Modern Day Final Girls Who Are Headlining A New Age Of Horror, Ranked

Acted In: Split, The Witch, Glass, The Menu, The Northman 

Why She Deserves Our Attention: It seems like Anya Taylor-Joy has been everywhere these past couple of years, particularly after her breakout role in the chess drama, The Queens Gambit, but she was a final girl long before that. 

Robert Eggers introduced Taylor-Joy to audiences via The Witch, where she is accused by her family of sorcery in 1630s New England. While the the family is picked off one by one by Lucifer himself, she's given the option to “live deliciously" on the dark side and takes it with gusto. 

In Split, she's been kidnapped by a man with a diagnosed 24 distinct personalities (the Horde) and spends the film either befriending or outsmarting her captors. 

In The Menu, she plays a plus-one with some secrets and a steely sense of determination, both of which come in handy when a gathering of foodies on a private island turns horrific.

Time and time again, she survives her situation using her smarts, allowing her to live another day. The true test of any final girl. 

Acted In: Wednesday, X, Scream (2022), Scream 6, The Babysitter: Killer Queen

Why She Deserves Our Attention: You have to really hold your own if you're playing opposite Mia Goth. Jenna Ortega definitely makes in her mark in X, but she doesn't survive. She does, however, make it to the final scene of The Babysitter: Killer Queen with the help of final girl/demon Samara Weaving.

Her horror career is red hot — her starring turn as Wednesday Addams on Netflix's Wednesday is central to that show's wild success, which was somewhat unexpected, given that she releases a school of piranhas in the swim team's pool. (among other Addams-ian mischief). 

While Ghostface is certainly still the face of the Scream film franchise, Ortega plays the second lead, Tara Carpenter, in both 2022's Scream and 2023's Scream 6.

Acted In: X, Pearl, Maxxine, Susperia, A Cure of Wellness 

Why She Deserves Our Attention: Seemingly innocent and waif-like, Mia Goth has proven she can be a real heartbreaker and can be the antagonist and protagonist of any film… sometimes at the same time. 

In the Ti West film X, she talks on multiple roles, one of which is an older version of the murderous, sexually charged Pearl, who she plays as her younger self in the sequel. Of Pearl, director Martin Scorsese said, “I was enthralled, then disturbed, then so unsettled that I had trouble getting to sleep. But I couldn’t stop watching.”

Goth also played the final girl, Maxine, in X, and she's now reprising her role as Maxine in the movie of the same name (spelled with three X's), which takes places in Hollywood's seedy adult industry of the 1980s.

Acted In: Ready or Not, The Babysitter, Guns Akimbo, Mayhem, Ash Vs. Evil Dead 

Why She Deserves Our Attention: Meeting the in-laws isn't easy for anyone, but Samara Weaving’s Grace in Ready or Not has things all under control when she draws the worst card on their family game night, which makes her the mark in a game of murder. 

Throughout the film, she relies on her instincts and wits to (all with tongue in cheek humor) to make it 'til morning. She said of the part: 

I wanted to avoid playing the quintessential damsel in distress. I wanted to make Grace make smart, logical decisions in moments of extreme panic and confusion.

Acted In: Stranger Things, Fear Street, Eli

Why She Deserves Our Attention: Sadie Sink became a household name due to her star turn in Season 4 of Stranger Things as Max Mayfield. She almost didn't get the part - casting directors knew she was approaching 20, and Max was only 14.

Based on the power of her acting talents, they took a chance and the rest is history. Her character was so well loved that the song that's most associated with Max — Kate Bush's  “Running Up That Hill” — entered the US and UK charts 37 years after its release. 

In addition to bringing “Max Max” to life, Sink also headlined the second chapter of Fear Street, Netflix's blood-soaked teen slasher that offered an unorthodox spin on teen horror. 

Acted In: American Horror Story, Final Girls, Anna 

Why She Deserves Our Attention: Taissa Farmiga made her debut as Violet Harmon in American Horror Story playing a troubled high school student who dates a not-so-good guy ghost named Tate. While she is, in fact, dead, she does shows strength in the afterlife after finding out he was not only a mass murderer but impregnated her mother with a demon baby and banishes (or perhaps “ghosts”) him from her afterlife.

And you know you've made it to final girl status when you're in a film of the same name. Once again, Farmiga makes it to the last reel in Final Girl, ultimately turning from a shy teen to a confident heroine as she takes on Billy Murphy, the villain of Camp Bloodbath.