The final act of a slasher movie has turned into a predictable formula I’m sure you can picture. The killer’s identity has been revealed, and he comes face-to-face with the last girl standing. I’m sure you’ve been rooting for this girl because she’s been lucky enough to make all the right choices: she never opens the creepy basement door at night, she runs straight for the exit when things go south and she wouldn’t dare to get drunk or sneak off with her boyfriend.
As a reward for her superior morals and judgment, this girl usually gets to walk away as the last one standing. This phenomenon, also known as the final girl trope, has been present for decades. What’s most exciting to me about the final girl trope is the way it’s evolved over time—from rewarding the most innocent, virtuous girl to celebrating the young women with enough agency and determination to survive.
When we think about some of the biggest horror movie franchises, the standout character is usually the killer: Ghostface, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, the list goes on. However, this Halloween season, I think it’s even more important to acknowledge their counterparts. In a genre where women are typically showcased for their paralyzing fear, watched as they scream for their lives, I think we need to fast-forward to the part where the girl takes down the killer and looks good doing it.
Some of the biggest horror movies of the last couple of years (spoiler alert!) have featured final girls who are anything but shy or passive. In the newest iterations of the Scream franchise, the Carpenter sisters don’t survive simply because they are morally superior to their friends. It’s thanks to their perseverance and their ability to never back down from a fight. In X, Mia Goth’s Maxine is anything but innocent and will stop at nothing to make it out alive.
As they always say, life imitates art. What’s so exciting about this trope is that the final girls are evolving to match the strong, intelligent women of today. Now more than ever, it’s clear that young women are not merely damsels in distress, but masters of their own fate.
During your horror movie marathons this Halloween, keep an eye out for the final girls. If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably already spoiled the whole movie for yourself to avoid getting jump-scared. Either way, let her survival be a testament to the strength of young women everywhere—both on-screen and off. Maybe they could even inspire a last-minute costume or two.