarios, which are made more disturbing because we get to see the realist aftermaths of movies that normally cut to credits the moment the action is over. The grief, trauma, and long-term injuries give further impact to the violence of the various murder sprees.

The worldbuilding based on the premise that all of the slasher films were actual movies but were adaptations of the stories of real crimes was intriguing, and there was enough left unanswered (especially about this world's version of Nightmare on Elm Street) to warrant a sequel. Which is something every good (and almost every bad) slasher film should have.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Violence, Blood, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Child death

Moderate: Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, and Police brutality

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

hellavaral's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Gore, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Suicidal thoughts