10 Traits That Make Up A Modern Day Horror Movie Final Girl
1. Rule 10 - She Must Have Survival Skills Or Specific Skills That Help The Situation
Since scream created the trope of an "inexperienced killer", horror movies have had more wriggle room when exploring the dynamic between the killer and the final girl. No longer did the killer have to have the upper hand for the movie to be suspenseful, instead the lines could be blurred and the power could belong to either one of them.
Often in horror movies, the final girl will now have a special set of skills that help her specifically with the situation at hand. In You're Next, Erin conveniently grew up on a survivalist compound, and those skills are directly used to fight against the animal-mask killers without any hesitation.
In Hush, Maddie uses her experience as a deaf woman to gain the upper hand against her assailant by silently manoeuvring around her home. And Max uses her knowledge of the conventions of slasher movies to influence the film she's trapped in, like forcing a flashback to happen when she is trapped with Billy the killer so that she can escape in The Final Girls.
This trait has never been more prevalent than in the movie Final Girl (the clue's in the name). What we expect to be a movie about a helpless girl being attacked by a group of men is completely flipped on its head, with heroine Veronica actually being a trained assassin sent specifically to kill the boys.
Now a-days, it is more enjoyable for audiences when the final girl can give as good as she gets and fight back against the killer with skill and confidence rather than just luck. It is more interesting for our heroine to earn her survival rather than to fall into it on accident for sure.