The film’s most meta moment: The final girl, Nina, takes over the editing bay. She replays footage of her friends being murdered, then uses the raw tape to lure the cannibal Ma into a trap, crushing her head in a hydraulic press. The mangled remains are later fed to the remaining mutants by the military. It’s a pointed critique of reality TV’s exploitation of tragedy.
Outside, the wind screamed louder.
From its gritty 2003 origins to the ambitious 2021 reboot, here is a scene-by-scene breakdown of the franchise’s most indelible moments.