The 10 Best Final Girls In Horror Movies

7. Sally Hardesty – “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre”
There’s a tendency with some horror movie audiences to watch with an ironic detachment and place themselves in the position of the “final girl.” Not necessarily from the standpoint that the filmmaker intended, but from a scoff, followed by, “Well, if that were me, I would [insert your plan here].” While no shortage of bad slasher movies would that take that position, “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” is not one of those films. ‘TCSM’ keeps you on your toes, because the movie expertly places you so firmly in Sally Hardesty’s (Marilyn Burns) disorienting and relentlessly-terrified perspective, it makes it difficult even to question whether or not she is making the right decisions. It’s safe to say that Sally has the worst day of her life, losing all of her friends to a family of cannibals, chased around the house by a crazed lunatic with a chainsaw. Amongst this horror, she witnesses (or at least the audience does) the “flower power” era come to a complete end right before her eyes. The unforgiving visceral jolt of Sally’s experience— and the earned relief of her escape from the Sawyer homestead— makes her one of the more tragic final girls. Despite her survival, her primal scream from the back of the getaway truck tells us that life will never be the same again. – Ryan Oliver

6. Mandy Lane – “All the Boys Love Mandy Lane”
If you want to get deep into final girl subversion, Mandy Lane is your girl. One of Amber Heard’s most underrated roles, Mandy seems like a true-blue, virginal final girl until the film reveals its twist-within-a-twist. Likewise, “All the Boys Love Mandy Lane” is packaged as a standard slasher—it follows a group of rowdy, horny teenagers at a remote party—but its ending delivers a surprise that fans of the genre will undoubtedly appreciate. Slasher lovers will also dig that the film’s director, Jonathan Levine, drew inspiration from Tobe Hooper’s “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” for Mandy Lane’s killer confrontations and rural setting. It might not be the most high-brow debut, but Levine and his cast give this subversive tale their all, and it shows. Mandy also gets the coveted number six spot because she was caught in development hell for seven years before finding her way into the world in 2013. Sure, this film might’ve been a lot more revolutionary if it’d been released in 2006 as intended—but I’d watch Mandy fuck shit up any year. –LW

5. Jess Bradford – “Black Christmas”
Complex and unsettling, the fate of Jess Bradford (Olivia Hussey) at the end of “Black Christmas” is not one that goes down easy. Many slasher films end with ambiguity in regards to the fate of the killer (which won’t be spoiled her, since “Black Christmas” is less ubiquitous than the most popular slashers and should be sought after immediately), but it’s safe to say that it’s not a satisfying catharsis. One of the most common slasher tropes (mostly popularized by “Halloween” four years later) is that the “virginal” — or “pure” — the heroine is the one that gets out alive, and those who violate that quote-unquote code meets their end. Jess is more straight-laced than her fellow sorority sisters, but she is not a virgin, and thus “Black Christmas” feels like one long terribly dark joke on its protagonist by her making virtually every right decision throughout the film, yet despite survival, it still feels like as big a punishment as being killed. She’s smart, strong means well, and is fighting for her life as well as the lives of her friends, as their seemingly safe bubble is shattered by this unknown intruder. As bleak as her story becomes, Jess Bradford remains an important and unique final girl, subverting the well-known slasher conventions and confronting terrible men head-on. – RO