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In this article:
- This “final girl,” or the (almost always) girl who makes it to the end of the movie is a longstanding trope in horror that almost anyone who’s seen a scary movie would recognize.
- The trope has evolved over the decades but final girls all typically share some key traits. Namely, they usually embody a moral ideal that sets them apart from their imperfect friends.
- Even while fulfilling these often antiquated moral standards, the final girl has become a source of inspiration for viewers battling their own demons.
The “Final Girl” refers to the sole survivor of a sadistic killer in a horror movie and has been an evolving theme in the genre since the 1970s.
Traditionally, the Final Girl represented the one woman who, defying all odds, defeated her deranged attacker, overcame loss, and walked away with her own battle wounds, both physical and psychological.
From movies to TV, from classic to modern slashers, though the depictions of the Final Girl steadily evolve through time, one message remains constant through it all: women get shit done.
What Makes a Final Girl?
Author Carol J. Clover first introduced the terminology in Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film, an investigative approach to dissecting violence, sexual assault, and traditional horror themes through the lens of a woman.
In the earliest film depictions, the Final Girl embodied specific character traits, ultimately setting her apart from unruly, often female friends. These friends broke the cardinal rules of surviving a horror film: no partying, no sex, and no vulgarity.
Additionally, classic Final Girls were academically smart, polite, and responsible, making her an unlikely heroine at first glance due to her shy and introverted nature.
However, as the storyline evolves, viewers uncover her intellect and poise, which help her outsmart the villain, ignite a fire within her to face her fears and dramatically climb out of her proverbial shell.
The most noteworthy trait of a Final Girl is her unequivocal drive to stand up to her evil counterpart and any other hostile (primarily male) antagonists that get in her way.
The Evolution of the Final Girl
The phenomenon started in the 1970s, with the release of countless horror films featuring final girl prototypes that helped fan the flames of a widespread conversation about female empowerment.
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Jess Bradford in Black Christmas
With these female-lead horror flicks, there was proof that the ending survivor does not need a male counterpart to rescue her or guide her. In fact, she needs very little other than her own resourcefulness to save her from the villain.
Black Christmas was one of the first films to feature a principal Final Girl. Jess Bradford, a college student and sorority sister, is tormented by a series of prank calls received at the sorority house.
She took this headstrong mentality when facing off with her killer as well, outsmarting the caller known as “Billy,” and escaping from both a hostile crime scene and a hostile relationship.
At the same time, Bradford is dealing with an unwanted pregnancy. When she tells her boyfriend, an ominous pianist, that she has no intentions of keeping the child, he spirals into a dark rage as the calls to the house become more threatening and more violent.
Abortion was an even more taboo topic in the 1970s than it is today. But Jess Bradford knew what she wanted in her life and relationship. She took this headstrong mentality when facing off with her killer as well, outsmarting the caller known as “Billy,” and escaping from both a hostile crime scene and a hostile relationship.
Sally Hardesty in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
1974 saw the release of another genre-defining horror movie highlighting a strong, surviving Final Girl: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Sally Hardesty, her brother, and a few friends travel to Texas in search of Hardesty’s grandfather’s grave after hearing reports of recent grave robbings in the area. Along the way, the group stops for gas and encounters a nearby house on a farm.
Soon, Leatherface emerges and picks off Hardesty’s friends one by one. Hardesty faces off with a cannibalistic family and eventually flags down a truck during a dramatic ending sequence between her and Leatherface’s chainsaw.
As she jumps into the back of a stranger’s pickup truck, the distance between her and Leatherface grows, with Hardesty, covered in blood, laughing manically in perhaps one of the best horror movie endings of the 1970s.
Sidney Prescott in Scream
Possibly one of the best Final Girl concepts is that of Sidney Prescott, the main protagonist of the cult classic, Scream. At the start of the film, she displayed all the traits of a classic Final Girl: meek, virgin, and survivor of a traumatic event.
Despite knowing the “rules” of surviving a horror movie, Prescott willingly had sex with her boyfriend, punched a reporter, and faced off with a methodical killer.
All of this not only meant she was shedding the skin of the traditional Final Girl but also fueled her determination to defeat the villain.
This interpretation of the final girl helped modernize the trope — and put a bullet in Billy Loomis’ head.
Laurie Strode in Halloween and the Final Girl’s Life After Surviving a Slasher
Laurie Strode is one of the most iconic representations of the Final Girl, fitting all the key criteria of the trope.
In John Carpenter’s classic horror film, Halloween, Strode is a 17-year-old high school student filled with ambition and intelligence. Apart from one hit of a joint and professing her crush on Ben Tramer, Strode spends most of her time studying or babysitting while her friends drink, party, and have sex.
Guess who doesn’t make the cut?
Tragic backstories are prominent themes in the Final Girl’s life. Although the viewer doesn’t learn about Strode’s tragedy until the sequel, the resilient babysitter’s past is soon unveiled and we learn through a series of flashbacks that she was adopted.
More than that, she turns out to be the biological sister of Michael Myers, the sadistic killer who’s been pursuing her for two movies now. For reasons that are never fully explained, he is on a quest to murder his last remaining sibling, killing anyone who gets in his way.
Her PTSD reaffirms that even though our heroine prevailed, she did not heal, as the scars from her battle wounds are as raw as ever.
The most recent sequels to Halloween ignore all other films in the franchise except the first two, taking place 40 years after the events of Halloween II. Nevertheless, Strode’s backstory is as horrific as ever.
Having battled alcoholism, multiple divorces, and a strained relationship with her daughter and granddaughter, Strode is clearly struggling to regain a sense of normalcy after her encounter with Michael Myers.
Her PTSD reaffirms that even though our heroine prevailed, she did not heal, as the scars from her battle wounds are as raw as ever.
The latest Texas Chainsaw reboot released earlier this year similarly explored the aftermath of surviving horror in that franchise’s Final Girl, Sally Hardesty. Now a gun-wielding, vengeful Texas ranger, Hardesty is obsessed with serving Leatherface his just (and violent) deserts.
Unfortunately, Hardesty’s obsession is also her downfall and she fails to defeat Leatherface because of her own expectations on how the confrontation was supposed to go,
Like Laurie Strode, Hardesty’s fate demonstrates the reality that the grit and hypervigilence that propel a person through desperate situations aren’t necessarily healthy to cling to when it’s time to return to normal life.
In another reimagined sequel, Scream returned this year with a fifth installment to the franchise, focusing again on Sidney Prescott and her quest for freedom.
Since 2000, there has been a new Scream release every decade, and as the storyline and slew of new characters evolve through time, so does Sidney Prescott.
Unlike Laurie Strode’s shell of a character, Prescott has adjusted a little better to everyday life. Despite her preference for living a more reclusive lifestyle, Prescott becomes a successful author and develops a passion for martial arts. She is also happily married with children.
The stark differences between these Final Girls are reminiscent of real-world survivors of trauma. People cope with their tragedies in various ways and develop a new normal that allows them to keep going.
Whether someone passes through the other side of devastation as a Laurie Strode or a Sidney Prescott, they survived. And that’s the fundamental character trait of what it means to be a Final Girl.
Why the Final Girl Matters
Being a Final Girl means more than surviving a blood-thirsty attacker. A Final Girl must also survive emotional, mental, and physical ordeals including grief, addiction, pain, and long-term injuries.
Much of the horror she goes through cuts deeper than a maniac with a knife. Because it’s in the moments when she faces our own demons — her own meekness and anxieties — that she becomes a Final Girl. And that, too, is how we become the Final Girl of our own stories.
