If you couldn't tell by now, I'm a dude that's really into horror art. From brilliant murals to sleazy VHS cover boxes, I am a man that hordes all the awesome art he can find.
That said, you can imagine how excited I was when artist Matthew Therrien reached out to AITH to share his collection of "Final Girls & Cinema Survivors" works.
The collection reminds me of the amazing poster for FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD, with the main baddie's big old moon-face split down the middle with that flicks' heroine de jour Tina Shepard aka Lar Park Lincoln (see below) aka Carrie without the mommy-issues.
Anyway, after Therrien sent us the invite to peep his killer collection, I jumped on the opportunity to speak with the man himself about the genesis of the project, his inspirations, and more!
You can check out my short interview with Therrien below, along with, duh, the man's collection. Enjoy and make sure to let us know which piece you think is the coolest!
Matthew Therrien on "Final Girls & Cinema Survivors":
I came up with the concept for the "Final Girls & Cinema Survivors" series a few years ago, but it was only within the last 11 months or so that I had the chance to actually start painting them. There are currently 13 pieces in the series, but my original checklist of movies I wanted to cover was well over 30 films long. I have a feeling this series will be ongoing for a long time – in addition to my plans to tackle films like "Psycho", "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "You're Next", etc., I also want to paint the entire "Friday the 13th" series. Amy Steel (Ginny from Friday the 13th: Part 2) and Kimberly Beck (Trish Jarvis from Friday the 13th: Part 4) have both reached out and said they really enjoyed the artwork I did of them, which for me as a fan was just the ultimate compliment.
Therrien on his inspiration of the collection:
I've loved horror films my entire life, and I just thought this would be a fun way to revisit all of those iconic movies I grew up with and that wound up shaping my career as an illustrator. In the beginning, my idea was to only paint the Final Girl from the film, but then I realized that the hero and villain are really inseparable. The split-face design seemed the most natural way to present that, and then I added a third component, which was the weapon-of-choice by the villain. Though I'll occasionally mix it up a bit and paint either an iconic location (the KAB lighthouse in The Fog) or even just appropriate symbolism from the movie (the upside-down crucifix from The Conjuring 2).
Therrien on how the project evolved:
The Sidney Prescott/Ghostface piece was the first one I completed, and it was purely for fun. When I released it, I had no idea people would dig it as much as they did. Like I said, this whole thing has just been a passion project for me — it's something I work on in between client projects, and I'm just thrilled that other horror fans seem to be having fun with the series.
I hope that all my nostalgia and love of these movies comes through in each painting. That's the ultimate goal.
There are 8×10 inch prints available on Therrien's Etsy of each of the "Final Girls & Cinema Survivors" paintings, which you can purchase HERE.
And you can follow more of Matthew Therrien's work (including sketches and progress shots of the "Final Girls" paintings) RIGHT HERE.
