Post Traumatic Horror Syndrome
It was five years ago when Camryn (Akasha Villalobos) and her friends were brutally attacked by an animal masked killer with only her having escaped. But she not only has she still got the physical scars of that horror to remind her but the memories never leave her making life a struggle, even just leaving her apartment is a huge struggle. But it isn't just fear which haunts Camryn as she tries to rebuild her life but also a sense of guilt as to why she survived which makes it hard for her to make new friends.
"Last Girl Standing" starts with what would typically be the end of a horror movie as we watch a blooded Camryn running in the dark woods from this masked psycho and seeing her friends either bound up about to be killed or already dead. Of course she makes it out, picked up on a remote road in a traumatic state having managed to do the masked killer in. Basically very typical but it then leads into something more interesting something less horror and more character study as we see five years on Camryn is haunted by the events making her cautious when it comes to making friends not only out of fear in case they turn out to be killers but also in fear they could end up being hurt. As such there is this very interesting side to the movie which draws you in especially as Camryn is prone to flipping out.
But whilst we are taken in to the life of Camryn as she struggles with the horrific memories as well as her difficulties in moving on and making new friends there is always this thought running through the back of your mind, where is this going? Now I won't say what happens but the thoughts which went through my mind were; psycho killer returns, the new guy in Camryn's life turns out to be the psycho killer or maybe everything leads to Camryn turning psycho herself. Thankfully it keeps you guessing as to which way it will inevitably go.
What this all boils down to is that "Last Girl Standing" is an interesting movie but one with is trying to do something very difficult which is whilst being a horror movie also trying to be a character study of a victim. It is difficult because the horror side ends up obvious as it is only a vehicle for the character study and those who watch expecting slasher based horror are possibly going to find the character study side tedious.
