Final Girls are the core of many beloved horror films. They have evolved alongside the industry and given us some of the best movies of all times. Of course, Sidney Prescott (Scream, 1996) and Laurie Strode (Halloween, 1978) are everyone’s favorite Final Girls out there. However, there are others that perhaps should be more accredited for their own horror movie. This Halloween you can get to meet eight different Final Girls who shaped this trope and deserved better. For this list, all the chosen Final Girls are the ones that don’t fit the trope in all the stereotypes while also being very particular cases. A warning for our readers: spoilers ahead.
- #8. Jill Johnson – When a Stranger Calls (2006)
-
This early 2000’s reboot of the 1979 Classic, features Camilla Belle as Jill Johnson; a teenage babysitter who’s being stalked over the phone by an anonymous caller. To make the story take a more ironic place, Jill decides to babysit for the Mandrakis, a very wealthy family that live in a solitary mansion on a hill, in order to be able to pay for the minutes on her phone. The Stranger (as he’s never given an identity) murders Jill’s friend Tiffany and the housemaid Rosa. He also attacks Jill and the children, and there’s the mental torture he puts Jill through with the phone calls.
Jill survives and protects the children, showing: resistance, strength, intelligence, and what a great babysitter she was. She’s never portrayed as weak and doesn’t follow the stereotypical rules of a Final Girl. Sadly, unlike most Final Girls, she doesn’t get an ending that leads you to believe she’s safe. Jill ends up suffering from hallucinations due to the attacks and seems to never recover from the incident.
- #7. Donna Keppel- Prom Night (2008)
-
This remake of the 80’s film, brings to life the story of Donna, a teen girl who lost her family to a teacher who was obsessed with her and three years later is trying to simply enjoy her school prom. Turns out Fenton (the killer) escaped prison and is headed towards the event in the search of Donna, and neither she nor her friends know anything about it.
What makes Donna a unique Final Girl, is how she has already survived her horror movie. Most teen movies involved with Slasher, have characters that are dealing with a tragic situation for the first time; however, Donna has already been through the chasing, the finding of dead bodies and even hiding under the bed. She’s already traumatized and happens to be taking medication because of her hallucination problems, making her not only to be a character in search of survival but also turning her mind into a man-versus-self situation. The story isn’t only happening but it’s repeating it self for her, making her vulnerable in the eyes of her attacker. Another thing that makes her interesting as a Final Girl is how she is shown to be able to both survive and overcome both killing sprees, showing her inner strength and determination.
- #6. Lisa Johnson- Haunter (2013)
-
Unlike both films previously discussed, Haunter is a Supernatural Horror movie. Lisa Johnson and her family have been living the same day over and over in the 1980’s ; except they’re not truly living it, and Lisa seems to be the only one who’s aware they’re dead. All Lisa understands is that there’s no telling of time in her death and her family isn’t the only one haunting the house. She uses personal items from other people killed in the house to make a connection with Olivia (part of a family living in the house in the future, who will become the next set of victims) in order to save them.
Lisa is probably the only final girl who must try and defeat her murderer even after death. Seeing that neither she, nor the other girls murdered across the decades can find an escape or be to be safe again, she puts all her energy into trying to save Olivia from suffering the same destiny as her and the girls before. Lisa shows selfness and bravery the entire film, and other than being dead she truly represents the better aspects of a Final Girl.
- #5. Anita “Needy” Lesnicki- Jennifer’s Body (2009)
-
You could credit how different Needy may be from other Final Girls by looking at how different this movie is, but we’re talking about a Final Girl who’s a mental inmate. narrating her story while in solitary confinement. The movie gives us Jennifer, a teen girl who is now possessed by a demon satisfies her appetite for human flesh with the school’s male population; Needy (her best friend) learns what’s happening and vows to put an end to the carnage.
While Needy does follow some of the stereotypes of a traditional Final Girl, her resolving of the problem puts her in a unique position. In order to survive she does end up killing her best friend after all, representing being set free of a codependent friendship. Needy also decides to take revenge for Jennifer and decides to murder the members of the band that tried to sacrifice Jennifer and got her turned into a demon in the first place.
- #4. Mandy Lane- All the boys love Mandy Lane (2006)
-
This Slasher film probably feels like it gives you more questions than answers. Mandy Lane covers the entire visual stereotype of a Final Girl: She’s a blonde young girl with an angelic face, she dresses in monochromatic colors (white being predominant) wearing mostly short skirts and spaghetti-strapped blouses, happens to have a short name, declines drinking and drugs and has multiple people interested in her.
The one thing that separates her entirely from any other character in this trope is that she’s the one behind the killing spree. Mandy doesn’t only manage to fool the rest of these characters, but she does so with the audience as well. Even more separated from other Final Girls, she does it all in revenge for everyone’s fetishizing of her. The film however ends with a lot of uncertainty of Mandy’s capabilities and true motivations, giving her a very Final Girl-styled ending but with secrets that only the audience knows as well as with many unanswered questions.
- #3. Joanna Eberhart- The Stepford Wives (1975)
-
Joanna is most definitely an iconic character for Horror Film. In this classic she is a photographer who moves with her husband and children to the suburbs of Stepford. It is almost intriguing how hast she notices something is wrong with the community. Whether she was paranoid or just used to the city life, it doesn’t take her long to figure there’s something abnormal about how all the Stepford wives behave (except for her friends Bobbie and Charmaine). Sadly, is only too late she realizes what really goes into town; all the wives have been murdered and replaced with robots by their own husbands.
Joanna isn’t a Final Girl that gets survival, but the way she confronts the leader of the men behind the conspiracy, and how she fights to the very end (even with her robot self) makes her one of the bravest ones out there. She also defies everything a Final Girl was back then.
-
#2. Emma Duval- Scream T.V. (Season 1 & 2 + Halloween Special)
-
Emma is the only Final Girl to belong in a T.V. Show on this list, and she can be easily compared to the others because of what a well thought character she is. Although there is a certain point where both Emma and Audrey are Final Girls in this Slasher show, since the beginning of season two it is established that is Emma who holds the biggest connection to the new killer, making her the biggest target as well. Emma is even defined as a Final Girl by other characters, since the show loves to make analogies around horror tropes and clichés. There’s even an Episode named “Final Girls” as a mock to how Emma survives the confrontment to the first killer.
As both seasons go on, she becomes braver with each episode, growing as a character alongside the other survivors. There are certain resemblances to some of Sidney Prescott’s scenes in the movies, and Emma happens to hold many identical traits to her.
- #1. Zoey Davis-Escape Room (2019)
-
This Psychological Horror movie features many main characters at the same time, all of them trying to survive an extreme Escape Room that is way more violent than a regular one. In a turn of events Zoey is one of the two survivors, as well as the most impressive character.
At the beginning of the movie she’s shown to be smart and curious with a notorious love for puzzles; however, she keeps to herself most of the beginning, only speaking once danger begins to happen. The other characters are aware she’s intelligent, yet seem to look at her as weak; this makes the audience underestimate her. As characters start dying and they keep playing by the rules, Zoey is the only one to think beyond.
When poisonous gas begins to fill one of the chambers, the surviving players make their escape, leaving Zoey behind as she insists on finishing the job (trying to save another survivor). When the gas fills the room, she survives by breathing through an oxygen mask, knowing no one can see she’s still alive in there. She attacks the worker of the escape room and runs to save whoever is left, killing the Gamemaster and finishing the game.
For more information on what final girls are, read Final Girls: The Key to Horror Films.