This Shudder Movie Destroys One of Horror’s Biggest Tropes in the Best Way Possible

Directed by Josiah Allen and Indianna Bell for Shudder, the entire film is an anxiety-ridden mystery, unnerving viewers as they constantly question what's happening. It's a complex thriller that culminates in the most predictable ending — before it shifts gears completely. It's a complete 180 that has audiences second-guess not only everything they knew about this movie but also the many norms they've grown accustomed to in this genre. The film becomes an honoring of the countless women who horror seems so ready to dispose of to uplift the "perfect" few, forcing audiences to ponder whether they would still have cared so much about our protagonist if they'd known she wasn't the final girl they were expecting. If You'll Never Find Me sounds like your type of thing, and you haven't seen it, then I recommend you bookmark this page and come back after watching the movie. Spoilers galore!

What Makes a Final Girl?

The discourse around gender in horror is a decades-long conversation, with You'll Never Find Me being one of the countless movies that try to shirk the archaic ways this genre has treated women. Luckily, this area has seen a lot of growth over the years; fans have been thrilled to see horror leave behind the belief that women can only be sexualized (but still "pure") damsels and instead create stories filled with flawed heroines fighting back in terrifying situations. This has led to many iconic final girls; characters who, while each resilient and inspiring, are shockingly similar to one another.

The final girl has long been used to allow horror to comment on social values. As far back as 1978's Halloween, the ultimate final girl Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) keeps her nose in a book and out of trouble while her friends who drink alcohol, smoke weed, and have sex all get bloody deaths. In early slashers, the final girl is a beacon of virginity and morality, while her friends got slaughtered because they were horny. Over the years, it became all too easy to spot who would be the movie's first (and usually most brutal)l victim: the blonde, hot friend who was open about her sexuality.

Throughout horror, so many of these secondary female characters are butchered and quickly cast aside, given no time to be mourned. The audience is expected to not care about the deaths of these women because they partook in recreational drugs or casual sex — not to mention the countless sex workers who horror movies have flippantly killed off. It's a reductive practice that has robbed cinema of some truly astounding characters over the years, so You'll Never Find Me decides to do something different: it makes one of them the main character.

'You'll Never Find Me' Robs Us of a Final Girl — And It Works

You'll Never Find Me follows a young woman (she's never given a name) portrayed by Jordan Cowan, searching for refuge in a raging storm. She finds it in the form of Patrick (Brendan Rock), an older gentleman alone in his trailer who offers a variety of reasons as to why she can't leave and must stay with him until the rain lets up. What follows is an anxiety-inducing hour and a half, with each character lying to the other and making the audience question who exactly is the predator in this scenario. It creates a harried experience for all involved as watchers wait for one of them to set off the bloody horror that fills movies in this medium. Viewers get their wish in the most predictable way, the film's climax seeing Patrick drug and suffocate the woman to death, raving all the while about how she is only the latest in his long line of victims. It is a haunting, deeply uncomfortable scene, audiences watching in horror as the girl they'd been rooting for is killed in such a cruel manner — only for her to rise up and reveal that this wasn't her first time facing off against Patrick.

'You'll Never Find Me' Makes You Remember the Ones You Forgot

The ending of You'll Never Find Me shows that not only has the young woman been dead the entire time, but that she was Patrick's first kill. She sets off a torrent of hauntings as every woman this man has ruthlessly slaughtered appears and confronts him with the countless bodies he's choked the life out of. It's a disturbing scene, but even more than its scary imagery, this moment acts as a twisted memorial for Patrick's many victims. The ones who weren't perfect — Patrick shares how he often picked women who had issues with drugs or were homeless — and who fit so perfectly into the boxes of the "other" girls in horror, those whose bodies pave the way for a final girls' glorious triumph. These are the woman who aren't deemed worthy of survival, punished for their lack of perfection with the plot moving on from them quickly to emphasize just how little substance they apparently offered. You'll Never Find Me still has the many dead women of horror but takes away the final girl that so many viewers were hoping for, instead offering a horrific, heartwrenching scene that finally gives justice to the many who perished so that one could (usually) survive.

You'll Never Find Me has many essential messages, but calling out horror movies for having a body count isn't one of them. Rather, the film highlights how so often in this genre, a woman's reason for death is trivial and centered around their lack of conformity, these interesting characters being flippantly tossed aside because they didn't fit into the very strict parameters of a survivor in this genre. You'll Never Find Me tricks you into caring about one of the girls you're meant to forget about, using Cowper's exceptional performance to draw audiences in only to gut them once they realize she's one of those they aren't supposed to invest in (emphasized by her lack of a name). This subverts the concept of a final girl entirely and puts a harsh spotlight on the terrifying deaths of women that other films would skirt over. It honors them and, with those shocking last few minutes, finally allows them the retribution that their movies robbed them of for too long.

You'll Never Find Me is Available to Stream on Shudder in the U.S.

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