10. Sally Hardesty in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Sally HardestyfromThe Texas Chainsaw Massacrewas one of the first examples of the Final Girl trope in horror cinema.
When she and her group of friends travel through rural Texas to visit her grandfather’s grave, they encounter Leatherface and his cannibalistic family, who start killing them off one by one.
And even though Sally doesn’t really defeat the villain in the end, she still manages to be the sole survivor of the massacre, which turned her into a sort of prototype for the Final Girl trope.
Her iconic survival ending scene—in which she escapes in the back of a pickup truck while Leatherface frantically waves his chainsaw—became the inspiration for countless other characters and their respective final scenes in horror movies.
Related:The Best Cannibalism Movies Where People Eat People
9. Tree Gelbman in Happy Death Day (2017)
Tree Gelbman, fromHappy Death Day, is a new type of final girl. She starts off the movie as a ruthless, selfish, and unlikable sorority girl who’s having an affair with her married professor.
In any other slasher movie from the past, she would’ve been one of the first victims to meet her demise.
But inHappy Death Day, not only does she escape punishment for her mistakes, but she’s allowed to grow and become a better person. That’s a pretty good lesson to have in a comedy horror film.
Related:The Best Modern Comedy Horror Movies Since 2000, Ranked
8. Deena Johnson in Fear Street (2021)
One of the main criticisms of the Final Girl trope is its lack of diversity. Most final girls have been straight, white, and cisgender.Deena Johnsonof Netflix’sFear Streettrilogy breaks this mold.
She’s a lesbian woman of color whose main motivation throughout the trilogy is to save the life of her girlfriend, who has been possessed by a great evil.
Like her fellow final girls, Deena is brave, resourceful, and intelligent—but she also stands as an example that Hollywood is finally ready to explore other races and sexualities with this trope.
Related:The Best Horror Movies on Netflix With Jump Scares
7. Jess Bradford in Black Christmas (1974)
Jess Bradfordfrom 1974’sBlack Christmasis another early example of the Final Girl trope. But Jess is a rarity in the genre—she isn’t just one of the first final girls, but she’s one of its biggest transgressors.
In the early history of the trope, final girls were able to survive in part due to the “moral superiority” granted by their virginity.
But inBlack Christmas, Jess is a sexually active woman who decides to have an abortion despite her boyfriend’s opposition.
In any other slasher movie, that would be reason enough for her to be among the first victims. But here, she ends up being the sole survivor of her sorority house’s massacre.
She doesn’t defeat the villain in the end, but her feminist arc was instrumental in further development of the Final Girl trope.
Related:The Best Christmas Horror Movies to Watch This Year
6. Grace Le Domas in Ready or Not (2019)
Grace Le DomasfromReady or Notis a newlywed bride with the worst in-laws in the world. After she gets married, her husband’s family tells her she must play a game to be fully accepted into the family.
She draws her game from a puzzle box: Hide and Seek. But this isn’t an ordinary game of Hide and Seek. After she hides, the night rapidly turns deadly as the family hunts her down with guns.
When she realizes what’s going on, instead of giving up, she rips up her wedding dress and prepares for battle. Throughout the night, Grace proves to be a smart, strong, and brave young woman with a tireless will to survive.
Grace is one of the most recent iterations of the Final Girl trope, but she immediately made her mark on the genre by being one of the most relatable and funniest final girls in recent memory.
Related:The Best Death Game Movies: You Either Win or You Die
5. Erin Harson in You’re Next (2011)
Erin HarsonfromYou’re Nextis a perfect example of how the Final Girl trope has evolved in the new millennium. She’s strong, smart, and much more capable than the villains of her movie.
Erin was raised in a survivalist compound, so when a group of masked killers invades her boyfriend’s house, she’s more than ready to face the threat head-on.
She relies on her survival skills to defend herself and uses anything she can as weapons, allowing her to be the last one standing.
Related:The Best Female Anti-Heroes in Movies, Ranked
4. Nancy Thompson in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Nancy ThompsonfromA Nightmare on Elm Streetwas a highly revolutionary character when she debuted. She was the first final girl to actively defeat the villain and ensure her own survival.
Nancy isn’t a passive character who only reacts to the situations around her, but she proactively causes the plot to unfold. She looks for the information needed to guide her actions and prepares to defeat Freddy Krueger, even when no one believes her.
She doesn’t survive because she’s the “good girl” who stayed away from drugs, alcohol, and sex. Nancy survives because she’s clever, determined, and knows how to use the elements at her disposal to defeat one of the most dangerous horror villains in cinema.
Related:The Most Creative Deaths in Horror Movies, Ranked
3. Ellen Ripley in Alien (1979)
Yes, the protagonist of theAlienfranchise can be considered a final girl! But only in the first film. (In the sequels, she was less of a final girl and more of a badass action movie heroine.)
In the firstAlien, which is essentially a slasher film in space, she has all the characteristics of a final girl.
Ellen Ripleyis smart, assertive, and resourceful. She’s the only survivor of her team, and she manages to defeat the villain at the end of the movie.
Ripley is undoubtedly the most competent person aboard the Nostromo ship. If the crew had listened to her from the beginning, the alien wouldn’t even have been able to enter the ship.
Once the alien does board, Ripley takes control of the situation and defeats the intergalactic killer before it’s able to kill her, establishing herself as one of the most iconic final girls in cinema.
Related:The Best Monster Movies With Smart, Clever Creatures
2. Laurie Strode in Halloween (1978)
Laurie Strodefrom theHalloweenfranchise is the character to whom all final girls are compared. She might not be the first official final girl, but she’s certainly the most iconic of them all.
Brilliantly played by Jamie Lee Curtis across seven movies, Laurie Strode was one of the first female characters in horror cinema to have agency within her story.
She doesn’t just scream and run while waiting for a man to rescue her. Instead, she uses her intelligence to defend herself, protect those around her, and escape becoming a victim.
Laurie fights back and attacks Michael Myers with knitting needles and hangers, turning household objects that are traditionally associated with femininity into weapons of survival.
And, in doing so, she dismantled one of the largest cinema tropes of her time (the damsel in distress) and crafted a completely different one that we love to see today (the final girl).
Related:The Best Slasher Movies of All Time, Ranked
1. Sidney Prescott in Scream (1996)
Laurie Strode might’ve been the one who originated the Final Girl trope as we know it, butSidney Prescottperfected it.
In the 1990s, theScreamfranchise revolutionized and reinvigorated the horror genre in several ways, but its most important contribution to the genre has always been Sidney Prescott.
Sidney is a character who’s somehow able to mock the Final Girl trope while simultaneously embodying all of the trope’s best aspects.
Her character development and progression are unlike anything else in horror cinema of her time. She’s brilliantly clever and staunchly resolved to not be a victim of her trauma—and over the course of the franchise, she only becomes stronger.
And unlike Nancy Thompson, Ellen Ripley, or Laurie Strode, Sidney Prescott has never been killed off in any of theScreamsequels. No matter what, she always comes out on top.
For that reason alone, plus all the other reasons that make her such a great character, Sidney Prescott is the best horror movie final girl of all time, and we suspect she’ll hold that crown for a while longer.
Read next:The Best Modern Horror Movies Since 2000, Ranked
