From Laurie Strode counting the days until Michael Myers returns in “Halloween” to a betrayed bride fighting off her in-laws with a shotgun in “Ready or Not,” final girls are found at the beating heart of the horror genre.
In the black-and-white dichotomy of good-versus-evil, these heroes — yes, often leading ladies, but not always! — typically begin as victims in nightmarish scenarios that bloom into epic opportunities for them to best their villains and survive.Coined and carefully considered by professor Carol J.
Clover in her 1992 work “Men, Women, and Chainsaws,” the final girl trope was initially defined as the sole survivor of a slasher who confronted the antagonist in a last-act face-off and who was often ascribed some sort of moral superiority compared to other victims; virginity being the de facto example.
Classic examples include Sally Hardesty in “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” and Jamie Lee Curtis’ legendary babysitter from
Read full article