1. Kirby Reed (Scream 4)
Emerging from the post-Heroes funk of a good show gone bad gone cancelled, Hayden Panetierre emerged onto the silver screen as one of the best horror movie characters in recent years, playing the best friend of Emma Roberts' Jill in the latest installment of the iconic, meta-horror film series. Kirby is a fantastic character of contradictions - snarky and sweet at the same time, she's the coolest, sexiest film nerd we've ever seen on film and Panetierre plays with a genuinely balanced mix of concern for her friends and the kind of brash, confident irreverence that makes her a scene-stealing, snark-throwing and trivia-knowing pleasure to watch, arguably making her the most fleshed out and human character in the entire film. However, she suffers the ultimate betrayal - her love interest stabs her in the stomach and leaves her for dead while Jill turns out to be the mastermind behind the new series of murders. Technically, Kirby's fate has never been confirmed nor denied, leaving her in a state of potentiality - she could easily be written off as another victim or emerge in the next film (should there be one) as the next generation of survivors. We could really see Kirby as a great final girl, following down from Sidney Prescott's now legendary status by combining the strength and tenacity of Prescott and the smart knowledge of Randy - and that, it has to be said, depends entirely on the filmmakers. Those were my five favourites for the characters that should have survived but what are your choices? Who would you have chosen to avoid the Grim Reaper in your favourite horror movies? Leave your answers in the comments below!