GRADY HENDRIX

The horror author taking on the survivors of iconic slasher movies

- Rosie Fletcher

HOW DO YOU LIVE THE REST OF YOUR LIFE after the biggest thing that’s ever gonna happen to you happened when you were 17?” This was the jumping-off point for Grady Hendrix’s new novel The Final Girl Support Group, a love letter to the young survivors of classic slasher movies and the actresses who embodied them. It’s a real-world take, which imagines that genre classics in the mold of Friday The 13th, Halloween, and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre were based on real people and that those survivors are still attempting to come to terms with their ordeal 16 years on.

“These franchises, in particular, have transcended their franchise-ness and really become part of the popular unconscious,” Hendrix explains. “We all know the summer camp killer. We all know the prom night killer. We all know the dream killer, the redneck cannibal family, the brother who’s always trying to kill his sister. Each of these franchises has spiraled off so many copycat franchises, so each one has become almost a little mini-genre.”

Hendrix knows his horror. His first novel, Horrorstör, saw a worker get trapped in a nightmarish version of Ikea; My Best Friend’s Exorcism is a heartfelt take on the possession subgenre; We Sold Our Souls tackled Satanism, and last year’s