Today’s Final Girls are much more than just virginal screaming crying women who run through the woods and fall to the ground waiting for the killer or monster to eat them whole while their men come to the rescue. Today’s final girls have to be tough, they have to be independent, and surely enough they have to be fierce, and the final girl has been refined over the years from the prey to the predator. Some of our favorite modern final girls we’re putting in this list are women we considered listing as scream queens, but while they do fit the mold of scream queens, they do much more than just scream and run. They fight back, they cause trouble, and surely enough they kick enormous amounts of ass, regardless of whether they live to see the end of the movie. The title of final girl was once just a tagline to best describe the final female character of the horror movie that ended up either living to see the end until a grizzly fate, or fight back enough to see a few sequels until the writers got sick of her and moved on to someone younger.
Folks like Heather Langenkamp, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Adrienne King made famous the device which was then refined and re-worked with Sigourney Weaver in “Alien” who was very much a final girl but did much more than run away from the monster screaming and crying. Women like Debbie Rochon turned the formula from there on in and especially Wes Craven decided to turn the final girl in to something of a heroine as we saw in Neve Campbell, then Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Sarah Polley. These are only a few of the modern Final Girls you should be looking out for, and some you’ve likely grown to adore over the years, and we pay homage to the final girls of the new millennium adding a new dimension to what was once considered a laughable plot device for a horror film.
Final Girls and scream queens are not all meant for mainstream success. Like directors of the genre, they’re meant to be on the fringes of the cinema circle like Linnea Quigley and Debbie Rochon, always playing to the crowd and supplying a reason for the killer or evil menace to stomp around and seek victims in their warpaths. Modern Final Girls are much more than panty wastes. They’re heroines. They’re independence. And they fight back against the male dominant monster with as much gusto as possible. What with the affordability of filmmaking becoming easier and easier over the years and new directors popping up every minute to show us their chops, there’s a good chance we have many more scream queens and final girls waiting in the wings to show us their screeches and combat skills. These are only a few we avidly admire and root for.
Danielle Harris
Ms. Harris has been a scream queen/final girl since she was a child, taking great lengths to express her survival tactics while also confronting the shape in “Halloween IV” and “Halloween V” as Jamie Lloyd, the tortured young relative of Michael he committed his days toward snuffing off the face of the planet. The troubled young adopted girl with a wide smile finds herself at knife’s end from uncle Michael who seeks out to destroy every inch of her life murdering her relatives, and then turning her in to a killer herself.
Fans of horror were exposed to the dynamic screaming power of Harris and a successor to Jamie Lee Curtis emerged. Harris went on to a memorable cameo in “Urban Legend” as an ill-fated Goth, and went face to face with Michael in Rob Zombie’s “Halloween” remake and its sequel as Annie Bracket, and since has appeared in many horror films like “Cyrus,” “Blood Night” and is now taking on the role of scream queen supreme with a lead role in “Hatchet II,” and many more horror movies to come. Harris is a favorite among horror fans displaying a sense of vulnerability matched with a fierce independence that makes her a horror heroine you can root for and she’s embraced the fandom well.
Monica Keena
Even before dabbling in the horror genre, Monica Keena won the hearts and minds of all fan boys alike in her starring role on the short lived dramedy “Undeclared” and since then has been slowly and steadily been working her way in to the fold as a bonafide scream queen and final girl. Busty, pouty, absolutely beautiful and with a killer shriek and an admirable sense of innocence, Keena wet her feet with “Snow White: A Tale of Terror” and went balls to the wall as the troubled Lori Campbell who had the unfortunate task of trying to stay alive as horror titans Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhes waged war in “Freddy vs. Jason” while also protecting John Ritter’s son and the girl from Destiny’s Child whose name everyone forgets.
Since then, Keena played a troubled apartment dweller in the horror thriller “Long Distance” about a killer terrorizing her over the phone, and now can be seen playing college student Maddie in the remake of the 1988 cult classic “Night of the Demons” alongside other gorgeous vixens kicking demon ass and taking names. Who knows what else is in store for Keena? But with much more cult and horror flicks under her belt, we’re looking out for her to do battle with more monsters and ghouls in the future.
Niki Rubin
Trained in stunt work and martial arts as well as Yoga, Niki Rubin is a scream queen and final girl quickly making her way in the horror genre starring in many independent horror films that test her ability to be bad and dangerous. With her stone cold gaze and irresistible allure, Rubin has a knack for playing the bad girls and she does it with zeal. Among other films, Niki can be seen in films like “Zombies Anonymous,” “Blood and Sex Nightmare,” the thriller “Eat Your Heart Out,” the short film “There’s a Maniac in my House!” Most recently starred in the exceptional indie slasher “Frat House Masssacre” where Rubin was able to cut loose as the conniving femme fatale Diana.
A character who is at first the victim of her frat leader boyfriend’s misdeeds against his brothers and soon starts plotting against other characters behind the scenes beating the crap out of two inept stoners, engaging in many cat fights with her rivals, and playing a bigger role in the overall narrative. Rubin steals the show in an otherwise excellent slasher film and seventies throwback. She can soon be seen in “The Turnpike Killer,” the vampire film “The One” re-teaming with “Frat House Massacre’ director Alex Pucci, and is co-starring in “Bikini Bloodbath Christmas,” the final film in the horror comedy series by Thomas Edward Seymour. To top that she has considerable geek cred playing Catwoman in a series of short fan films, and is the model for the comic book character Lady Action where she appears in conventions, comic shops and festivals across the country.
America Olivo
The beautiful and busty trained opera singer was first seen in the much hyped and critically mixed indie film “Bitchslap” where she played the martial arts psycho lesbian Camero, one of three insanely sexy vixens looking for buried treasure in the searing desert, beating on sexist men, and munching on nuns on her spare time. Since then Ms. Olivo, has slowly been building a status as a big name for horror starring in “The Thirst: Blood War,” the remake of “Friday the 13th,” and even went full throttle as a temptress and psychotic sadist playing The Girl in the direct to DVD horror film “Neighbor” starring alongside husband Christian Campbell. The much sought after Playboy and Maxim centerfold has slowly built her resume in films like “The Last Resort,” and the murder mystery “Circle,” and is garnering a well deserved status as the bad girl often reveling in human misery rather than running for her life.
Amber Heard
Amber Heard, the sultry smoking blond bombshell from Texas made her debut in the much delayed and rarely seen slasher film “All the Boys Love Mandy Lane” as the exhausted and cynical beauty Mandy Lane who through the film is being chased by every guy in front of her, including one who is knocking off potential suitors as a tribute to her. Since then, Heard has stormed America cinema with roles in horror films like “Zombieland” as the ill-fated sexy neighbor 406 who turns to Columbus for a shoulder to cry on only to awaken the next day trying to chew his face off.
She was also seen as sexy girlfriend Kelly in “The Stepfather” remake, and is currently starring alongside another beauty Odette Yustman in the horror thriller “And Soon the Darkness,” a remake of the seventies classic about a kidnapping and a race against time. She can also currently be seen in the festival film hit “The Ward” from John Carpenter, and will soon be speeding down the highway with Nic Cage in the supernatural revenge film “Drive Angry 3D.” It’s not horror, but babes and cars go together like strawberries and whipped cream. She is also being sought after for the controversial “Hellraiser” remake currently in the works. Though off limits to male admirers, Heard is in our good graces nonetheless.
Roxy Vandiver
Roxy Lee Vandiver is one of the rare breed of hard rock final girls who slowly but steadily is making her way in to the horror consciousness with her depiction of strong but vulnerable heroines. She could be seen in “Witchcraft 13” as Keely and in the middling slasher film “Spirit Camp” as the troubled Nikki who comes face to face with a serial killer while attending cheerleading camp. She can also be seen in “Killer School Girls from Outer Space” and soon “Renfeild The Undead.” A rare combination of sexy, fierce, and independent, with an edge which echoes in her escapades behind the scenes where she’s infamous for her unabashed sexuality and wild antics. Vandiver is making waves and she’s not stopping any time soon.
Diora Baird
There’s no doubt that Diora Baird is a bonafide scream queen and final girl. Baird has a unique combination of pure raw sexual appeal while also never afraid to show off her abilities to make fans laugh. Quite popular among Twitterers (including myself), Baird is known for her hysterical bon mots (often riffing on being in “Star Trek” but never actually seen) as well as her pure willingness to express her sexuality for her fans posing for dozens of magazines putting on display her curves and truly awe inspiring bust. Baird can be seen on the net where she lets her legions of drooling male fans (present) in on her film shoots and personal life.
But for anyone looking for Baird flexing her horror bone in film, she can be seen as the often tortured Bailey in “Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning” the inept heroine of the horror comedy spoof “Stan Helsing,” and as the alcoholic vampire hunter Amber in “30 Days of Night: Dark Days.” She can currently be seen in the much talked about “Night of the Demons” remake where she dons a cat costume (have mercy) alongside the equally sexy Bobbi Sue Luther (hurt me), and is currently talking non-stop about her role in the upcoming crime thriller “Transit” playing one in a group of bank robbers stalking a hapless family unwittingly holding their money. Baird is not going away anytime soon, so get comfortable. I sure am.
Tiffany Shepis
“Sex and gore go hand and hand. I have no problem with nudity. You guys wanna see tits and ass with your blood and gore.” With almost 100 titles to her credit and a full fledged cult following, native fellow New Yorker Tiffany Shepis is in the league of heavyweights like Debbie Rochon, a woman who has a combination of raw sexual appeal and trashy that appeals to the entire horror fan base who can go either way. Garnering an experience in dance starring in music videos, Shepis is not above indulging her fan base and knows how to appeal to the horror heart with as much charisma and nods to the followers as possible. With dark eyes, a stern on-screen presence, and unabashed attraction, Shepis has been in a slew of horror films, some forgettable, some absolutely memorable.
She can currently be seen in the remake of “Night of the Demons” as a bouncer, but can also be found in titles like “Dorm of the Dead,” “Tromeo and Juliet,” “Bryan Loves You,” “Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!,” “Dark Reel,” “Abominable” and… we can be here all day naming her roles. Suffice it to say she’s won the hearts and desires of many horror geeks, and Shepis is not about to stop any time soon, appearing in magazines, television, and the like, proving to be one of the legendary scream queens, and shame on you if you’ve yet to discover her.
Ruby LaRocca
Fans of underground cinema know instantly who Ruby LaRocca is and the New Jersey native has managed to make waves in horror and cult film starring alongside Misty Mundae on horror schlock and erotica, making a name for herself almost instantly. LaRocca’s filmography is already a lengthy list of festival films and xXx horror films, all of which display the talents of the beauty who is a mixture of sensuous and ferocity all the while putting on display her knack for hard rock and goth fashion that she proudly wields and her fanbase has grown more and more each year.
She can be seen in films like “The Sexy Sixth Sense,” 2003’s “Dr. Jekyll and Mistress Hyde,” 2007’s “Skin Crawl,” 2008’s “Faces of Schlock,” and will soon be seen in “Scream Queen Campfire,” another anthology where she’s sure to shine. And we’ve barely scratched the surface in this rising star’s career. The woman is a beauty and she’s definitely one for playing with the beast.