What makes a Final Girl? She almost certainly will be a virgin and probably won’t drink alcohol, smoke tobacco, or do any drugs because of those equal death in slasher flick She also must display cunning and bravery when facing off against Jason, preferably solo. She needs a sense of heroism. She needs to be relatable, likable, and empathetic, and she needs character growth. She needs that will to survive, not just be the last girl alive by happenstance.
Before I get to the list I want to quickly go over a few Honourable Mentions. These are the Girls who didn’t make the Final cut.
Alice (Adrienne King, Friday the 13th, 1980): while she’s the original Friday the 13th Final Girl, however, she doesn’t take down Jason. She decapitated his mother, Pamela Voorhees, which he witnessed, according to Part 2. Therefore, she triggers the rest of the franchise. Unfortunately, she’s killed off at the beginning of Part 2, cheapening her survival. What if Sydney or Lori were killed in the opening scene of Part 2 of their respective franchise?
Chris (Dana Kimmell, Part 3 1982): She is the first one to fight Jason with his iconic Hockey mask and leaves her mark on the mask and the franchise. The notch where she struck him with an axe remains on his mask from Part 4 through Part 7, when it gets destroyed. She is the most annoying Final Girl. There’s a disconnect because she says she encountered Jason once before but that was before the events of that movie. She explains through awkwardly edited flashbacks which makes that encounter more confusing than anything. Her performance is the worst out of these actresses too.
Rennie (Jensen Daggett, Jason Takes Manhattan 1989): She has no personality except her forced history with Jason similar to Chris. Her performance is bland because her expression is usually vacant. She spends more time running away screaming than anyone else on this list but she has arguably gone through the most trauma. She’s forced to abandon her ship the Lazarus, is lost at sea, suffers from aquaphobia, gets kidnapped by thugs in NYC, is forced to take heroin, and loses her dog…twice. She has the most to overcome and she musters the strength to do it.
Pam (Melanie Kinnaman, New Beginning 1985): She’s faced off against Fake Jason. She’s just sort of there the rest of the time. Older than most final girls, she has a maternal aspect to her, unlike other girls on the list. She’s 1 of 3 people to survive so she gets demerits for that. Pam and Reggie set a trap to kick Fake Jason from the loft window but he grabs Reggie. Tommy grabs the machete to cut off Fake Jason’s hand so he falls onto a tractor. It took a team effort to kill him.
And now for the main event. Here’s my Top 5 Final Girls from Friday the 13th and why. Which of these persevering players put the ghoulish goalie in the permanent penalty box the best?
5. Rowan (Lexa Doig, Jason X 2001):
She prevents countless people from being murdered and she defeats Jason twice in one movie. She’s a Crystal Lake Research Facility scientist. In Round 1, she shoots Jason with a shotgun, suspends him in a cryo-freezer, and wakes up with him in the far future, ready for Round 2. After medical nanites revive her, she uses her vast knowledge of Jason to fight an upgraded version, Uber Jason, to save the crew of the Grendel. She’s brains, beauty, and brawn all in one package and would be higher on the list if she took Jason out, not someone else.
4. Megan (Jennifer Cooke, Jason Lives 1986):
She’d be ranked higher if she wasn’t so annoying and if she teamed up with Tommy Jarvis to take Jason down, but I love their chemistry. The entire film shows her brash independence and relentless fearlessness. When Tommy gets arrested, it’s her idea to trick an officer, steal his gun, and threaten him until he frees him. She delivers the killing blow to finish Jason off with a boat propeller and ends up saving Tommy from drowning. So that makes up for the annoyingness too. She also demonstrated incredible balance in the chair in her father’s office.
3. Trish (Kimberly Beck, Part 4 1984):
She’d be higher on the list if she wasn’t working in tandem with her little brother. She managed to survive by avoiding the party she was invited to, therefore refraining from drugs and sex. She also befriends Rob, a hitchhiker. She looks after her mother too. Multiple times in the final act, she battles and eludes Jason. She uses Jason’s machete against him to slice through his hand and unmasks him before being a distraction for Tommy to finish Jason off. Bonus points for jumping out a window to lure Jason out of the house on foot to buy time for Tommy to escape with his life. Now that’s a good sister!
2. Ginny (Amy Steel, Part 2 1981): She’s smart, funny, resourceful, and has a sweetness to her. She uses her degree in Child psychology to trick Jason into a false sense of security by wearing Mrs. Voorhees’ sweater. Paul gets taken down quickly, so it’s up to Ginny to save the day. Paul somehow miraculously appears later but Jason incapacitates him. Ginny picks up a machete, slamming it deep into Jason’s shoulder, seemingly killing him to save Paul.
1. Tina (Lar Park Lincoln, Part 7 1988):
The superpowered final girl had the best chances against Zombie Jason. Beyond that, the socially awkward wallflower avoids parties, practices abstinence, and refuses to do drugs, even prescription ones. Jason gets some stiff competition when she uses nails, electrocution, bludgeonings, strangulation from hanging, and explosions against him. Despite how stupid it is that her Zombie Dad ultimately kills Jason I’m convinced she’s the cause of that happening. There’s a difference between correlation and causation but her dad was on her mind the whole time. She unwittingly did smaller acts of telekinesis building up to bigger ones. That’s set up from the beginning. She does more damage than any Final Girl has before or after her.
In conclusion, Friday the 13th is a special day because it only happens once or twice a year, much like how the franchise periodically released its films annually at its peak. No matter what your superstitious beliefs are, the legacy of Camp Crystal Lake looms large because of more than just dumb luck. These women have cemented themselves as horror icons for a reason. Do you agree with my list? Who’s your favourite Friday Final Girl?
