The sole survivor of her track team's run-in with an deer-masked occultist killer known as "The Hunter" five years before, Camryn (Akasha Villalobos) has hidden herself away from the rest of the world working in the backroom of a dry cleaners and living out of unpacked boxes in her bare-walled apartment. While her boss and co-workers know well enough to leave her alone, Camryn rebuffs attempts at friendship from new guy Nick (Brian Villalobos) until "The Hunter" reappears and makes an attempt on her life one night after work. Nick takes Camryn back to his place and the safety in numbers of his gaggle roommates - quirky artist Tyler (JD Carrera), new agey Hannah (Laura Ray), stoner Griffin (Ryan Hamilton), snobby Maelyn (Kelsey Pribilski), and amiable Danielle (Danielle Evon Ploeger) - but she is reluctant to open up to them even as she feels more at ease with them than other strangers. When "The Hunter" makes more appearances witnessed by no one other than her, Camryn comes to believe that "The Hunter" is not after her but after her new friends. After a public freakout, Camryn is unable to convince them that they are in danger, but Danielle - who has been dealing with her own guilt over a past tragedy - accompanies her on a trip to visit the killer's grave and attain closure. Camryn's means of confirming that "The Hunter" really is dead seem quite definitive, but the group's subsequent attendance of a private art showing in a labyrinthine converted warehouse seems like the ideal place for a slasher film killer to strike.

What usually happens to the horror heroine after the credits on a slasher film roll is that they either get killed early on in the sequel or they return battle-hardened in the Ripley-mold... or perhaps the Laurie Strode-mold. LAST GIRL STANDING finds its "final girl" suffering not only from PTSD but also survivor's guilt. Villalobos manages to keep her character sympathetic even when misdirecting her anger onto others seemingly sincere in their concern (unlike the heroine of Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN II), including her offscreen husband who balances quirkiness with a hint of shiftiness and Ploeger whose character arc through the film nicely dovetails with that of Camryn. What is most surprising is that the film does not attempt to be one of the slasher "throwbacks" yet its characters are all relatively likable even at their most obnoxious. The photography is pleasingly slick and the effects accomplished for such the budget and shooting schedule. The ending is a bit of an obvious groaner yet it is more dramatically satisfying for what is more of a character study than a standard slasher than the expected outlandish twist that should have died with the first SCREAM; but the modest script and production are more interested in exploring its concept than rewriting the subgenre, and the results are quite admirable.