For the uninitiated who are not up on their horror movie terminology, the Final Girl is a “horror film (particularly slasher film) trope that specifically refers to the last woman or girl alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story“. So now that the definition is clear here are the ladies who made the cut (so to speak) in my estimation:

6. Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris) – HALLOWEEN 4, HALLOWEEN 5

Jamie is the daughter that Laurie Strode gives up for adoption in the original HALLOWEEN series. Of course her life in the suburbs with her loving adoptive parents gets shot to hell when her uncle Michael Myers shows up. Jamie is an oddity in the annals of Final Girls because she is just that a little girl. Coming in at the age of 9 or 10 she is the youngest Final Girl and absolutely cute as the proverbial button. Jamie uses her cuteness more than anything when dealing with Michael by playing on her uncle’s wacked out ideas of family bonding. Plus it is really grabs you as a viewer to see a plucky little girl running for her life from a 6’5 knife wielding maniac. Sure she went a little mad at the end of Halloween 4 but we all go a little bit mad sometimes and she was back to her old self by the next movie so no harm no foul. Also Danielle Harris has the distinction of playing two different characters in multiple movies in both generations of the Halloween franchise. She is a constant presence in horror films today and is on her way to becoming the current generation’s reigning Scream Queen.