A popular horror movie trope, the so-called final girl is the last woman — and, often, the only protagonist — left alive to confront, survive, and otherwise escape the killer at the end of the film. More often than not, he is the main character and uses a combination of cunning, brute force and luck to make it out alive.
But while the expectation is that the last girl will always triumph over evil and save the day, some horror franchises, and especially the slashers among them, have made a nasty habit of making their heroines give a little twist to the their sequels. or kicks. Whether the material has gone stale, the audience needs a shock, or the actress is simply tired of being the show’s lead, some of the latter’s most important girls eventually meet an unfortunate end.
These eight undisputed villains just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But, hey, that’s the fickle world of horror moviemaking — chances are, they won’t be dead for long.
One of Freddy Krueger’s first would-be victims and a pioneer of a new breed of strong horror movie heroines, Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) was the ultimate girl by default twice in the same movie — A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984). ).
A teenage Nancy outsmarts Freddy by bringing him out of the dream world and into the real one, where he kills almost everyone except her, before Nancy defeats him and returns everything to normal. However, in a twist ending, the clawed cretin returns and kills Nancy’s mom right before the credits roll, leaving Nancy as the final girl once again.
Fast forward seven years, to Nightmare 3: Dream Warriors (1987), and Nancy returns, this time as a twenty-something therapist dedicated to studying dreams, healing nightmare victims, and keeping that red and black striped sweater. This time, Nancy almost makes it to the end of the film, making a sojourn to the dream world to kill Freddy for good. Unfortunately, he pulls a fast one and stabs her in the stomach, leaving her with enough life to pin him in his own gauntlet.
Sure, Nancy’s dead, but what’s better than putting an end to the big bad once and for all? At least that was the idea…
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