10 Most Badass Horror Movie Survivors

1. Laurie Strode - The Halloween Franchise

31 Sheri Moon Zombie
Universal

To most horror hounds, Laurie Strode is viewed as the final girl. Much like Halloween is placed on a pedestal as the very first slasher movie, Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie is viewed as the very first final girl of the horror genre.

Of course, much like it was actually Black Christmas that's the real first slasher film, so too was Laurie Strode not the first final girl. That doesn't stop Halloween and Laurie being the two most memorable early examples of these horror traits, mind.

In John Carpenter's 1978 Halloween, young Laurie is thrown into a nightmare situation on Halloween night as Michael Myers returns to cause chaos and carnage in Haddonfield. You're likely well aware of that though, for anyone with even a passing interest in horror will have seen Carpenter's seminal piece of cinema.

From shrieking and screaming victim, the Halloween series saw Laurie become more empowered as it went on. In that first film and Halloween II - which followed on directly from the closing moments of Halloween - Strode is rightfully terrified at this Shatner-masked monster stalking her. But by the time Laurie returned to the franchise in Halloween H2O, this was a more calm, prepared person than in those earlier movies.

Unfortunately for Laurie, her badass antics of H2O were ultimately for nothing, with her memorably killed off in the opening moments of Halloween: Resurrection. Thankfully, David Gordon Green's 2018 Halloween erased all post-Halloween II canon in order to bring Laurie Strode back to the silver screen - and in that film, we saw a methodical, clinical Laurie who had spent decades waiting to face The Shape once more.

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Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.