The final girl trope in the horror genre has allowed strong women characters to appear as lead characters in horror films for years. The trope allows the story to be told by one woman character and her to be the last character standing to face the killer. Modern films have built onto this trope to portray strong and fully developed women characters who face the human or supernatural villain of the film.
There are countless iconic and classic horror films that have featured strong women characters in the lead role, and thankfully the trend has continued throughout the years. Here are some of the best modern female-led horror films that have premiered in the last ten years.
The Final Girls (2015)
This film achieves in taking the final girl trope and subverting it in an extremely meta way. A group of teenagers is transported into a classic B-movie 1980s horror film, starring the main characters' now-deceased mother, and has to survive the gruesome killer of the film. They use their knowledge of the specific film and other horror movie tropes
Happy Death Day (2017)
This film follows a young conceded woman with a mean natured personality as she becomes locked in a Groundhog Day type of loop where she experiences her death repeatedly day after day on her college campus. The main character has to figure out who is the mascot mask-wearing killer that is killing her every day. It's a fun comedy-horror that gives its protagonist meaningful character development throughout the film.
Midsommar (2019)
This film, directed by folk horror. The story follows Dani's character as she deals with trying to overcome tragedy in her life, find an empathetic community, and survive the trip.
Us (2019)
This film follows a family on a typical vacation that quickly turns to a nightmare when a completely identical family in red jumpsuits appears on their driveway.
The matriarchal figure of the family, Adelaide, is the main character as she seems to have an intuition about the doppelgangers that are suddenly appearing around the world. It's a creepy and twisted film that's uniquely different than other modern horror films.
Ready Or Not (2019)
Grace is excited to have finally found the love of her life as their wedding day approaches. Her fiance is acting evasive and worried about how his family will react to her, and although she's nervous Grace is just excited to have a family of her own even if it's not perfect. The family has an odd tradition of playing games and when Grace pulls the shocking "hide and seek" card she has to fight for her life while the family hunts her down. Grace has to go from the bride to prey, and the film does a good job of balancing horror and comedy.
You're Next (2011)
This film sees a family try to mend their broken bond by celebrating a wedding anniversary, but things quickly go wrong when a group of cross-bow wielding animal mask-wearing people crashes the party. This film manages to take the final girl/home invasion/slasher film to the next level by adding various plot twists involving the attackers and the one non-family member main character, Erin, who has to singlehandedly fight them off.
The Babadook (2014)
This horror film that delves into psychological thriller territory follows a widowed woman and her young son trying to cope with the recent death of her husband and his father.
Sam becomes haunted by a monster called The Babadook, who his mother Amelia believes is just a figment of his imagination, but is proved wrong when the entity begins to torment her as well. It's a creepy film with deeper psychological meaning attached to it.
Hereditary (2018)
This film, also directed by Ari Aster, follows the Graham family and matriarch Annie (Toni Collette) as they endure tragedy after tragedy in their seemingly cursed family. This horror film also delves into the psychological thriller genre as it analyzes how each member of the family deals with grief. The slow-burn film also has a unique balance of psychological and supernatural horror that will stick with the viewer for days.
The Invisible Man (2020)
This film takes the classic horror monster, The Invisible Man, and puts a new spin on the story as it follows a woman who escapes her violent and demeaning husband after domestic abuse. She thinks she's out of the marriage and rid of him forever when she hears of his death, but odd occurrences begin to follow her everywhere and she believes her deceased husband has something to do with it.
Hush (2016)
This film follows a deaf author who travels to a secluded location to get some writing done. She realizes that a masked killer is stalking her and attempting to get into her house and she has to fight for her life. The film focuses more on clever tactics used by both the killer and the author Maddie as they both try to reach their goals of killing and surviving.
