What Is a Final Girl?
A Final Girl is a trope and character archetype associated with the horror genre and sometimes more specifically the slasher subgenre (although Final Girls aren’t limited to slasher films).
One crucial element to a Final Girl is they’re the protagonist and survivor of a film with a body count (hence, why they often appear in slasher films). A cast of characters are slowly killed off by the film’s antagonist and, in most cases, the Final Girl has to face the antagonist head on, after trying to evade them throughout the film and always narrowly escaping. Typically, the Final Girl bests or kills the antagonist and lives to see another day (and sometimes a sequel if not several sequels).
This trope/archetype was especially popular in 1980s horror films, but you’ll still find Final Girls in many movies today. Because of this, screenwriters are always looking to put a new spin on the Final Girl and this presents a challenge: how do you create one that’s fresh and different from their predecessors? And how do you make the reader connect with and care about them?
But before we give tips on how to write a Final Girl, let’s take a look at some past examples.
Adrienne King in 'Friday the 13th'
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The year 1974 is ground zero for this trope. Two groundbreaking horror films were released featuring Final Girls: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Black Christmas. Sally Hardesty (TCM) and Jess Bradford (BC) are introduced as relatable young women and they both have to go through a horrific ordeal as a slasher killer slowly murders their friends. Both women are the lone survivor of their ordeal after being pursued by their respective slashers (Leatherface and Billy).
However, Sally and Jess both have qualities that don’t entirely align with what would become the atypical Final Girl. Sally survives her ordeal with the help of some passing truckers and Jess kills a character she believes to be the killer, but then it’s suggested it was someone else (via the film’s dark and ambiguous ending). With respect to both these characters, the true model of a Final Girl is the most famous one of them all: Laurie Strode.
Created by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, the iconic heroine of Halloween and brought to life by Jamie Lee Curtis, Laurie Strode is the archetypical Final Girl. Although Dr. Loomis does ultimately save her life at the end, several times in the third act, Laurie manages to evade or best Michael Myers as he tries to kill her and she proves to be a more difficult target than her friends (who he easily dispatched earlier in the film).
Laurie is also the quintessential Girl-Next-Door, which itself is an archetype and oftentimes compounded with the Final Girl, especially throughout the 1980s when slasher films were at their peak of popularity. She’s also a virgin and shown to be more virtuous than her friends; another Final Girl characteristic throughout the 1980s.
Although owing a huge debt to Halloween, it’s the original Friday the 13th that perfected the Final Girl formula with the protagonist Alice. Sharing many of the characteristics of Laurie Strode, Alice is also the survivor of her horrific ordeal. However, unlike Laurie, Alice isn’t saved by anyone and moreover she kills the antagonist, Mrs. Voorhees.
This more specific formula would appear in numerous slasher films, including the following Final Girls: Chris Higgins (Friday the 13th Part III), Nancy Thompson (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Tracy Cotton (Hellraiser) and Alice Johnson (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master). Although Jason, Freddy and Pinhead were resurrected in subsequent films, they were all defeated by the above ladies.
The slasher killer might return, but it’s always treated as a victory when the Final Girl faces and beats them at the climax (a suggestion of their return saved for the epilogue).
Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox in 'Scream 2'
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In the 1990s the Final Girl was viewed as a formulaic convention and with the meta horror classic Scream, the convention was not only addressed, it was subverted. Not only are there two female protagonists who survive (Sidney Prescott and Gale Weathers), there are also two male survivors (Dewey Riley and Randy Meeks).
Sidney, Gale and Dewey would become a surviving trio for the first run of sequels, cementing a new formula in which you didn’t have to be a sole survivor to be considered a Final Girl: you simply had to be a female protagonist who’s wise to the antagonist and overcomes them at the end of the film. This updated formula would also be apparent in the I Know What You Did Last Summer and Final Destination series.
The virginal nature of the Final Girl is also something that has been left in the past. Today, the modern Final Girl is more complicated and not a projection of what a “good girl” should be. For example, in Ti West’s X, the Final Girl is the opposite of a virgin: Maxine is an aspiring adult film star.
Another good example of a contemporary Final Girl is Sienna Shaw of the Terrifier films. Although she’s a clear extension of the classic model, she’s tougher and more rough around the edges. Even Laurie Strode herself received a modern reworking in David Gordon Green’s Halloween trilogy: the former Girl-Next-Door now a darker character battling trauma and her own demons.
Sigourney Weaver in 'Alien'
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If you’re going to look at a Final Girl to model your character after, I wouldn’t focus on the protagonists of slasher films. In fact, in my opinion the greatest and least dated Final Girl isn’t in a slasher but a Sci-Fi horror: Ellen Ripley.
When the first Alien was released, it was in 1979 (a year between the original Halloween and Friday the 13th respective releases), however, Ripley would still work today as a protagonist. So much so, that every time there’s a new Alien film, there’s the inevitable lead female character comparison and let’s just say this: Ripley’s status among the franchise’s fanbase is secure.
Of course with the sequel Aliens, Ripley evolved into being a full-fledged action heroine, but in the first film she has many of the classic Final Girl characteristics: lone survivor of a horror film with a body count, wise to the antagonist, faces them head-on, defeats them, kills them, etc. These traits aside, Ripley never feels like an archetypical or stock character. Being a Warrant Officer of a spaceship, she’s definitely not a Girl-Next-Door (screenwriter Dan O’Bannon didn’t even cite the character’s gender in early drafts).
Ripley is written as a private person, who doesn’t reveal much about herself and yet we get a sense of her intelligence and fortitude as the xenomorph ordeal unfolds. Even though she’s not signposted as the protagonist, we slowly but surely start to trust her and connect with her. By the film’s thrilling climax, we’re totally with Ripley and hoping she bests the beast.
Because of all this, Ripley is more than just a Final Girl: she’s a great character, period.
And this is how you should be thinking when writing your Final Girl.
Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund in 'A Nightmare on Elm Street'
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So following the Ripley model, don’t be thinking in terms of any specific formula or convention, but rather ask yourself: ‘How do I create a compelling protagonist readers will empathize with and root for?’ Regardless of the genre, this is a question you should be asking yourself, but in a horror or thriller, it’s especially important because if we don’t connect or care about the protagonist, we won’t be emotionally invested in their survival.
In a Horror/Thriller, at a certain point, your protagonist’s desire to survive will become their primary goal. Most of us fear death and/or the loss of a loved one, so this is a powerful emotion to tap into (and it’s one of the reasons horror films resonate with audiences).
Your protagonist’s fear should reflect your own fears: don’t be frightened to get personal when thinking about what scares you. Are you scared of heights? Tight spaces? Drowning? Others are likely to fear these things as well and you’ll make them feel what your protagonist feels and whatever ordeal you’ve created will be scarier.
By building tension and suspense and keeping your protagonist in constant peril, you’ll make it clear what the external stakes are for them: life and death. However, even before your protagonist is wise to the threat, the reader needs to identify with them and see a reflection of themselves.
At the early outlining stages, think about your protagonist and what their emotional through line is: what is their most defining internal conflict? Are they a lonely person? Are they inhibited? Privileged? Wrestling with trauma? Grief? Social shaming? Addiction? Whatever they’re underlying issues are, they should be resolved via confronting and defeating the antagonist.
The more we move away from the Girl-Next-Door archetype, the more opportunities we have to create a Final Girl with greater complexity. In the same way films like Scream and X built upon and subverted the Final Girl trope, you have an opportunity to do the same. As a screenwriter you should always be looking for new ways into old stories and creating a different kind of Final Girl will accomplish this.
Ultimately, a Final Girl is a protagonist of a Horror/Thriller and they shouldn’t be thought of in any way more restrictive than that. The most important thing is making the reader emotionally invest in them — even before they’re running away or fighting back — and making their victory a well-earned one.