We realize it’s not Halloween anymore, but we still wanted to assemble a list of our favorite Final Girls. For those unfamiliar with what a Final Girl is, it refers to the female character who is the sole survivor in a slasher film and is left to confront the killer. We’re fans of horror movies and love the Final Girl trope even more. While it’s a favorite, we couldn’t help but notice that it’s also a genre that doesn’t typically recognize its women of color as Final Girls.
Don’t get us wrong; we love our Final Girls like Sydney Prescott and Laurie Strode, but we also recognize that women of color can be Final Girls in their own right. We sat back and thought about all of the horror flicks we’ve seen where a woman of color remains standing when all is said and done. We wanted to take some time to recognize those Final Girls who don’t get the props they deserve because, contrary to what anyone may think, we can survive the killer in the end.
Vampire in Brooklyn, Rita, 1995
Rita, played by the icon Angela Bassett, is a baddie. She takes no mess from anyone. She’s a take-charge Police detective trying to stop a murderer in Brooklyn who happens to be a vampire named Max, played by Eddie Murphy. She does all of this while battling generational trauma. She learns that her mother was a vampire. She herself gets turned into a vampire, but somehow she manages to resist the temptation to take blood, and she refuses to take her first kill. Ultimately, she takes Max down and manages to keep her humanity intact.
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, Karla, 1998
While we love Julie (Jennifer Love Hewitt), we must acknowledge that her best friend Karla, played by Brandy, is a Final Girl in the sequel to I Know What You Did Last Summer. Nobody, including myself, believed that Karla would make it off the island alive in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. That’s not something that happens with Black women in horror films. We’re usually the first to go. When she came walking out at the end after essentially cheating death multiple times throughout the movie, I was stunned. But in a good way. And if that ending of the film was any indication, it was clear that Julies time was up when she got pulled under that bed. That would mean Karla was the Final Girl in that story.
Urban Legend, Reese Wilson, 1998
Campus Security Officer Reese, played by Loretta Devine, was one of the only people who believed Natalie when she suspected a killer was murdering all of her college buddies by utilizing Urban Legends. She was initially skeptical, but then she started to believe the more she investigated. After Natalie learns that Brenda (Rebecca Gayheart), the girl she thought was her friend, was the one killing everyone, Reese shows up just as she’s about to be carved up urban legend style. Reese gets into a fight with Brenda and is shot. In a Lazarus-like moment, Reese, who the audience believes is dead, wakes up and shoots her right out the window. She even lived on to do the sequel Urban Legends: Final Cut.
Us, Adelaide, 2019
It’s hard to beat Lupita Nyong’o in anything really, but she’s one of the best final girls in modern horror. She can play the role of final girl seriously or silly and she will nail it every time. Look at her in Us (2019) as Adelaide. Adelaide is an amazing mom, protecting her family from certain doom at the hands of their doppelgängers. Then there’s that twist at the end…well…then you see just how tough Adelaide really is. It takes a lot of skill and stamina for a performer to do what Lupita does in Us. She plays Adelaide and her doppelgänger, Red, in a way that is so distinct, that it’s shocking to remember that it’s the same person. It’s not often you get to be the villain and the final girl in the same film, and she knocks both out of the park.
On the other side of the coin, look at her performance as Miss Caroline in 2019’s Little Monsters. What would you do if you had to lead a class of kindergartners through the zombie apocalypse? I have no idea what I would do, but I hope I could do it with the poise, grace, and good humor of Miss Caroline. Just “shake it off” and survive. Amazing!
Candyman, Brianna, 2021
2021’s Candyman is a fantastic spiritual sequel to the 1992 film of the same name. Part of what makes the film work so well is Teyonah Parris’ performance as Brianna. Brianna experiences a range of emotions and emotional trauma in her life, and she keeps going. She faces down the trauma she experienced as a child, and that motivates her to help her partner, Anthony (Yahya Abdul-Mateen) any way that she can. She’s a final girl with compassion and fortitude. And heck, she also knows when to nope out of a scary situation, making her about 1000% smarter than most final girls. Can’t beat that.
Scream V and Scream VI, Sam, Tara, and Mindy, 2022 and 2023
Even if the original Scream movies featured two of the baddest Bs in Final Girl history in Sidney and Gale (and they most certainly did), anyone who sleeps on the GROUP of Final Girls in the requels is missing out. Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera) and her sister Tara (Jenna Ortega) survive two major bloodbaths, together, as sisters. And, although Sam and Tara are those movies’ Final Girls by the strictest definition of the phrase, let’s not forget how Scream and Scream VI also gave us Mindy Meeks-Martin. Jasmin Savoy Brown has one of the best scenes in franchise history in Scream VI, and unlike their character Mindy’s uncle Randy, she even survives the second film in her franchise’s chapter. (Tragic that she never got to be around for the big reveal, though.)
Nope, Emerald Haywood, 2022
Emerald Haywood played by Keke Palmer, is a boss. She works with her brother OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) on her family’s ranch. She’s outspoken and intelligent. She convinces OJ to help her solve a mystery about a UFO, which they call “Jean Jacket.” The UFO has been taking their horses and stirring up a lot of trouble for them at the ranch. She leads the charge, capturing all the footage they need to determine how to stop the entity before it can do more damage. She bravely takes on and survives “Jean Jacket.”
Prey, Naru, 2022
Prey kicks off with Naru’s (Amber Mindhunter) desire to be a great hunter among her Comanche tribe. Little does she know that an encounter with the Predator will fulfill just that. Using a combination of intelligence and combat knowledge, she single-handedly defeats the alien hunter. The woman walks back to her tribe, painted in green blood, carrying its head. It doesn’t get much more final girl than that.
The Invitation, Evie, 2022
Okay, okay. While we have said we don’t see the issue with Evie, played by Nathalie Emmanuel, becoming a vampire wife to Walter (Thomas Doherty) and living a life of luxury, we get that she wanted her freedom more. In The Invitation, Evie takes on Walter’s vampire wives, his caretaker, and the man himself in an epic wedding day showdown while also taking her power back, which includes the reclamation of her humanity and womanhood.
So there you have it. That’s our list of some of our favorite Final Girls of color. Maybe after looking at this, you’ll be moved to check some of these out if you haven’t already done so. You may even look at horror films in a different light. Especially when it comes to determining who the Final Girl is.
