The Top 10 Best Final Girls
5. Sidney Prescott- The Scream Franchise
Scream is Wes Craven’s love letter to the horror genre, so it makes sense that he would craft one of the greatest final girls of all time for the franchise. Neve Campbell plays Sidney Prescott, Like so many girls in horror movies, Sidney doesn’t have the best taste in guys and it turns out that her boyfriend is a psycho slasher who wants to be infamous. Being a final girl, she defeats him, but he inspires a slew of copycats that she has to do battle with over the course of three more movies. Apparently none of them learned from the mistakes of their predecessors, because none of them are able to take Sidney out. By now, she’s an old pro at this sort of thing and the fact that she appeared in four movies makes her one of the longest-running final girls on this list.
4. Erin Harson- You’re Next
A lot of final girls are perfectly content to rely on their impressive cardio skills to simply run for their lives. When it comes to fight or flight though, Sharni Vinson’s Erin Harson isn’t much for running. When three masked killers attack a family reunion occurring at an isolated mansion it seems like their brutal tactics will make short work of everyone inside. They didn’t count on one of them bringing their tough as nails girlfriend with them though, and soon they’re out of their depth despite the element of surprise and being well-armed. It turns out that Erin’s dad was a survivalist nutjob and taught his princess how to withstand any situation. As if that wasn’t enough, she also happens to be Australian and compared to all the killer animals in the outback a trio of slashers is a walk in the park.
3. Sarah Carter- The Descent and The Descent 2
The Descent is one of those rare horror movies with only women in it. So the fact that Shauna Macdonald’s Sarah manages to be the final girl in a group of women is pretty impressive. The movie follows the women as they decided to spend a girl’s weekend exploring an underground cave. Drama ensues as secrets come to life, but that’s all put on hold when they encounter some of the scariest monsters in movie history. Trapped underground with these grotesque apex predators, the women have to fight for their lives. Of course, when it comes to horror movies, there can only be one final girl. Luckily, Sarah manages to make it back to the surface. Just when she thinks she’s safe though, she gets dragged back down for a sequel.
2. Laurie Strode- The Halloween Franchise
When it comes to final girls there are few as iconic at Jaime Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode. After all, she is in the penultimate Halloween horror movie, Halloween. In it, she plays the sister of Michael Myers, one of the most infamous slashers in movie history. Michael has his sights set on killing his sister and anyone who gets in his way. At first, Laurie is the typical final girl, running for her life and barely surviving. The recent Halloween movie though saw her pull a full 180 as she decides that she is no longer a victim. When Michael comes for her this time, he discovers that his sister is packing some serious heat and she isn’t afraid to use it. Laurie’s battle is far from over though since there are two more Halloween movies heading our way in the near future.
1. Ellen Ripley- The Alien Franchise
We’ve seen a lot of impressive final girls on this list so far, but none of them hold a candle to Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley. She first appears in Ridley Scott’s space horror film Alien as a warrant officer aboard the Nostromo (an iconic movie spaceship) that encounters one of the scariest aliens in movie history, the Xenomorph. Even though it kills everyone else aboard, Ripley is able to defeat it. She’s such a huge badass that a group of Space Marines ask for her help when they believe that Xenomorphs have attacked a space colony. Unfortunately, she does eventually die at the hands of the terrifying creatures, but even death can’t stop her for long. She’s cloned for one more outing in Alien: Resurrection and comes back stronger than ever. Her courage, determination, and strength make her the best final girl of all time.
Honorable Mention: McKayla Hooper and Sadie Cunningham- Tragedy Girls
Tragedy Girls puts a twist on the final girl trope as two high schoolers try to take advantage of a killers rampage to become internet sensations. Unsatisfied with the killer’s work, they take matters into their own hands and add to the body count themselves. The fact that they’re slashers in their own right make them pretty twisted final girls and I just had to give these two a shout out.
There are literally dozens of other final girls out there, but in my opinion, these are the toughest and best of all time. Still, I’d love to hear your thoughts about the ones that made this list and if there are any others that should have earned a spot. As always, I’ll be updating this list as new and improved final girls hit the silver screen. So, be sure to check back in the future to see how the rankings change.