FINAL GIRLS

The final girl is a tradition seen more and more in horror movies and as the number of horror movies increases (we seem to like them) so do the number of final girls. For those wondering what a final girl is may I refer you to Sally Hardesty (1) Laurie Strode (2)  Ellen Ripley (3) Sarah Connor (4) and Sidney Prescott (5). There were final girls before the Seventies, notably Susy Hendrix (6). 
The final girl is the female last man standing, the one survivor the merciless killer cannot defeat. The fact that this trope is a woman surviving is interesting and two recent examples show the variety of final girls that can be called upon to have the last word in the genre of fear.

Hush and Gerald's Game both feature women in jeopardy both of whom survive using their wits and an inner strength that they didn't know they had: victims one minute warriors the next. 

  

Hush doesn't give us any glimpses into the killers motivation, he is just there killing people and the deaf mute woman is there summoning up courage and ingenuity to thwart him.\In Gerald's Games, as you would expect from a Stephen King adaptation, the horror is multi layered, the predicament extreme. The final girl digs deep (extremely deep to extricate herself and survive.

You could be forgiven for thinking that we have seen every permutation of the final girl but that's not the case, the final girl is the defining character in most horror now. Empathy, maybe that's what it's about, seeing a faceless killer, an unknown monster or a set of peril laden circumstances allows us to invest in the final girls efforts at outlasting their nemesis.
The list of final girls is a long one and they feature in some excellent movies as well as some mundane entries in horror franchises.Two notable final girls are Wendy Torrance (7) and Ellen Ripley both of whom use their maternal instincts to spur them on to survive a relentless enemy

The final girl is here to stay in what is generally considered a male dominated genre, and long may she outlast the others, and you know what? I think we should call them 'Final Women'



(1) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
(2) Halloween
(3) Alien
(4) The Terminator
(5) Scream
(6)Wait Until Dark
(7) The Shinning