My Top 5: Final Girls

A main component of any Slasher movie is the Final Girl, shes the one that makes it all the way through the slashing and the stalking, usally, but not always, the reason for the stalking and slashing, but sometimes she's just the by stander thrust into the role.

Shes the one with the smarts and the brains, she can outwit the killer, whilst all her friends around her are dropping like flies, shes smart enough to arm herself in some way, or do the research, she can find a way to get to the killer before he can get to her, shes resourcefull and resliant but most of all shes a fighter, she refuses to go out without a bang, she WILL fight to end even if it kills her, but ulitmatly it doesnt and she may be the sole surviour or she has someone else to rely on in the end, but she's always the stand out with her "don't-fuck-with-me" attitude and her relateablilty.

In the early 80's it was all about being the sweet innocent virginal Final Girl, in the 90s they followed this same trend pretty much the same through slasher flicks, as was with the 00s, but slowly but surely they became less about sweet innocent virginal, to more of a tough girl with a generally harsh back story, or something happening within the movie that forces them into fight or flight mode, and trust me when i say THESE GIRLS WILL FIGHT !!!

SO here it is, my top 5 FINAL GIRLS !!

#5 - Ginny Field, Friday The 13th Part II (Played by Amy Steel)

Ginny: Come to mama.

Friday The 13th Part II has got to be one of my faves (apart from the constantly trashed Jason Takes Manhatten Friday the 13th) but its really my favourite cause of Amy steels performance and Final Girl Ginny Fields (Thou i do love also Jenson Daggats performance as Final girl Rennie in Jason Takes Manhatten) There is something about Ginny thats very typical Final Girl, she's sweet typically pretty she dresses oppropriatly and just look at that flowing locks of blonde hair, but also Ginny isnt the typical 80s final girl either which i find adheres her to aduiances alot as well, she's not typically virginal, she has sex in the movie (if i remember correctly, i haven't watched part 2 in awhile) but she is also in a steady relationship.

I find she is the 'put upon' final girl in no other reason then the fact that she kinda steps it up, she does all the 'right' things to a certain degree and she runs and screams like most girls but shes not always so 'stupid' about it that sometimes i find can be so gratting and hard to watch when a girl is running around screaming with her blouse flying open or completely butt naked, mind you on some of those occasions if i were Jason Vorhees i'd wanna stab them good a proper too for acting like such ninny's !!!

But i digress here, what i find is so memorable and what gives Ginny the number 5 spot on my list is those final moments in the movie, the last chase scenes and the show down between Ginny and Jason (look away now in case you haven't seen the movie cause SPOILERS AHEAD) She is the very typical final girl for me because she's smart and she uses her brain, and whilst she is FREAKED OUT like most people would be at the fact there are dead bodies everywhere and all her friends are dead, shes NOT going down without a fight.

And in a pivotal moment when she stumbles upon Jasons lear and his shrine to his dead mother (Pamlea Vorhees who is the orginal Killer in the first Friday movie) she shakingly picks up the jumper of Pamelas and pulls it on, thus convinving Jason that she's his mother and soothing him into dropping his gaurd, its a moment in movie history that i believe endeared her to FT13 fans everywhere, she uses her smarts and her will power to outsmart the killer, whilst Jason is touch and strong Ginny is just as tough and strong.

She fights back with gutso and in the end triumphs over a hulking killer like Jason who has super human strength, she's just an average pretty blonde girl, whos not so typical Final Girl, but still is the PERFECT Firday The 13th Final Girl, in lots of blogs and reviews i've read around she is one of the most popular final girls so its easy to understand why she's on my list !! just like everyone elses.

Side Note: Amy Steel also starred in Slasher flick April Fools Day (1986)

#4 - Julie James, I know what you did last summer/I still know what you did last summer (played by Jennifer Love Hewitt)

Julie: Why would he try to run you over? Why did he make coleslaw on Helen's head? He's fucking with us! He's just out there, and he's watching and waiting!
[screaming to the killer]
Julie: WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, HUH? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOOOOORRRR?

I know what you did last summer and I still know what you did last summer came out in the pinnicle of the Scream days, its noted that Scream and IKWYDLS are the films of the 90's that somewhat revived the slasher genre after the late 80s saw a drop in theatre releases for Slasher flims (alot of stuff bewteen the late 80's and early 90s slashers where straight to VHS/DVD and not very good).

Julie is the typical final girl again, at the start when they run over the guy and barry makes the decision to bury their secret shes admanet they not do this and go straight to the police, Barry basically bullies her into keeping the secret, and thus elevates Julie into become Final Girl a year later. what i liked so much about Julie, is the fact that A) she is played by the gorgeous Jennifer Love Hewitt who was a massive pull card for this movie with people hoping and praying to see her topless on the big screen (which to disappointment to most she didn't, but they did a good cleveage ariel shoot when shes screaming in the middle of the road) which then brings me to B) the fact that it gets to the point where she finds a dead body in the trunk of the car after Barry is almost run off the road and Helene has her chopped up while shes sleeping, that Julie just absolutly SNAPS and starts screaming in the middle of the road.

Also she is the typical Smart and resourceful Final girl, she doesnt just lie back and take it she goes into investigative mode, tracking down every piece of evidence she can about the guy they killed Last Summer !!! she also becomes the typical fighter in end when Helen and Barry are both dead and she's left with Ray who basically if i can recall correctly just seems to lumber around and get knocked out in the end, and is really of no real help to Julie, she fights the killer to the death on her own and over comes him in the end.

She's defiantly not a popular final girl and as i can note shes not really on anyones Final Girl List, so i think its time she got a bit of recognition, Jennifer Love Hewitt acts well, thou in I still know what you did last summer, she makes some stupid decision in the process of escaping the killer again, but she still has the essential something about her that makes me love her and root for her, i guess it helps that shes so damn good looking on screen, and just like all the good final girls she fights, while her friends in the first just want to ignore the situation and pretned nothing is wrong she takes control of the situation as best she can trying to get everyone to listen and understand that somethings not right, she was peer pressured into it by Barry and its also comforting to see he's gone nowhere a year later, while she'd managed to go off to collage and try make something of herself.

So thou she's not a popular Final GIrl, i think she's owed a bit of kudos for being the fighter she is and using her smarts the way she does and fighting her damn hardest to save her friends and then fights to the death to save herslelf !!!

Side Note: Jennifer Love Hewitt has played a multitude of charactors through out her career mostly noted for her role tv shows Party of Five and Ghost whisperer, she has really done many other slasher flicks aside from IKWYDLS and ISKWYDLS

#3 - Sydney Prescott, Scream 1,2,3 & 4 (Played by Neve Campbell)

Sidney Prescott: You forgot the first rule of remakes. Don't fuck with the original!

I honestly believe you cannot have a List of Final Girls without having Sidney Prescott in their somewhere, i mean look at HOW MANY TIMES she has survived, shes beaten a count of SEVEN psychotic killers wanting to stab her numerous time, she's suffered the god awful plotting that was scream 3 she is smart and resourceful and by scream 4 she is literally a take no shit final girl, she started out the meek mild sweet innocent Final Girl in the first scream, and as it progressed each time someone came for her she outwitted them to the point of being victor.

People wanna kill this girl bad, but she ain't gonna take that crap, and thou she had help from loveable Officer Dewey and Bad Ass reporter Gale Weathers, it was really just her and the killer in a final show down alone, and she out smarted them EVERY TIME! which makes you ask why did people keep going after her SURELY they'd see after 2 or 3 times, bitch ain't going down she will kill you and she will kill you good !!

It not usual to get the same final girl through out a series, just look at the multitude of final girls in the friday the 13th movies, or nightmare on elm street, even the wrong turn movies have a different Final Girl each movie, i guess it really all does depend upon the actress if she wants to come back or if the director even wants to bring her back, but this is what i most enjoy about the scream movies especailly the first and the fourth one, you look at sidney at the start, she seems to meek and mild like she could never hurt anyone, but forced into it as she is in the end with everyone out for the count she's left to take on two psychotic killers all on her own and pushed through to triumph by the fourth time shes so tough and hard shes not scared of anyone or anything, faced down with killer as she is in the end she make all the right moves and defeats them in the end too, if they ever make a fifth one i would actually like to see them turn sidney into the killer, i mean come on after how many attempts on your life, your bound to snap right !!

but honestly she is strong sincere and tough, your rooting for her all the way to number 4, you ponder if maybe they are ready to kill her off and BAM she triumphs again, its even alluded to in scream 3 that ANYONE can die and ALL BETS ARE OFF, but she still pushes through and thank god cause then we got the delicious morsel that is Scream 4, there are a number of victums that come and go within the scream movies, most that if you watch carefully make the genral mistakes that will ultimatly lead to your death, though sidney in her numerous run in with the masked killer has made a few of these mistakes shes smart enough to also be aware of her surroundings and fixes one mistake with brillance and smarts, though in one point she may run up stairs (which endlessly has me tearing my hair out in these movies) she still counteracts this but barracading herself in her room so the killer cant get in, she uses her COMPUTER to contact 911 instead of screaming pointlessly down a phone.

and on numerous occasions when the killer calls her she doesnt just whimper down the phone she bites back and him, challenging him, and in the final show downs she's witty in her banter with the killer, she shows spunk and i wont back down to you attitude, i really do adore her, so why is she not number 1 you ask, well that takes us to the #2 spot !!!

#2 Jessie Burlingame, Wrong Turn (Played by Eliza Dushku)

Jessie: Carly, look at me, OK? Scott died protecting us. We need to keep ourselves alive, or it was for nothing. OK? We're all in this together, Carl. Come on.
Carly: [whimpering] I want him back.
Jessie: I know, I know. Carl, look at me, OK? Look. We're gonna stay alive. We're gonna get out of this. We're gonna get out of these woods, we're gonna find the police and we're gonna make sure those motherfucks are punished for this. OK?

For a long time the scream movies where like my little slasher security blankets, I'd wanna curl up at night with sidney prescott around knowing if any psychotic killers came a knocking she'd be right there while i laughed in the face of danger, then ran a hid till it went away, but then an odd little movie called wrong turn came out in 2003 and its little draw card for me was Eliza Dushku on the front cover, now i find the Wrong Turn movies tend to have their final girls on the front cover, and let me tell you if you thought sidney prescott was on tough cookie, Jessie is just as bad ass and dealing with cannibals that wanna eat her for their main course !!!

its hard to chose between Jessie and my number 1 final girl, they are both very dear to my heart and i like to think they went on to live happy lives away from Hillbillie Hell !!! Jessie is the orginal wrong turn final girl, and she is by far the less whiney of them, thou their really is only 2 main final girls, and one accidental final girl, but jessie get amped up as the movie goes along, she feel responsible for the death of her friends and refuses to let it all be in vain, she wants these cannibals to pay and pay she does make them.

Bloodied bruised and battered running around unknown woods that the cannibals know like the back of their misshapen deformed hands, shes smart and resourceful like all my final girls should be !!!! she gets hell bent on revenge like i said she feels responsible for the death of her friends, she was the reason they where out in the middle of nowhere in the first place, but instead of this turning her into to some whimpering idiot like her friend Carly becomes, shes pushed into being a fight refuses to go down with out a fight and letting a bunch of backwards Hillbillies win !!!

she has help in the form of Chris who is the stronger one from the beginning i think was the main focus as 'final' charactor but there is something about Jessie by the end she hasnt given up she doesnt sink into disspear when all her friends are dead, she fights along side Chris and fights hard, though if i do remember correctly Chris ultimatly defeats the last Hillbillie standing (or so they think) but she's still just as resourceful as Chris is !!!

she's the kind of final girl that once you've watched Wrong Turn as much as i have you know she's one tough cookie shes beautiful and smart and resourceful she's everything that makes a final girl A FINAL GIRL!!!

And so we come to the number 1 final girl...

#1 - Nina Papas, Wrong Turn 2 (Played by Erica Leerhsen)

Jake: Nice ride. You want to take it for a spin?
Nina Papas: Why not? It's the least this fucked up family owes us.

"Why her" i hear you screaming, possibly turning off your computers in disgust never to return to my page again, well not calm down and hear me out, to be honest with you i didn't like Nina charactor when i first saw Wrong Turn 2, she was rude and mean and harsh, she seemed like a nobody bitch that would get killed off early, but i was wrong (turn).

whilst she does have her pitfalls as a final girl, and most people wouldn't even think about her let alone rate her a mention, she's different, and its only just recently in re watches of number 2 that this movie has become my favourite movie as you'd have read in my previous review (I mean come on Hillbillie wearing a dead guys scalp on his head like a tupee aside) she really is the typical resourcefull final girl, she's tough on the inside whilst she is very fragile and trying to work through alot of things, thinking a stint on a reality show to win enough money to free herself up from the debut her ex-douchbag boyfriend left her in after cheating on her with one of her friends, shes a little broken and shes not all that TYPICAL Final Girl, she's not sweet and innocent and virginal, she's harsh and broken and wrong in all her own ways, she adheres to ME so well because SHE IS ME!!! she's so damaged that she wanted to die but in the face of death with all her fears and insecurities shes IS TOUGH and she IS A FIGHTER !!

She hunted and chased through the woods endlessly, and when she is captured by the Hillbillies they DON'T kill her instead imprison her in a cage like a PET she watches in horror as all her dead friends are chopped up and throwen into a giant pot of human parts stew, she gets knocked out and then strapped into a chair with barb wire to be force fed said human stew !!! she watches and nice guy Jake is tied and jabbed at with a knife, bleeding mildy but not enough to kill him, she is rescued by tough as nails army guy Dale only for him to die saving her and jake, which leaves them left standing, and as Jake gets caught in a final show down between mumma and pappa Hillbillie, Nina makes a run for it, at this point in orginally watching the movie i was sooooooooo mad at her i mean come on she was going so well up until that point and then to just leave nice guy jake like that, but thank god she came barrelling back in and helped Jake over come those damn cannibals to ride of into the sunset in a nice shiney red ferrari.

she seems to scattered to begin with and its hard to understand her with first viewing, its once you KNOW her back story that you start to feel for her and it takes re viewings and watching her in the beginning AND knowing her back story that she makes sense and after a few watches i started to go OMG SHE'S ME !!! she's exactly the kind of final girl i would be, scattered and seeming kinda of weak, most people would look at me just like they look at her and go, she's just a damn rude bitch who will die off quickly, till you find out more about her and you watch her grow and become this new person, story and smart and resourceful the moment she comes barrelling back into save Jake after she's run away you see that look in her eyes, and she's the Final Girl she was always meant to be,

she over comes her weakness and her fear of death, she realizes she wants to live and fights to the damn end to be there and to be alive !! and her co- final pilot in Jake helps to, he does alot of the tough fighting in the end and he does over come the Hillbillies in the end because Nina comes back, but he's greatful of her and understanding of her, even when she is such a bitch to him in the beginning, and this is why i love her so much because SHE IS ME !! and you want her to succeded and over come everything and to be that smart resourcful Final Girl !!!

Side Note: Erica Also stared in The Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 and The Texas Chainsaw Massacure remake (2003)

So there you have it, my low down of my top 5 Final Girls, they are an intergrul part of any slasher movie, that someone you can relate to see yourself in his or her shoes, you cry you laugh and you fight right there with them, thats what makes them FINAL GIRLS !!!

(Honurable Mentions go to: Gale Weathers, Scream 1,2,3,& 4 (Played by Courtney Cox) Though not a main Final Girl she is co-pilot to Sidney Prescotts Final Girl and she is pretty kick ass. Clay Miller, Friday The 13th (2009) (Played by Jarad Padalecki) he's not a Final 'Girl' but he makes a verrrrrrrry suitable Final Boy, plus THOSE ARMS !!! i mean come on. Laurie Strode, Halloween 1&2, H20 and ressurection, (Played by Jamie Lee Curtis) one of the very first slasher flicks, making her one of the very first Final Girls, she is everything that is typical of a final girl !!)