After Laurie Strode, who is mentioned farther down on this list, Nancy Thompson from Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street, is the quintessential final girl. Sweet, intelligent, high-achieving, and pure, Nancy embodies the female lead that makes it through the slasher film, defeating her terrorizer to survive to the end, and possibly a sequel or two. What keeps Nancy from being just another hapless female victim is her ability to outwit her stalker Freddy Krueger without the assistance of a male. Add to that Nancy's unwillingness to just sit around and wait to be preyed upon. Instead, she deliberately sets out to find Freddy in order to confront him head on. Take that, final girl stereotypes!
After Laurie Strode, who is mentioned farther down on this list, Nancy Thompson from Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street, is the quintessential final girl. Sweet, intelligent, high-achieving, and pure, Nancy embodies the female lead that makes it through the slasher film, defeating her terrorizer to survive to the end, and possibly a sequel or two. What keeps Nancy from being just another hapless female victim is her ability to outwit her stalker Freddy Krueger without the assistance of a male. Add to that Nancy's unwillingness to just sit around and wait to be preyed upon. Instead, she deliberately sets out to find Freddy in order to confront him head on. Take that, final girl stereotypes!