Once upon a time in a suburban neighborhood, some girl in a tight white tee would tiptoe into a dark basement while whispering, “Hello?” and we all knew she wasn’t making it to the credits. The only one who would survive the bloodbath was the “final girl”—the classic horror movie survivor, often virginal, always resourceful, and usually the quiet one in the group who never partied. She was the rule follower, the flashlight holder, the one who stabbed the killer at the last second. But horror’s not what it used to be, and neither are its final girls.

Today’s final girls are flipping the script, quite literally. They’re no longer just running from killers in crop tops and tears. They’re fighting back, getting messy, and sometimes even turning into the monster themselves. Think of them like your favorite punk rock song—loud, unpredictable, and breaking all the rules. Characters like Mia Goth in X and Pearl, Samara Weaving in Ready or Not, and Jenna Ortega in the Scream reboot are leading the charge. Welcome to the age of the reborn scream queen, where the blood is still flowing, but the narrative has evolved.

The Birth of the Final Girl (A Quick History Lesson)

Before we jump into the bloody present, we need to appreciate the past. The term “final girl” was coined by Carol J. Clover in her 1992 book Men, Women, and Chainsaws. It described the last woman standing in horror films who survives the killer and tells the tale. Classic examples include Laurie Strode in Halloween, Nancy Thompson in A Nightmare on Elm Street, and of course, Sidney Prescott from the original Scream. These women were tough, sure, but they were often framed within moral codes that aligned survival with purity.

In other words, if you drank, smoked, or had sex, you were toast. And if you kept your head down and your legs crossed, congratulations—you got to live. But we’re not in 1978 anymore, and horror fans have gotten smarter. More importantly, so have the characters.

Mia Goth: The Art House Final Girl

Let’s start with the queen of unsettling gazes herself—Mia Goth. If you’ve seen X or Pearl, you know what I’m talking about. In X, Goth plays Maxine, an aspiring adult film star caught in a night of carnage on a rural Texas farm. But here’s the twist—she’s also Pearl, the film’s elderly killer, in a different layer of makeup and trauma. That’s right, she plays both the final girl and the villain, which is like horror movie inception and it’s incredible.

What makes Goth’s portrayal so groundbreaking is that her characters are not just victims or survivors. They are deeply layered. Maxine isn’t “good” in the traditional final girl sense. She’s ambitious, stubborn, and refuses to be shamed for her sexuality. Pearl, meanwhile, is horrifying not because she’s evil but because she’s painfully human—lonely, desperate, and clinging to a version of herself that no longer exists.

Mia Goth gives us a duality rarely seen in horror. Her performances say, “You don’t have to be perfect to survive.” Sometimes you just need a little luck, a lot of rage, and maybe an axe.

Samara Weaving: The Bloody Bride We All Needed

If you haven’t seen Ready or Not, do yourself a favor and put it at the top of your watchlist. It’s like Clue meets The Purge with a wicked sense of humor. Samara Weaving plays Grace, a newlywed who finds out her in-laws are part of a cult that sacrifices new family members. Cue the crossbows and Satanic rituals.

What sets Grace apart is her complete refusal to play by horror’s old-school rules. She’s not waiting around to be rescued. She rips her wedding dress, straps on Converse, grabs a shotgun, and says, “Nah, I’m getting out of this myself.” By the end of the film, she’s covered in blood, smoking a cigarette, and watching a mansion burn to the ground like a gothic Beyoncé music video.

Weaving’s performance is equal parts hilarious and harrowing. Grace doesn’t survive because she was morally superior—she survives because she adapts, fights, and calls out the absurdity of the whole ordeal. She’s not a passive final girl. She’s a warrior in tulle.

Jenna Ortega: The Meta Millennial Scream Queen

Now let’s talk about Jenna Ortega, who might just be the next face of horror. In the 2022 reboot of Scream, Ortega plays Tara Carpenter, a character who not only survives Ghostface’s opening attack (a rare feat) but keeps returning for more. Alongside Melissa Barrera’s Sam, Tara isn’t just reacting to horror clichés—she’s actively questioning them.

Ortega brings something fresh to the franchise. She’s got the wide-eyed vulnerability of past final girls but balances it with sharp wit and emotional complexity. Tara isn’t perfect. She’s hurt, traumatized, and sometimes reckless. But she’s never boring. Ortega’s performance adds layers to a franchise that built its identity on being self-aware, and she somehow manages to both honor and evolve the tradition.

Plus, let’s not forget she was also in X alongside Mia Goth. That’s right—two scream queens for the price of one. Ortega is building a resume that screams (pun fully intended) modern horror royalty.

The Rise of Flawed, Fierce, and Sometimes Frightening Heroines

What makes these modern final girls so exciting is how real they feel. They’re not blank slates or perfect angels. They make mistakes. They feel rage. They bleed. And sometimes, they even become the villain.

The new final girl isn’t a symbol of moral superiority. She’s a representation of survival in a messy, chaotic world. She doesn’t survive because she follows the rules. She survives because she breaks them.

In today’s horror, trauma is no longer a backdrop. It’s often the central character arc. Films like Hereditary, Midsommar, and even The Babadook have paved the way for horror that is deeply psychological. The final girl has absorbed that shift. She’s no longer just running from a killer in a mask. She’s confronting generational trauma, grief, addiction, and identity—all while trying not to get stabbed in the face.

The Genre’s Glow-Up

Let’s give horror some credit here. It’s one of the only genres that consistently gives women the lead role. And now, it’s letting those roles be messy, angry, complex, and fully human. The scream queens of today are more than survivors. They are avatars of resistance, change, and sometimes, sweet revenge.

So what’s next? Probably more unexpected twists. Maybe we’ll get a final girl who saves the day and becomes the villain in the sequel. Maybe she’s the monster and the hero all at once. Or maybe she just walks away from it all and starts a new life in a cabin with no Wi-Fi.

Whatever the future holds, one thing’s clear—the final girl isn’t just alive. She’s thriving. She’s kicking ass, stealing scenes, and rewriting the rules of horror, one scream at a time.

And if you ever hear a noise in the basement and decide to check it out alone, well, may the new-age scream queens guide you. But also maybe just call the cops first.