10 Final Girls Who Should Return For A Horror Movie Sequel

The archetypal Final Girl fits a pretty rigid mould - she’s demure, innocent, stays away from the sex and drugs that lead her friends to their doom. She’s relatable but resourceful, often repurposing household goods in her fight against the movie’s antagonist. She’ll do plenty of screaming and running but, ideally, should deliver a final quip as the villain dies.

While some final girls have seen franchises built around them, spanning decades-long battles with evil, others are a one-and-done affair. Perhaps the films didn’t warrant a sequel, or the character’s ending was just too good to tamper with.

In any event, these final girls’ movies left us wanting even more out of the character. Another chance to lock horns with the forces of darkness - or, as we’ll see in some cases, slowly turn towards the malevolent side themselves as their ordeals get the better of them.

From straightforward slasher survivors to noirish horror leads and even prestige work in modern masterpieces, these final girls shouldn’t be restrained to leading just one movie. We want to see them dive back into the darkness.

Characters in horror movies tend to go through the ringer, but few have a more viscerally grotesque time of it than Suzy Bannion in Dario Argento’s giallo masterpiece Suspiria. The 1977 cult classic is so ludicrously awash with the red stuff as to be totally ageless: this kind of over the top madness is evergreen.

Played with investment by Jessica Harper, Suzy is a rare American studying ballet at a renowned German academy. We’re treated to a particularly revolting death scene before Suzy even turns up; in due course, Argento piles on set-pieces involving maggots, reanimated corpses, and vicious guide dogs as Suzy’s sanity is pushed to the limits. By the time we reach the end point, we’re deep into supernatural conspiracies and covens of witches.

Amid all this craziness, Suzy is a helpfully sensible character, never taking frustratingly stupid decisions to advance the plot and fighting against the forces of evil with impressive (and violent) ingenuity. A character of such qualities gives directors the license to go as crazy as they like with the rest of the movie.

The Suspiria remake wasn't great - instead how about continuing Suzy's story? The ballet backdrop is perfect for ultraviolent craziness, and with Argento still a jobbing director, he could surely think of plenty more wildness to throw at his lead.