10 More Best Non-Final Girls In Horror Movies
Those great heroic females who largely took a backseat to their film's final girl.
In the world of horror, and particularly in the slasher subgenre, so often there's a 'final girl' character leading the charge, fighting the good fight, and more often than not vanquishing the sinister threat of the day. Think Laurie Strode, think Alice Hardy, think Nancy Thompson, and think Sidney Prescott.
While those final girls tend to get the bulk of the spotlight, horror has also carved up so many heroic female characters who played more of a supporting role to those Lauries, Alices, Nancys, and Sidneys. Some may have somehow made it out of their pictures in one piece, others may had sadly been lost along the way, but all were forced to take somewhat of a backseat.
Having already covered 10 Best Non-Final Girls In Horror Movies last year, we're back with ten more. Also, due to the entries on that initial list, it means Saw's Detective Kerry, the Friday the 13th reboot's Jenna, Freddy vs. Jason's Kia, Wolf Creek's Liz, Final Destination's Clear Rivers, Elm Street 3's Taryn, Fear Street 1994's Kate, I Know What You Did Last Summer's Helen, The Descent's Juno, and Scream's Tatum are all off limits.
With that in mind, then, here are a further ten great non-final girl horror movie characters; some of whom often go underappreciated or overlooked in their respective films.
10. Lorraine Day - X
With underseen gems like The House of the Devil, The Innkeepers, and The Sacrament to his name, Ti West's talents are finally getting a smidge more recognition thanks to his magnificent X and Pearl; two movies to be rounded out as a trilogy with the in-development MaXXXine. And at the centre of those films is a mesmerising Mia Goth, who plays the eerie Pearl in both pictures, but also plays the more heroic, sole survivor Maxine in 2022's X.
Away from 'final girl' Maxine, one other major highlight of X is Jenna Ortega's Lorraine Day.
That movie centres on a group who rent a property on an old couple's farm, where the intent is to shoot a porn film. While filming does indeed start to take place, what also starts up is the murderous intent of the elderly Pearl and Howard.
Where Lorraine is concerned, she's the timid girlfriend of director RJ and is largely just there as a spare body to help with the lighting. That is, until Lorraine gets intrigued by the filming she's witnessed and decides she'd like to partake in a scene of her own; against the wishes of RJ, but given the green-light by producer Wayne.
Throughout X, Ortega's character really comes into her own, growing in confidence, even showing some great fire and spirit right up until the film's final few moments... where she's shot dead by Howard, leaving Maxine as the movie's lone survivor.