What is a Final Girl?

The term “final girl” was coined by Carol J. Clover in her article “Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film” (1987) and expanded upon in her 1992 book Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film.

A final girl in cinema is a woman or girl who faces the serial killer in a slasher movie and survives. For anyone familiar with the women in the photo above will know that sometimes this notion of a final girl can look different and so can the entity she’s surviving.

I’ll admit creating a post about final girls is tricky because it inherently is a spoiler. There are books that showcase their love for horror films and focus on the trope of a final girl. I wanted to recommend some I have read and share others that are on my TBR. I hope this reaches kindred spirits and that you enjoy!

Books that explicitly explore this trope:

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

Final Girls by Riley Sager

Last Final Girl by Stephen Graham Jones

I Am Not Your Final Girl: Poems by Claire C. Holland

Books with final girls:

The Butcher and the Wren by Alaina Urquhart

You Shouldn’t Have Come Here by Jeneva Rose

The Black Girl Survives This One edited by Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennell

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron

Non-fiction books that explore the horror genre and tropes

It Came From the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror edited by

The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar by Mark H. Harris and Robin R. Means Coleman

Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films by Nina Nesseth

AHH! That’s What I Call Horror: An Anthology of ’90s Horror edited by Chelsea Pumpkins

The Final Girl: How Horror Movies Made Me a Better Feminist by Kris Rose

Have you read any of these books? What are your thoughts? I’d love to know!