''Tragedy Girls'' is a 2017 American
teen
Adolescence () is a transitional stage of human Developmental biology, physical and psychological Human development (biology), development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age o ...
buddy comedy horror
Comedy horror (also called horror comedy) is a literary, television and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as having three types: "black comedy, parody and spoof." Comedy horror can a ...
film directed by Tyler MacIntyre, written by Chris Lee Hill and MacIntyre, and starring
Alexandra Shipp
Alexandra Shipp (born July 16, 1991) is an American actress and singer who rose to prominence for portraying singer Aaliyah in the Lifetime television film '' Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B'' (2014) and Kimberly Woodruff in the film ''Straight Ou ...
,
Brianna Hildebrand
Brianna Hildebrand (born ) is an American actress. She is best known for appearing as Negasonic Teenage Warhead in the films '' Deadpool'' (2016), ''Deadpool 2'' (2018), and '' Deadpool & Wolverine'' (2024). She is also known for appearing in t ...
,
Josh Hutcherson
Joshua Ryan Hutcherson (born October 12, 1992) is an American actor. He began acting in the early 2000s and appeared in several commercials and minor film and television roles before gaining prominence in his teenage years with main roles in ' ...
,
Craig Robinson,
Kevin Durand
Kevin Serge Durand (born January 14, 1974) is a Canadian actor. He is known for his work in numerous film and television roles, including portraying Vasiliy Fet in ''The Strain'', Joshua in '' Dark Angel'', Martin Keamy in '' Lost'', Fred J. D ...
and
Jack Quaid
Jack Henry Quaid (born April 24, 1992) is an American actor. The son of actors Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid, he made his acting debut with a minor role in the dystopian film ''The Hunger Games (film), The Hunger Games'' (2012). Quaid was part of th ...
. It was released on October 20, 2017, by
Gunpowder & Sky
Gunpowder & Sky is a Los Angeles–based independent studio that produces feature films, series, short-form content, and podcasts. The company was founded in 2016 by Van Toffler and Floris Bauer. It runs DUST, a sci-fi streaming service featurin ...
.
Plot
Psychopathic high school seniors McKayla Hooper and Sadie Cunningham live in the
Midwestern
The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...
town of Rosedale and run a
true crime
True crime is a genre of non-fiction work in which an author examines a crime, including detailing the actions of people associated with and affected by the crime, and investigating the perpetrator's Motive (law), motives. True crime works often ...
blog
A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
called ''Tragedy Girls.'' They are obsessed with murder and fame, and are willing to do anything to get more followers. They use their friend Craig as bait to capture serial killer Lowell Orson Lehmann and ask him to aid them, but he refuses. The two decide to keep him captive, commit murders themselves and use Lehmann as a fall guy. The next day, Craig is missing, presumed to have run away. McKayla, Sadie, and their friend Jordan attempt to convince Rosedale that there is a serial killer running loose, but they only earn the ire of Jordan's father, Sheriff Welch. When McKayla's ex-boyfriend Toby amasses more followers on
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
than the girls, McKayla and Sadie kill him. His death is ruled an accident, enraging the two girls.
They next kill cheerleading captain Syl and cut her body into pieces in order to ensure that her death is ruled a
homicide
Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...
. At Syl's memorial service, a local firefighter, Big Al, vows to catch the killer. Meanwhile, Lehmann attempts to turn McKayla against Sadie by convincing her that Sadie will use her to do the dirty work and take all of the credit. The girls plot to kill Big Al while he works out at the gym. Big Al fights back, but the two narrowly manage to stab him and decapitate him with a bench press. Afterwards, Jordan arrives and reveals he has stolen the serial killer case files from his father.
Mayor Campbell calls an emergency town meeting, and McKayla and Sadie rile the townspeople into turning against local law enforcement by showing them to be incompetent, including sending the people of the town a picture of Big Al's severed head. They hold a march in defiance of the killer. However, Lehmann escapes and murders Mayor Campbell. Jordan has a falling out with McKayla and Sadie and leaves them, in support of his father. An enraged McKayla discovers Jordan has stolen a phone belonging to her that has videos of the murders, and goads Sadie into heading to Jordan's house to kill him. Jordan reveals that he broke into the school and stole McKayla's psychological profile; he suspects her of being the killer. They are interrupted when Lehmann breaks into the Welch residence and brutally stabs Jordan. McKayla awakens the sleeping Sheriff Welch by breaking his window; he drives Lehmann off and saves Jordan. Sadie takes the opportunity to destroy McKayla's stolen phone.
Two weeks later, Sadie is publicly honored by Welch; she does not acknowledge McKayla in her speech. The two have a falling out. Prom arrives; Sadie goes with Jordan as her date, while McKayla teams up with Lehmann. After killing their teacher, McKayla confronts Sadie. Unaware that Jordan is listening, she recounts how they murdered Jordan's mother as children. Jordan attempts to flee with Sadie to safety, but they are cornered by Lehmann and McKayla. Lehmann attempts to attack Sadie, but is stopped by McKayla. He turns on her, and McKayla pulls out a gun and shoots Lehmann dead. The girls reconcile, hang Jordan, and – after chain-locking the doors shut – start a fire in the gymnasium that traps and kills 124 prom-goers. In the aftermath, Lehmann is shown to have been blamed for the murders. A grieving Welch resigns as sheriff to focus on charity work, while McKayla and Sadie head off to college to start a new chapter in their lives, as though nothing had happened.
Cast
Release
''Tragedy Girls'' premiered at
South by Southwest
South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
on March 12, 2017.
On July 31, 2017, Gunpowder & Sky acquired distribution rights to the film. The studio released it on October 20, 2017.
Reception
The film has received positive reviews. On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film has an approval rating of 85% based on 72 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The website's critical consensus states, "''Tragedy Girls'' injects familiar teen tropes with just enough up-to-the-minute commentary — and pitch-black humor — to work as an irreverently entertaining diversion."
References
External links
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* {{Rotten Tomatoes
2017 films
2017 comedy horror films
2010s American films
2010s buddy comedy films
2010s English-language films
2010s female buddy films
2010s high school films
2010s serial killer films
2010s teen comedy films
2010s teen horror films
American buddy comedy films
American buddy horror films
American comedy horror films
American female buddy films
American high school films
American serial killer films
American teen comedy films
American teen horror films
English-language buddy comedy films
English-language comedy horror films
Films about social media
Films set in the United States
Films shot in Kentucky