10 Great Slasher Horror Movies With Annoying Final Girls

This cult classic slasher was very unsubtly modelled on the Cropsey legends from New York in the '70s. Cropsey, an escaped mental patient and child abductor, as per the legends, was warned of in campfire stories everywhere. In The Burning, a hapless caretaker named Cropsy (because the missing E really makes a difference) is left horribly disfigured after a, well, burning takes place in his cabin.

By the time the key cast of many soon-to-be victims arrive at Camp Blackfoot, Cropsy's fully embraced life as a murdering maniac to cope with his general rage over his unfortunate disaster years earlier. With final girl Michelle, we discover what might actually be the best way to survivor a slasher's rampage; just don't get involved.

Upon discovering a litany of the bodies Cropsy's left behind, Michelle heads back to camp to call the police. It is of course a logical thing to do, but it also leads to her completely sidestepping the climax of the film and having zero involvement in Cropsy's defeat. She just pops up with the cops in hand the moment he's gone; not like they're even useful now that civilians took matters into their own hands.

Actress Leah Ayres does a passable job in the role, and the character's inoffensive for the most part. However, her penchant for finding Cropsy's crime scenes gets tiresome and her lack of participation in the third act almost makes her survival feel unearned by slasher movie standards.