10 Horror Movie Final Girls Who Actually Weren't
5. Lorraine Day - X
Even though Mia Goth's Maxine Minx was the focus of the marketing for Ti West's slasher homage X, that didn't necessarily guarantee she would be the final girl, especially as the world had no idea that West was planning a trilogy of movies at that point.
It seemed highly probable that final girl honours might instead be bestowed upon Lorraine Day (Jenna Ortega) - the seemingly most demure member of the porn film crew, who nevertheless ends up participating in the shoot.
Given that Jenna Ortega's profile was blowing up around the time of X's release - in large part due to her lead role in the fifth Scream film a few months prior - it was wholly believable that she'd be the sole survivor, or at least make it out alive with Maxine. But that's not what happens at all. Late in the movie, Lorraine ends up taking a shotgun to the face from geriatric murderer Howard (Stephen Ure), leaving Maxine as the final girl and only survivor.
Ostensibly, X had already been filmed before Ortega shot to fame courtesy of Scream, but had the timing worked out a little differently, it's entirely possible West wouldn't have dispatched Lorraine quite so flippantly.
As a genuinely surprising death scene, though, it absolutely benefits the movie.