The Evolution of Final Girls

Final Girls have been a staple in slasher films since the 70s. The term was coined in the book Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film written by Carol J. Clover in 1992. It is defined as having one last girl standing in a horror film. Final girls have been defined and redefined, turned into a cliche and subverted over and over again. The Final Girls of modern cinema have come a long way from their earlier roots back in the 1970s.

Final girls are stereotyped to be intellectually superior to her peers, morally correct and most of all white. They are mostly virgins whose character arc mostly involves them overcoming a personal problem.

The first final girl has been attributed to Jess Bradford from the Canadian production Black Christmas (1974). The film follows a sorority house stalked by a stranger on their Christmas break. However, this film subverts the virgin stereotype way before it was established, having the final girl find out she is pregnant in the movie. Although the film leaves on an ambiguous ending, on whether or not Jess is doomed by the fact that the killer is still on the loose, she is technically considered as a final girl. In fact, Black Christmas influenced another iconic slasher franchise: Halloween. In the 1978 film, Laurie Strode, who is haunted by Michael Myers, has become one of the most iconic final girls in mainstream. She has managed to evade the killer time and time again. Early final girls either survive long enough to make it to the end or actively try to defend herself They bear the weight of trauma and make it out alive and alone.

Then coming into the scene is Eileen Ripley from the 1979 film Alien; she uses more provocative measures against impending threats. This in turn flips the trope on its head, she is actively fighting against the alien. Nightmare on Elm’s Street’s Nancy Thompson uses her intelligence in figuring out how to defeat Freddy Kreuger, thus giving her her final girl status as she emerges at the end of the film alive. Around the mid-80s the cliche of the final girl being a virgin was slowly being subverted. For example, in the 1984 horror comedy film Night of the Comet, Reggie Belmont’s survival is from the fact that she is no longer a virgin. This was a step forward for the trope as it subverts the cliche that only the pure, not-so-innocent girl survives.

In 1996, the cult classic movie Scream came out, directed by Wes Craven who also directed Nightmare on Elm Street. This movie changed the slasher genre and the rules that it had established. The first kill being Casey Becker, played by Drew Barrymore, who audiences had thought would be the film’s final girl. It took pre-established notions and made it ironic, with a lot of horror references. Sidney Prescott, the film’s final girl, and undoubtedly the most recognizable final girl, was sarcastic and most of all, self aware. Not only that, but the movie had two final girls instead of one, Gale Weathers and Sidney Prescott. Sidney has become this kind of blueprint for future final girls.

In the current era of final girls, we are seeing so much more diversity than before. Emerald Haywood played by Keke Palmer from the Nope and Adelaide played by Lupita Nyong’o from Us both directed by Jordan Peele are prominent final girls because of how they reshaped the trope into being more inclusive. Sam (played by Melissa Barrera) and Tara Carpenter (played by Jenna Ortega) of Scream V and VI both brought back life into the Scream franchise by having dynamic relationships and iconic scenes. The Fear Street trilogy (2021) manages to subvert the trope multiple times within the series. Its meta-awareness of the genre differs from earlier Scream movies (which it took inspiration from) in a way that it reclaims representation in a way that does not feel tokenized. That’s what the modern era of slasher films could be described as; a reclamation of horror.

The slasher genre will be ever evolving and ever changing. The tropes are no exception to this. Final girls have solidified themselves as a prominent and sometimes necessary figure in the genre. Their personality traits may differ from girl to girl but there will always be one thing they have in common; the sheer will to survive.