This year marks the 3rd annual Women in Horror Recognition Month. Every February, horror fans around the world celebrate the feminine side of fear. All month long I will be highlighting various actresses, writers, icons, films, etc. that owe a debt to a woman in horror.
Final Girl – A trope in thriller and horror films (particularly slasher films) that specifically refers to the last woman or girl alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story.
13. Karen – The Grudge (2004)
In this American remake of Takashi Shimizu’s own Ju-On, Sarah Michelle Gellar plays Karen, an in-home healthcare worker who is sent to cover for one of her coworkers who has mysteriously gone MIA. Unbeknownst to her, the house she has entered used to belong to the Saeki family; the father murdered his wife and son over a (supposed) affair and now the wife and son haunt the house, constantly reliving their last moments of anguish. The titular grudge, of course, follows Karen from the house and seeks to destroy her and her hottie boyfriend, but using her smarts seemingly saves herself, reaching final girl glory. I say “seemingly” because there are now four sequels.
12. Julie James – I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
11. Alice Hardy –Friday the 13th (1980)
Granted, she didn’t actually fight Jason, as the slasher didn’t actually manifest until Part 2, but Alice did manager to outlive her fornicating fellow camp counselors to fight the maniacal Mrs. Voorhees one-on-one, and took off her head.
10. Kirsty Cotton – Hellraiser (1987)
My love for Clive Barker is well known, as is my unashamed favoritism for this film, his directorial debut. A haunted house tale of a different sort, Hellraiser follows the Cotton family, Larry, his (second) wife Julia, and daughter Kirsty as they acclimate to their new home. Larry’s hedonistic brother, Frank, haunts the attic, where, after solving the mysterious Lament Configuration, summoned the Cenobites – “angels to some, demons to others” – who promptly breached the schism and tore him to bits. After some innocent bloodshed, Frank is able to regenerate himself, but only through consuming human flesh. Julia becomes his executioner and, having always lusted after Frank, schemes to get her husband out of the picture. Kirsty finds out, accidentally summons the Cenobites, and bargains for her soul. In the end, Kirsty gets the Cenobites to take Frank instead of her, making her the last woman standing.
9. Jess Bradford – Black Christmas (1974)
8. Ellen Ripley – Alien (1979)
7. Ginny Field – Friday the 13th Pt. 2 (1981)
6. Beth – Hostel: Part 2 (2007)
Hostel: Part 2 is quite possibly Eli Roth’s greatest film and the greatest sequel ever made because it is unbelievably superior to the original, taking the same concept to new heights. This film leaves its torture porn roots and turns to the giallo, a staple of Italian horror films that concern a group of girls being killed off systematically. Because of this, we immediately identify with the young women at the heart of this film, and root for them to overcome their torturers. We also see aspects of the “I paid for someone to be kidnapped so I could torture and kill them” from the killer’s point of view, another interesting and enjoyable turn. Beth manages to outsmart her captor and become Eli Roth’s first final girl.
5. Sally Hardesty – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
4. Sidney Prescott – Scream (1996)
Wes Craven’s second archetypical final girl (see A Nightmare on Elm St, below), Sidney Prescott has become a franchise icon. Struggling with the upcoming one-year anniversary of her mother’s murder, Sidney is threatened and attacked by a mysterious caller, who later kills her friends and boyfriend. I won’t reveal who the killer is, but Sidney shoots him in the head.
3. Taylor Gentry – Behind the Mask: the Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)
Never before has a final girl been so sought-after or some from such an unlikely place as in Behind the Mask: the Rise of Leslie Vernon, which is easily one of the best films of the last ten years. The film is a mockumentary about Leslie Vernon, a man who is training to become the next big slasher in the vein (see what I did there?) of Jason, Michael Myers, and Freddy. After explaining all slash film conventions, Vernon lays out his plan to murder a group of partying kids on the legendary anniversary of his killing. The tables turn, however, when we realize that Vernon has been planning to incorporate the newscrew following him into his plan, and a fight to the death ensues, with Taylor coming out on top.
2. Nancy Thompson – A Nightmare on Elm St (1984)
She took on Freddy Krueger and won. And her boyfriend was Johnny Depp.
1. Laurie Strode – Halloween (1978)
The original final girl, Laurie Strode helped set up all the rules for how a final girl should act. Now, we could get technical and say she didn’t defeat Michael Myers, Dr. Loomis did, but that doesn’t matter, because Laurie helped shape Halloween's plot elements which have become standard slasher movie conventions.
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