This spooky season, the pull to watch horror movies is stronger than the urge to make unnecessary sequels out of dead horror franchises cough cough Friday the 13th & Nightmare on Elm Street (and I may finally be able to say Scream(!?)). I have dedicated the month of October to watching one Halloween-themed movie a day. This has allowed me to be introduced to some intuitive and strong final girls, and it reminded me of my favorites. Here are five of my favorite Final Girls in horror (in no particular order). These girls have not only defeated their movie’s “big bad,” but by the time you get there, you are deeply rooting for them. There are so many horror movies these days where the final girls merely walk into that situation, but these girls have been put through the wringer and have made it out because they were smart and, in some cases, won in the long run.
Major spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution!
Margot from The Menu (2022)
The Menu follows our main character Margo, played by Ana Taylor-Joy, and her date Tyler as they are shipped to a remote island for the dinner of a lifetime at an exclusive, luxury restaurant. As time goes on the dinner appears to be more personal and sinister than it may have first appeared as deaths start to pile up and it is revealed that by the end of the night, everyone will be dead. We find out that Margo is a paid escort and was brought there because the restaurant does not take parties of one and Tyler and his previous girlfriend broke up. Every single other person who is in attendance for this dinner represents some part of the restaurant industry Head Chef Slowik, the creative mind behind this dinner, dispises. It is revealed that Tyler knew from the start what Slowik’s plan was and that he brought Margo, sentencing her to death. Margo later denounces Slowik’s work by calling out how pretentious and unfulfilling the meal was. She challenges him to make something truly meaningful and filling - a cheeseburger. He prepares it with care and places it in front of Margo. She takes a singular bite and asks for it to go. Slowik, defeated, prepares the once-bitten cheeseburger to go and allows Margo to sail away from the island while everyone else goes up in flames during the final course, the deconstructed s’more. The movie ends as she sits on the boat, eats her cheeseburger, and watches the restaurant burn with everyone inside. Margo ends up in a murder-suicide plot that was never meant for her and she can use the personal life of Chef Slowik to find a way to break him, gain his approval, and be released from her fate.
Grace Le Domas from Ready or Not (2019)
When Grace Le Domas, played by Samara Weaving, is forced into a murderous game of Hide and Seek and has to hide for her life, she doesn’t let herself go easily. The Le Domas family, heirs to a board game empire, has a ritual that keeps their family prosperous. Typically, it’s a simple game like Chess or Old Maid, but on the random chance they pull the game Hide and Seek, a sacrifice of the newlywed into the family is demanded. The rest of Grace’s new family suits up with various weapons and gives her a 100-second head start. Grace manages to kill a number of her new husband’s family before sunrise after being captured and escaped several times. At sunrise, the family had lost the game and they all burst into an explosion of blood and guts by the curse. She goes out as the house burns to a crisp. She fought hard to beat the game, killing three people directly and managing to take several injuries just to wait out the clock, ending a ritualistic tradition older than anyone alive in the Le Domas family.
Anita "Needy" Lesnicki from Jennifer’s Body (2009)
Amanda Seyfried plays a mousy and timid teen as her best friend, Jennifer, becomes sexy, confident, and supernatural after a satanic ritual goes wrong. Needy gains this sort of sixth sense for Jennifer’s actions. Needy feels that Jennifer is about to do something bad and she finds Jennifer covered in blood and then she shows up completely normal in Needy’s bedroom not too soon later. The body of Jennifer’s first victim is ripped up like spaghetti and she then sets her sights on Chip, a boy Needy had an interest in and a blooming romance with. Jennifer convinces Chip that Needy is romantically involved with another man, so she becomes distant and then moves on Chip. When he doesn’t fall for it, she attacks him. Needy finds them and tries to save Chip but he eventually dies. So much of their friendship involves Needy being put down by Jennifer to make her feel better, so seeing that Jennifer could not even give Needy the one guy who she wanted and who wanted her back shows how much she didn’t care for the friendship where Needy would have given anything for Jennifer. The two fight, Jennifer bites Needy, she gains some of Jennifer’s powers, and then she kills Jennifer. Needy then goes on a murder spree and kills the band members who tried to kill Jennifer and turned her into the satanic monster. Jennifer in this film is the definition of a maneater and she has so many wonderful scenes, making this my favorite of Megan Fox’s roles. Needy, having this arc of strength and eventually having to kill her best friend, becomes quickly pitied but also rootable. Having credits showcase how the band members were murdered gives us closure that Needy got her bloody revenge and where she was not able to save her best friend, she was able to avenge her.
Frida from Blink Twice (2024)
In the most recent entry in this list, Blink Twice follows Frida, played by Naomi Ackie, as she joins rich tech mogul Slater King, played by Channing Tatum, and his friends on his private island. They spend their days drinking by the pool in bliss and spend their nights with gaps in their memory. When her friend mysteriously disappears and no one can remember her, she becomes suspicious and realizes something more is happening. It is revealed that the perfume they wear each day erases their traumatic memories, so each night the women are chased down and trapped by the men to be abused and assaulted. She aids in the murder of all of the men who harmed her and her friends except for Slater. She burns the house down with everyone inside, pulling Slater out with her. She watches the house burn down (a common final girl trope as we have seen) as she tends to Slater. After a time jump we find that they got married and she took control of the company. She uses the same perfume liquid infused in his vape to put him into a state of unawareness and debilitation. After fighting for her life, she was able to secure a place in high society at Slater King’s expense, which may just be a worse fate than death.
Sidney Prescott from Scream 1-5 (1996 - 2022)
For the first four movies in this franchise, Sidney Prescott, played by Neve Campbell, is actively targeted by her boyfriend, her best friend, her (now ex) boyfriend’s mom, her half-brother, and her cousin. She was shot & stabbed several times and watched her friends and family die. She fought for her life,i fought for her life again, and again, and again. By the fifth movie, she finally passes the final girl torch to characters Tara and Sam Carpenter. Sam is revealed to be the daughter of Billy Loomis, Sidney's ex-boyfriend, and one of the original killers. By the fifth movie, taking place over ten years after the events of Scream 4 we find that she has married the detective Mark Kincaid from the previous movie and they have three kids in NYC. After four movies of trauma and played a hand in the murder of each of the final killers of each movie. When she finally gets freedom from the curse of the final girl, it feels well worth it.
I love horror movies, but it is usually such a struggle to feel fully satisfied by the endings of the characters you watch. In these movies though, I can proudly say that you feel content when the film ends. There may be some common tropes even in a successful final girl, like walking away from the main location, now set ablaze, while they watch in with an unphased look, but it’s a satisfying ending nonetheless. And honestly, who can fault a girl for doing Hot Girl Shit and making her way out of a horror movie where she kicks ass in style. I believe the horror franchise needs to look towards these formulas more seriously as it allows us to want to come back to these stories again and again. There is currently a sequel to Ready or Not in the works that I am so excited for, and even though Scream 5-6 was not great in execution, I enjoyed our sister duo of final girls, especially Sam Carpenter. If you want to root for some strong women through a horror movie, I would recommend these films, and I can’t wait to see what the horror genre continues to do with their final girls!
Written by Francesca DiMiceli
Photography by Roberto Meadows @_.rubbertoe
Director: Lucy Anderson @lugzyjane
Production: Mark Bluemle @markbluemle
Styling: Caroline Slafka @carolineslafka
Dress from Electrix Vintage @electrixvintage
Casting: Jazzi Almestica @shes.do.dope
Talent: Lucy Anderson @lugzyjane , Jai LePrince @jai.leprince , Aidan Dean Dunn @aidanfdunn1 , Matti Narine @immattireal , Mariano Padilla @marianopadilla16