Macabre…ish Horror Review: Tragedy Girls
Tragedy Girls, 2017/ 1 hr 38 min
There’s a serial killer loose in Rosedale and high school students, Makayla (Alexandra Shipp) and Sadie (Brianna Hildebrand), run a true crime blog called Tragedy Girls. They love true crime and serial killers, so much that they hunted and set a trap for their local killer, Lowell (Kevin Durand). During his kill, they attack and kidnap him.
Sadie and MK want him to teach them what he knows, he laughs in their faces and then he gets the taser. When it turns out his most recent victim, Craig (Austin Abrams), isn’t dead, even though the kid took a machete to the face. The girls comfort him, telling him help is on the way then smother him. They gleefully dismember the body while chatting about Breaking Bad.
Before they leave they dose their captive with chloroform. He is kept imprisoned, tied up and they keep tabs on him with a wireless camera and app.
The next day, at school, the sheriff tells them that it looks like Craig must have run away from home. While also not acknowledging the recent local murders.
Meanwhile, Sadie and Makayla, know all about killers and their MOs. And they have an idea of being horror legends and they need legend worthy kills. They plan to get this done by graduation and they need to get their follower count to 100,000.
So the plan is to start with ex-boyfriends, they lure Toby (Josh Hutcherson), Makayla’s ex out first. It goes mostly as planned, they record it and are super excited about it. But they are finding that people aren’t quite as easy to kill as they thought.
When Toby is found, his death is ruled an accident but Makayla and Sadie are disappointed. So they set up another student by sabotaging her work and cornering her in shop. And now they have costumes but the death is an accident. So, they cut up and stage her body so it will be definitely be considered murder.
The next day at school, a journalist wants an interview, so does the Sheriff (Timothy V. Murphy) and the principal. And Sadie and Makayla are thrilled! All of this just means more traffic to their blog and a higher profile for themselves.
And when, Big Al (Craig Robinson), steals their thunder at the memorial, he becomes their next target. While preparing, Lowell, starts trying to get into Makayla’s head and cause a rift between her and Sadie. He tries to get her to set him free. She laughs at him but he warns her that Sadie will turn on her.
That evening, while going toe to toe with Big Al at the gym, the girls get thrown all over the room. After quite a fight, they succeed in killing him, horrifically.
Later, Jordan (Jack Quaid), the Sheriff’s son who has a crush on Sadie, get’s them access to his dad’s work computer and the murder files.
The next evening, Big Al’s death was the push and hashtag Tragedy Girls’ needed, the town marches to the sheriff’s department led by the Mayor (Rosalind Chao). And at the same time, Lowell escapes and they have no idea until the Mayor is found hanging from a flag pole later that evening. Upon checking their camera app, they confirm, he’s gone.
Just as their profile increases and news outlets are calling for interviews, Makayla and Sadie are starting to feel the heat. After Jordan breaks with them, MK’s phone goes missing, she suggests they kill him.
It doesn’t go as expected and takes quite a turn and it changes everything. Lowell was right and now Tragedy Girls and their well laid plan is at risk.
This horror comedy was directed by Tyler MacIntyre and it was very well done. It reminded me of Heathers and Scream with it’s dark humor and it’s also a very gory slasher. It’s paced well and the moments of silliness make the teens that much more disturbing. There are some recognizable faces in this including Elise Neal. I really enjoyed this!