As fans and friends begin dying in gruesome ways that mimic the scary movie franchise she was a part of decades ago, actress Barbara \u201cBarb\u201d Jacobs is suddenly forced back into a role she knows well, one of the horror genre\u2019s most famous tropes: The Final Girl.<\/p>\n
Author Tanya Pell\u2019s \u201cThis B Just Won\u2019t Die!\u201d is a heart-pounding page-turner with masterfully written scenes, a sprinkling of humor and, like the \u201cScream\u201d franchise, nods to several horror films and novels.<\/p>\n
31 horror novels and scary books for Halloween coming out this October<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Writing the character, a now 40-year-old actress trying to break free from being typecast as a Scream Queen and working the horror convention circuit for income, Pell went deep to research this feminist thriller, which is in stores on Oct. 13.<\/p>\n The author tagged along\u00a0\u00a0to a horror convention with her pal, actress Amanda Wyss, who has been in films such as \u201cFast Times at Ridgemont High\u201d and \u201cBetter Off Dead.\u201d Wyss also played Tina Gray, the very first victim of Freddy Krueger in 1984\u2019s \u201cA Nightmare on Elm Street.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAmanda was lovely enough to let me sit with her for two hours,\u201d Pell said during a recent phone interview from her South Carolina home.<\/p>\n While no stranger to the horror genre and a frequent guest at literary horror cons herself, Pell found the traditional horror cons \u2013 like the annual Midsummer Scream<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 to be a bit of a sensory overload.<\/p>\n Pell said she was in awe of how poised Wyss was with fans. She was gracious as she signed photos of her younger self from her \u201cNightmare\u201d days for the attendees who\u2019d stood in line just to have this moment. Pell took note of all the sights, sounds and smells of the event.<\/p>\n Decades after her starring role in the \u201cMirror\u201d franchise, where she was ruthlessly hunted down by a killer known as Mirror Man, the character finds herself at a convention, signing pictures of her 20-something-year-old self,\u00a0self-consciously picking up on well-meaning fans saying things like, \u201cYou used to be so hot.\u201d<\/p>\n Like her character, Pell struggles with body dysmorphic disorder. Mirror Man is a reflection of that as well since the mask is made of mirrors, which forces victims to see themselves.<\/p>\n 22 new books coming in October 2026 to add to your reading list<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Pell recently wrote an article that referenced these things, tying it into Demi Moore\u2019s award-winning horror movie, \u201cThe Substance,\u201d and a scene where Moore\u2019s character is painstakingly picking herself apart and criticizing every perceived imperfection.<\/p>\n \u201cFor people with body dysmorphic disorder, or even for people who don\u2019t necessarily have the disorder, we\u2019ve all been at a point where we were looking in the mirror and couldn\u2019t see the things we\u2019d done right; all we can see are flaws,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo many people resonated with that moment, and especially aging women who look at pictures of themselves when they were 20, 30, 40 and they didn\u2019t appreciate themselves then. They don\u2019t appreciate themselves now, and all they want to do is go back. For me, that was the most horrific moment of that film.\u201d<\/p>\n For the character, aging and the onset of perimenopause become the very least of her worries as people begin dying around here in real life and she and her co-stars are living in a real-life horror film, and she has to prove she can be an actual Final Girl.<\/p>\n Pell said her ultimate Final Girl is Laurie Strode, played by actress Jamie Lee Curtis in the Halloween franchise.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was the first Scream Queen I remember turning around and walking back in,\u201d she said, noting that in \u201cHalloween H20\u201d Curtis\u2019 character actually goes back and locks herself in with Michael Myers instead of trying to simply survive him.<\/p>\n Pell says Curtis was also an inspiration because of her award-winning role in 2024\u2019s \u201cThe Last Showgirl.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJamie Lee Curtis stole parts of that movie just by being exactly who she is,\u201d Pell said. \u201cI remember watching an interview with her, and she was like, \u2018I\u2019m walking in that locker room with no Spanx, nothing, I am just myself, and I\u2019m showing this is how I am.\u2019 There\u2019s that Hollywood stereotype that once you hit 40, that\u2019s it. Meryl Streep did that Graham Norton interview where she said she was offered three witch roles in a year after she turned 40, and she was like, \u2018Hmm\u2026I think Hollywood is trying to send me a message.\u2019 Women like her and Jamie Lee Curtis, they went out and said, \u2018No, I am owning this and went out and ran with it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n