The Fascination with the ‘Final Girl’ in Horror
As writers, we often walk a fine line between tropes and clichés. Sure, tropes may echo other books in the genre or feel predictable as you read them—but as Jennifer Hilt, author of the Trope Thesaurus series, writes, “a skillful application of tropes sells stories.” In her new multi-part guest series, Hilt explores standout tropes across a range of genres by breaking down a popular story into its many motifs. That trope isn’t tired; use it correctly, and you can connect with readers by using these familiar themes—and your audience’s expectations—to your advantage.
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The Horror genre is the study of monsters, but most importantly, it explores our relationships with them. People often think of slasher films as the only type of Horror story, but the Horror genre is so much more. Recently, stories have tackled themes like war, politics, and powerlessness alongside more classic Horror tropes, leading to a renaissance in this genre. According to The Guardian, Horror novel sales are booming, with sales increasing 54 percent year on year.
The “final girl” trope is a Horror genre staple where a vulnerable female is the only one left to battle the monster; she is outmatched in size, strength, and preparation. It's a form of the “woman in peril” trope, which often involves the female requiring rescue. In the “final girl” trope, the protagonist saves herself by facing her greatest fear. It's a cathartic ride for the audience when a less powerful character slays a monster. It connects back to shared vulnerabilities in the human condition; everyone fears something.
Want more “final girl” trope love? Check out Hollywood Reporter’s “Jodie Foster Has Heard the Longlegs Discourse—at the Gym.” For a deep dive in this topic, also read Carol J. Clover’s Men, Women, and Chain Saws.
As authors, our task is to decide:
- How are my characters vulnerable?
- How can I show that vulnerability in action?
- How can that vulnerability resonate with the audience?
To better understand this, we will examine the 2024 film Longlegs, where the final girl is a modern-day warrior recently assigned to the FBI serial killer squad. For other examples of final girl power, check out Silence of the Lambs, Grady Hendrix's The Final Girl Support Group, and Jordan Peele's Nope. Spoilers ahead!
In the 1980s, Lee Harper (final girl, fish out of water) joins the FBI serial killer task force. Her assignment (quest) is to discover why families have been dying inside their homes in murder-suicides with no forced entry (forced proximity, violence). Each victim's family has a daughter with a birthday on the thirteenth (victims). Harper and her boss’s daughter share this trait (ticking time bomb). Harper is also an inconsistent psychic (loner, scar) who still shares a rural property with her mother (forced proximity).
As she investigates the case, Harper eventually realizes that the murders are connected to a cult (found family, politics). She discovers Longlegs’s (antagonist, hidden identity) photo at her mother's home, awakening a memory of him visiting her (scar, secret). Longlegs, a doll-maker (antagonist), is arrested and commits suicide in front of Harper, revealing he has an accomplice (the con, red herring, ticking time bomb). Harper's mother (antagonist, hidden identity) murders Harper’s fellow agent. Then, she shoots Harper’s childhood doll, releasing a dark miasma. Harper collapses.
As Harper regains consciousness, Harper's mother describes becoming Longlegs’s murderous accomplice (blackmail) to spare Harper (final girl). Unsuspecting families opened their homes to Harper's mother, who delivered a possessed birthday doll (MacGuffin). Once inside the house (forced proximity), the doll infected the families with a murderous impulse (ticking time bomb).
A dazed Harper meets her mother at her boss’s daughter’s birthday party (victims). The doll has already infected her boss’s family (amnesia, violence). Harper (warrior) shoots her mother, fleeing the house with her boss's daughter (victim, scar). The doll remains intact (violence, ticking time bomb).
Tropes: amnesia, antagonist, blackmail, the con, final girl, fish out of water, forced proximity, found family, hidden identity, loner, MacGuffin, politics, quest, red herring, scar, secrets, suspects, ticking time bomb, victim, violence, warrior, woman in peril.
By the end of the movie, Harper is more than just a final girl; she's also a protector of her boss's daughter. She pleads with her mother to stop before she shoots her. In killing her mother, she destroys her family. Harper also damages the antagonist, but we're unsure if the monster is truly vanquished.
Harper is a final girl twice over, having escaped her childhood trauma only to revisit it as an FBI agent. Being a final girl means facing the frightening adult world. It requires losing childlike wonder and security because the character is thrust into survival mode.
As audience fans of the “final girl” trope, we're repressed trauma Doomsday preppers. Being a final girl is all about being prey, and Harper's journey allows us to feel that experience. It's cathartic for us because it's like a practice run; we leave the story thinking, “Yeah, I could've survived that.”
Wondering how valid female vulnerability is as a story vehicle? Check out this study by the Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Female Murder Victims and Victim-Offender Relationship, 2021.” Or better yet, ask any adult female how she feels about parking garages.
Showing a character's scars and slowly revealing her secrets are two ways we experience this vulnerability. Harper's scars are numerous. She's facing a violent serial killer and battling her past. Revealing her secret psychic power makes her more isolated from her peers. It's an essential reminder to us as storytellers to demonstrate our characters' scars and secrets. That's where we find their vulnerabilities—and exploiting those vulnerabilities generates conflict.
Think of Little Red Riding Hood as the original final girl. Like Little Red, Harper struggles with things that aren't as they appear. She assumes her mother is a haven until that belief becomes a nightmare. Meanwhile, she's suppressed her major traumatic childhood event. Harper is an FBI agent and a psychic, yet her trauma-induced amnesia blinds her to the monsters she was living with. Although she's an adult, she is still a child emotionally, and her mother is the Big Bad Wolf.
Unmasking the monsters that Little Red and Harper experience saves them. They don't come out of the process unchanged; however, their trust in their loved ones shatters. They survive by becoming murderers.
This cathartic journey is central to all Thrillers, not just Horror. This theme is also present in Domestic Thrillers, where the protagonists must kill a once-loved family member who has become a monster. Facing life-or-death stakes brings out survival instincts, and the “final girl” trope proves that being vulnerable isn't a terminal diagnosis. The devastation afterward is a tale for another day, but survival against the overwhelming odds is the mantra of the trope.
Jennifer Hilt