Clover’s Theory: The Final Girl

The Final Girl Theory is a concept within thriller and horror films, that specifically refers to the last woman or girl alive to confront the killer, who then is left to tell the story. A common plot line in many horror films, particularly prior to the 1990s, is where a series of victims get killed off one by one leaving which builds up the climax in which the last person standing from the group, a female, either defeats the killed or gets away.
According to Clover the final girl in many typical horror fillm plots share a common characteristic, she is typically sexually unavailable or virginal and they sometimes have a unisex name, such as, Teddy, Billie, Georgie, Sidney. Also, occasionally the final girl has a shared history with the killer, for example, in Halloween II, Michael Myers is revealed to be the brother of Laurie Strode, in Scream 1, Sidney Prescott’s boyfriend, Billy Loomis, is the killed and in Scream 3, the killed is revealed to be Roman Bridger, half brother of Sidney. The final girl is the ‘investigating consciousness’ of the film, moving the narrative forward and as such, she exhibits intelligence curiosity and vigilance.

The final girl theory has been used in dozens of horror films, including:

Friday the 13th (2009)

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

A white film poster of a man holding a large chainsaw, with a screaming woman fastened to a wall behind him. The writing on the poster says, "Who will survive and what will be left of them?"; "America's most bizarre and brutal crimes!"; "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"; "What happened is true. Now the motion picture that's just as real. "

Final Destination (2000)

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

Hellraiser (1987)

The Strangers (2008)

Terror Train (1980)

Event Horizon (1997)

Picture of spacecraft with the text "Infinite size, Infinite Terror"

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

Resident Evil (2002)

A black and red picture shows Alice standing back to back with Rain. Alice is holding a machine gun and wearing a red dress, cutaway showing a skirt. The tagline below reads "Survive the horror".

These final girls’ confront the object of horror within their film. They all follow the stereotype of the final girl as they start off ordinary and innocent or as for Wendy from ‘The Shining’ maternal and then lead to protecting themselves with a weapon, giving a sense of sudden masculinity.

Alien (1979), Ellen Ridley