We count down the 13 best ass-kicking leading ladies to survive horror movies.
The term final girl is now as ubiquitous in horror culture as slasher and jump scare.
pick up Jasons machete and stab him right between the hockey pads!).
And weve also seen it ignored, slyly mocked, and even celebrated in any number of horror movies.
So join us as we look at the 13 best final girls.
This list is in descending order with the best at the bottom!
Marilyn Burns played a wide-eyed and terrorized survivor girl before that even was a thing.
And worst of all is when the Sawyer Family then invites her to dinner over their remains.
Sally herself is fairly reactionary as a character and survives more by luck than anything else.
And they all were driving into the ground a formula thatJohn Carpenters originalHalloweenhad perfected.
At its essence,Hellraiseris about people unknowingly calling down a demon known as Pinhead, the lead Cenobite.
And whether they acknowledge it or not, they subconsciously are yearning for their own flaying.
In this demented context, Kirsty Cotton is unique in her relationship to her would-be tormentor.
But this time, she is able to save more than herself.
Yet we sense that the hate is more for the tropes, including final girls.
Because everything else about this movie is just lovely.
Survival becomes more important than morality when she points a gun at Marty.
When it is left to just Sarah and Juno, Sarah leaves Juno for them alone in the dark.
Yes, there is a sequel that follows up on the happier band-aid ending shot exclusively for U.S. audiences.
But lets ignore that for the much more satisfying bleakness of the UK finale.
Sharni Vinsons final girl turns out to be a more unstoppable killing force than any poser in a costume.
And at the top of these choices was avoiding another Ash Williams/Bruce Campbell.
Instead the lead character is the more traditional horror trope of a young woman.
I will feast on your soul, the Deadite taunts.
Feast on this, motherfucker, Mia cries as she revs the chainsaw up and under the gum line.
But wed certainly welcome them to try and make that happen with the possibleAsh/Mia crossover filmthatSam Raimihas hinted at.
Here is a final girl who got to be both the villain and the hero of her own movie.
Who knows how she and Ash might interact with their dueling chainsaws?
Well most of them.
But that sense of self-serving motivation makes her endearing in a way.
Few horror franchises have a triumvirate of survivors.
It might just be the greatest subversion of all.
As Nancys iconic line advises, Whatever you do, dont fall asleep.
By the sixth entry, the victims didnt even matter; it was the Freddy show.
The only person who can stop him?
His original nemesis, Heather Langenkamp, the performer who would be Nancy.
But it mostly succeeds at making Freddy Krueger scary again in the most allegorical slasher ever attempted.
Even more impressive, however, is that Sidney is and always will be the star of theScreammoviesnot Ghostface.
Thus enters Sidney Prescott, the first post-modern final girl in horror.
The marquees here were Neve Campbells Sidney, David Arquettes Deputy Dewey, and Courteney Coxs Gale Weathers.
There was also Jamie Kennedy as Randy before he got gutted like a fish inScream 2.
Over the course of four movies, Campbells Sidney goes on a genuine arc and develops from each experience.
In the first film, she is a prototypical 90s teen and virginal good girl ingenue.
Sidney does lose her virginity in the film and lives to tell the tale.
InScream 2, she is battle-hardened and attempts to start a new life while dealing with unwanted celebrity.
And inScream 4, she has triumphed over all of the above by not letting her trauma define her.
She is now a self-help author that has refused to go gently into that good night.
And thus she is damn hard to beat.
Just ask the string of Ghostface killers shes left buried along the way.
She then got the chance to kill it several times.
The beauty ofJohn CarpentersHalloweenis its simplicity.
Michael Myers is the Other fromPsychoandTexas Chain Sawbrought home to suburban Americas backyard.
His evil exists simplybecause.
Hes literally credited in the film as the Shape.
In that sense, there is nothing to cheer or sneer about.
Carpenter made the definitive slasher movie without realizing he was drafting a formula.
Ergo, the three young women being stalked are relatively normal and believable people.
Jamie Lee Curtis Laurie isnt spared because shes a virgin.
Instead, Laurie chases him down and takes off his head with an axe.
But like many bad sequels, it can be left to the dustbin of forgotten cash-in failures.
Make that final hero.
As great asJames Camerons follow up is, that film and its successors were action movies.
read more: Are Alien and Blade Runner in the Same Universe?
Depicted as just another member of the space trucking crew, Ellen Ripleys gender and sexuality are inconsequential.
Indeed, Ripley was originally written to be a male role.
This role made Weaver a star and for good reason.
She is unnervingly natural amongst a group of equally committed actors.
Their parts are minimally written, but director Scott and his cast imbue them with great authenticity and life.
Giger demon or Holms robotic machinations here.
And then they blink first.
