The final girl in a horror movie is basically just that, the final girl. They’re not the last girl left in the world, but they are the last girl that is left to either escape or flee from the killer(s) and are those that by some dint of good luck are able to outwit, overpower, or outsmart the antagonist in the movie and get away with their lives, and possibly plenty of mental trauma to be experienced later on. When it comes to being the final girl in a horror movie a lot of people might agree that it’s not exactly a role that many people would want to play in real life since it’s likely that the mental trauma that would come with it would haunt a person for the rest of their lives if they didn’t seek therapy. But being the final girl is kind of empowering in a way, and it’s been going on for longer than people realize since more and more women in horror movies have been standing up and not going down while those around them have been taken out in a variety of ways. Being the final girl means that the killer was either toying with the last female or that they’ve just been smarter and that much tougher to deal with.
Here are a few of the more popular final girls in horror movies.
5. Kirsty Cotton – Hellraiser
Hellraiser is still a horror staple that a lot of people tend to enjoy, but it has been kind of placed on the shelf over the years from time to time. Kirsty feels like a name that’s been all but forgotten, but should likely be allowed to revive itself in some way. The last Hellraiser she was in, Hellseeker, was kind of a less than fitting way to end her legacy, but the first two movies were pretty intense since she became the final girl by dint of surviving the Cenobites, which is impressive all on its own since not too many people can make this claim in the movies considering the kinds of tortures that are usually in store for those that encounter them.
4. Nancy Thompson – Nightmare on Elm Street
You really have to hand it to Nancy, she managed to trick Krueger in a way that no one had managed at that point and was doing what she could to fight back against something that was way beyond her understanding. One thing that’s kind of confusing is that caffeine was readily available back in those days, so it would appear that the kids should have been able to find a way to stay awake. Today’s teens usually need a way just to fall asleep sometimes. Just imagine a Nancy of today telling Krueger to buzz off since she needed to study for finals and had no time for his crap.
3. Sidney Prescott – Scream
To be fair, Sidney had a bit of redemption to seek at one point since, after her phone conversation with one of the killers about how the main character in a movie usually runs up the stairs instead of out the front door, she did the exact same thing. It must be hard-wired into writers that are penning a horror script to ensure that the would-be victims do the dumbest things possible, while the killers toy with them before actually doing what they came to do. Has anyone ever thought about that? What if the killers just stop playing games and get right down to it? The movie might be shorter, but it would force the writers to improvise and possibly tell a different story for once.
2. Ellen Ripley – Alien
Granted, she wasn’t a teen when this happened and it’s a different kind of horror. But at the same time, Ripley did manage to survive when the others were being taken out by the xenomorph. Some people debate the wisdom of going back to get the cat, but she did still make it to the ship and was then able to shoot the alien out of the airlock before blasting it with the jets of the craft. Ripley’s is kind of a sad story since not only did she become the last survivor, but she was destined to be the final survivor when Alien 3 came around as well, and even that wasn’t enough to end her story thanks to Alien Resurrection.
1. Laurie Strode – Halloween
People tend to call her the original scream queen, the one that started it all since her time in Halloween has been described as legendary. At this point, some folks might wonder if Laurie Strode is going to finally get the ax, or knife, or whatever Michael might want to use. But at the same time, it’s not likely since she’s survived for so long that even thinking of taking her out might be seen as blasphemous to horror fans.
The final girl is usually someone that has a lot of fan support.
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