10 Horror Movies Where The Final Girl Should Have Died

Nearly every slasher plays out the same way. The story follow a group of teens who find themselves in the middle of nowhere, where they're suddenly attacked by a masked psychopath. The ensemble then decide to split up or investigate a strange noise, which results in getting themselves killed. Also, the serial killer walks at a snail's pace, but manages to catch up with his sprinting victims... somehow.

But another trope which every horror fan should be acquainted with is the final girl. The earliest slashers, such as Halloween, Black Christmas, and Alien abide by this rule, since each film concludes with a sole female survivor. These type of heroines are seen as empowering feminist symbols, since these women emerge triumphant against impossible odds, despite being constantly underestimated.

But there are some films where the final girl shouldn't have made it. If she's annoying or whiny, we don't care if she survives. If she's not adaptable, it doesn't make sense if she outlived everyone else. If she withstood everything thrown at her purely because she's wearing plot armour, we can't take her seriously. Although these ten heroines made it to the end, they didn't deserve to.

The Grudge is a remake of the Japanese horror, Ju-On: The Grudge, which is a remake of Ju-On: The Curse. (It's terribly confusing.) In this adaption, a care worker called Karen Davis (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is hired to look after a dementia-ridden woman, unaware her house is cursed by a vengeful spirit called Kayako.

Because the ghost's power is tied to the house, Karen tries to incinerate it. In the final scene, Karen discovers the house is still standing, meaning she's still destined to be cursed by the phantom.

So, how does Karen deal with being tethered to Kayako in The Grudge 2?

The short answer is - she doesn't. She's killed off early on in the sequel, causing the focus to shift to her sister, Aubrey. So, since the filmmakers didn't know what to do with Karen in the sequel, what was the point of keeping her alive in the first place? This decision causes the movie to drag, since it wastes time reintroducing Karen, despite the fact she's not going to stick around. If she was killed off at the end of the first instalment, the sequel could've focused on Aubrey from the get-go.