The term “Final Girl” refers to the female protagonist in a slasher film, creature feature, or almost any other kind of thriller who, typically ends up being the last person standing against the main villain or obstacle. We looked back at some of the most iconic characters associated with this trope from some of the best horror movies of all time and came up with this assortment of the horror Scream Queens who come first in our hearts.
Sidney Prescott (Scream)
Neve Campbell's lead role from the 1996 Wes Craven-helmed classic is not actually the sole survivor of Ghostface's murder spree and would appear in several more sequels. However, Sidney Prescott is, essentially, the compendium of all the most inspiring Final Girls to come before her, especially when you consider that Scream was a compendium of all the best slasher movies to come before it.
Nancy Thompson (A Nightmare On Elm Street)
Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) has a tougher break than most "Final Girls" as she never has a chance to have a moment's rest since sleeping makes her more vulnerable to Freddy Krueger's attack. However, she shows Robert Englund's iconic horror movie villain no mercy in the final act of 1984's A Nightmare on Elm Street, taking down the burned boogeyman Kevin McCallister-style before Home Alone was even conceived.
Sally Hardesty (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre)
Most "Final Girls" earn their merit from bringing their attacker to some sort of justice, which makes Marilyn Burns' role from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre an odd one out since Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) is still alive and well by the end of Tobe Hooper's nightmarish 1974 classic. Yet, Sally Hardesty's sheer will to survive and ability to ultimately escape his sawblade and flesh-eating family should be commended, especially after all she goes through.
Alice Hardy (Friday The 13th)
It is a shame that, after surviving the events of 1980's Friday the 13th, Alice Hardy never had the opportunity to take on Jason Voorhees – a sentiment actor Adrienne King agrees with. Then again, she is the one who beheads the notorious killer's mother (and one of the greatest female horror movie villains), Pamela Voorhees (Betsy Palmer), essentially setting off Jason's vengeful killing streak, which makes her an undisputed legend of Crystal Lake lore.
Sarah Connor (The Terminator)
While more widely associated with classic action movies thanks to its later sequels, James Cameron's 1984 sci-fi masterpiece The Terminator is a slasher movie in its metallic bones. Thus, Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor, whose son is destined to lead humanity in a revolt against mechanical overlords, should be recognized as a definitive "Final Girl."
Jess Bradford (Black Christmas)
Many audiences might know Olivia Hussey best from her star-making turn as the female lead of Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. However, she is also an icon in the horror community for leading Bob Clark's 1974 holiday horror movie favorite, Black Christmas, as a college student who begins to suspect that she and her fellow sorority sisters are being stalked by a homicidal creep during winter break.
Jeryline (Tales From The Crypt Presents: Demon Knight)
Spun-off from the eponymous hit horror anthology TV show, 1995's Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight depicts the modern-day peak of an eternal quarrel between an immortal warrior (William Fichtner) and the demon (Billy Zane) he is sworn to fight against. However, by the end of the film, Jada Pinkett Smith's Jeryline proves to be out to be the true titular hero.
Sienna Shaw (Terrifier 2)
Only a lucky few have survived the many unspeakable acts by Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton), such as Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera) in Terrifier 2. Just as quickly as the creepy clown movies' horrifying harlequin became a hall-of-fame slasher villain, she became one of the top "Final Girls" of her generation, ensuring her return in Terrifier 3.
Ellen Ripley (Alien)
In Ridley Scott's terrifying, 1979 space movie masterpiece Alien, Ellen Ripley wound up becoming the sole survivor of the Xenomorph's attack on the Nostromo (unless you count the cat, Jones). Sigourney Weaver would return to the role bigger and better in James Cameron's more action-oriented 1986 favorite, Aliens, for which she earned an Academy Award nomination and a place among cinema's fiercest "Final Girls."
Laurie Strode (Halloween)
There are few horror movie icons more widely beloved as Academy Award winner Jamie Lee Curtis, particularly for her breakthrough performance as Laurie Strode in John Carpenter's riveting smash, Halloween. When the Haddonfield teen first took on Michael Myers in that 1978 classic, the "Final Girl" trope was essentially invented and every slasher movie protagonist has tried to live up to her influence since.
Ginny Field (Friday The 13th Part 2)
The first "Final Girl" in the Friday the 13th movies to take on the one, the only Jason Voorhees in 1981's Friday the 13th Part 2 is Ginny Field. Played by Amy Steel, she is also the one who discovered the horror movie villain's somewhat understandable motivation to avenge the death of his mother, which she cleverly used against him.
Julie James (I Know What You Did Last Summer)
Jennifer Love Hewitt's Scream Queen moment came when she led the cast of 1997's I Know What You Did Last Summer as Julie James. She would reprise the "Final Girl" role the following year in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, which sees her still suffering the consequences of seemingly causing the death of an innocent man in a car accident.
Maxine Minx (X)
In Ti West's acclaimed 2022 A24 horror movie, X, Mia Goth's Maxine Minx became the only survivor of a massacre on the set of an adult film that was meant to be her big break. Luckily, as revealed in 2024's MaXXXine, she would go on to have a decent career in the industry, which would eventually win her a part in a legitimate horror film but not without a run-in with another crazed killer with a personal vendetta against her and the general moral decline of the '80s.
Erin Harson (You're Next)
In director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett's You're Next, a dysfunctional family gathering is interrupted by a group of masked assailants who keep their secluded home surrounded with deadly traps and weaponry. Luckily, they have some help from one family member's girlfriend, Erin Harson (Sharni Vinson), who is revealed to have been raised on a survivalist compound, making her one of the most refreshingly resourceful horror movie characters of all time, regardless of gender.
Clear Rivers (Final Destination)
For starters, is there a single horror movie "Final Girl" with a more wicked name than Ali Larter's character from 2000's Final Destination? It was a shame to see the Grim Reaper finally claim her soul in the sequel but her willingness to take that risk to help a new group of doomed characters makes Clear Rivers a legend.
Naru (Prey)
In 2022, Prey was criticized by a few for the "unrealistic" depiction of a petite, young, 18th Century Comanche woman single-handedly taking down a hulking extraterrestrial whose most notable adversary from the previous Predator movies was Arnold Schwarzenegger. Well, any true fan of the 1987 original should know that it takes brains and not brawn to defeat said creature, and Naru (Amber Midthunder) was one of the first humans to realize that instinct and use it to victory.
Dani Ardor (Midsommar)
One of the few "Final Girls" to willfully and effectively adopt the "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" strategy is Dani Ardor (Oscar nominee Florence Pugh) from 2019's instant A24 movie classic, Midsommar. Not receiving the comfort she needs from her boyfriend, Christian (Jack Reynor), after suffering the horrifying loss of her entire family, she finally finds it when she attends a cultural festival run by a group of Swedish villagers who put a big smile on Dani's face as she watches them burn Christian alive.
Jamie Lloyd (Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers)
Danielle Harris was only at least 11 when she earned Scream Queen status by following directly in the footsteps of the quintessential "Final Girl," Laurie Stroud. Harris stars in 1988's Halloween 4: The Return of the Michael Myers as the orphaned daughter of Laurie Strode, Jamie Lloyd, whose uncle makes her his next intended prey.
Mia Allen (Evil Dead)
Jane Levy proved that an Evil Dead movie without Bruce Campbell's Ash Williams in the lead is still worth hailing to with her performance in Fede Alvarez's 2013 reboot as Mia – an addict whose road to recovery is grossly interrupted by malevolent entities that turn her into a vessel of grueling terror. Luckily, her brother, David (Shiloh Fernandez), manages to cure her possession, leading to one relentlessly brutal final showdown between her and a boss Deadite.
Grace (Ready Or Not)
In Radio Silence's brilliant 2019 horror-comedy movie, Ready or Not, Samara Weaving plays the newly married Grace, who falls prey to a ritual that forces her entire extended family to hunt her to death. While she does receive some help from her brother-in-law and it is ultimately Satan's wrath that saves her, she manages to outrun, outwit, and out-fight many of them and (mostly) maintain her sanity throughout the bloody ordeal.
Adelaide/Red (Us)
Throughout much of Jordan Peele's 2019 sophomore effort, Adelaide (Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o) has the audience's full support until the shocking Us ending that reveals she was her tethered duplicate Red the whole time, having switched with the real Adelaide decades ago. This marks one of the few instances in which the "Final Girl" (who does manage to save her entire family from the Tethered) is revealed to be the true villain in the end.
Casey Cooke (Split)
One of the various roles that have made Anya Taylor-Joy a great Scream Queen for her time is Casey Cooke from the 2017 M. Night Shyamalan movie, Split. She cleverly uses her own history of abuse as a weapon against her captor... or, more accurately, "captors," since James McAvoy's Kevin Wendell Crumb is a DID patient housing a few unfavorable personalities
Dana Polk (The Cabin In The Woods)
In director Drew Goddard's ingenious horror genre deconstruction The Cabin in the Woods, a group of college students fall prey to strange and terrifying circumstances on a camping trip, unaware it is all part of a ritual that requires people with their common personality types. Dana Polk (Kristin Connolly) absolutely fits "The Facility's" definition of a "Final Girl" but she ends up being the kind who also stands her ground and ends up turning the tables on them, in spite of the apocalyptic circumstances.
Sarah Carter (The Descent)
What makes 2005's The Descent a special kind of horror film that acknowledges grief is that Sarah Carter (Shauna Macdonald) is a protagonist who defies expectations with her resilience. She endures the loss of her husband and daughter, the discovery that her husband was being unfaithful with one of her best friends, and being trapped in an unexplored cavern with man-eating mutants like a total boss.
Kirsty Cotton (Hellraiser)
It's bad enough that Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence) struggles to warm to her stepmother, Julia (Claire Higgins), in Clive Barker's 1987 favorite, Hellraiser. However, learning that Julia was murdering men so that she could reunite with her reanimated lover, Frank (also Kirsty's uncle) who has escaped captivity from a group of sadomasochistic demons is quite a challenge.
Jen (Revenge)
At the beginning of Coralie Fargeat's 2018 feature debut, Revenge (indeed one of the best revenge movies), Jen (Matilda Lutz) comes off as a conceited bimbo. However, after her boyfriend's business partner takes advantage and, instead of offering help, the boyfriend leaves her for dead in the Moroccan desert, she proves to them that she is not one to mess with and to us that she is a resilient hero worth rooting for.
Tree Gelbman (Happy Death Day)
Tree Gelbman is one of the few "Final Girls" who actually does die in her own movie... multiple times. Writer and director Christopher Landon's Happy Death Day is a fun slasher-style take on the time loop movie genre in which Jessica Rothe's protagonist finds herself reliving the same day over and over again and must use her "unlimited lives" to figure out who has been trying to kill her.
Alison Parks (Chopping Mall)
Chopping Mall is a 1986 cult favorite from producer Roger Corman in which a group of teens become locked inside a shopping center with security robots that have gone inexplicably haywire. The way Kelli Maroney's Allison Parks claps back at the machines with their own catchphrase ("Have a nice day!") before making junk out of them makes this awesomely cheesy movie worth a watch.
Maddie Young (Hush)
One of Mike Flanagan's best movies, 2016's Hush, is a creepy, well-crafted thriller about an author named Maddie (Kate Siegel) whose secluded home is invaded by a masked murderer (John Gallagher Jr.). Despite having lost her ability to hear as a teenager, Maddie prevails in her deadly cat-and-mouse game with the stranger using her sharp instincts.
Emerald Haywood (Nope)
If not for its stunningly unique take on the alien invasion movie genre or its clever satirical commentary on the influence of spectacle, the number one reason to see Jordan Peele's 2022 thriller Nope is Emerald Haywood. Keke Palmer's infectious, scene-stealing performance as the ambitious, amateur UFO hunter makes the character a standout "Final Girl" (of sorts) for the ages.
Jessie Burlingame (Wrong Turn)
Wrong Turn – in which six people fall prey to a group of murderous mutants when they become stranded in the middle of nowhere – is one of the more underrated slasher-style thrillers of the early 2000s. In the same breath, Eliza Dushku's character, Jessie Burlingame, is one of the more underrated "Final Girls" of her time, bearing the right amount of intelligence and resilience to be considered a worthy horror movie hero.
Marybeth Dunston (Hatchet)
Some "Final Girls" have remained staples of their respective franchises, even if that means recasting them with different actors. For instance, Marybeth Dunston was originally played by Tamara Feldman in 2006's Hatchet but was portrayed in the next three sequels by Halloween franchise star Danielle Harris.
