20 Best Horror Movie Final Girls of the 2020s (So Far)

There are few horror traditions more sacrosanct or enduring than the Final Girl - for as long as murderous maniacs have stalked women in movies, there have been those gutsy female protagonists who used their cunning and sheer survival instinct to come out on top.

And while the prototypical Final Girl is depicted as virtuous and often even virginal, thankfully the definitions have become more fluid and open-minded over the years, allowing more forward-thinking and left-field interpretations.

With horror arguably being never more popular than it is right now, the 2020s have proven to be a hugely fertile ground for filmmakers to offer up deeply compelling Final Girls who shan't be swiftly forgotten.

And that's absolutely true of these 20 leading ladies, each of whom fought hard against tremendous adversity to emerge a survivor. The odds were far from in their favour, but each used their sheer smarts and resourcefulness to survive where countless others didn't.

We can only hope that the latter half of the 2020s serves up just as many inspired and inspiring Final Girls for audiences to cheer on...

Fresh's protagonist Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is nothing if not relatable, because who among us isn't fed up of dating apps and all too willing to get swept off our feet by a hunk like Sebastian Stan's Steve?

The rub, of course, is that Steve is eventually revealed to be a secret cannibal, who chains women up in his basement to carve their meat away both for his own consumption and to sell to other like-minded folk.

Nobody could see it coming and so Noa's stunned surprise matches our own. 

Though Steve ultimately extracts more than a pound of flesh from Noa's body, she rises to the occasion and fights back, eventually killing him and freeing several of his other victims.

Noa is a cool lady who deserved a better run of the dating pool, but at least she was able to liberate herself and bring a tyrant's reign to an end. Here's to you, Noa.