12 Best Female Movie Characters Of 2016
2. Thomasin – The Witch
10 Cloverfield Lane’s Michelle wasn’t the only female horror character to put a fresh spin on the final girl trope this year. Thomasin, the protagonist of Robert Eggers’ critically acclaimed directorial debut The Witch, lives in a remote woodland homestead with her Puritan family in 17th century New England. Theirs is a simple existence of farming and praying until the tranquillity is shattered when Thomasin’s infant brother is kidnapped while under her care. Menaced by black magic and satanic forces, Thomasin is blamed for her sibling’s disappearance and accused of witchcraft by her family.
Whereas the final girl, more often than not, works for the better good and triumphs over evil by the end of The Witch, Thomasin chooses to give into evil rather than live a life oppressed by the confines of her religion. A girl who willingly gives herself to Satan might not seem an obvious choice for an inspiring female character, but in Eggers’ film this is the only way Thomasin can liberate herself. She’s a 17th century rebel with a cause, and that cause is to ‘live deliciously’.