The final part of this series! This has been fun to really go through and figure out who are some of my favorite characters in horror during WHM. I’m quite surprised at the rankings of these ladies, especially since this series was on a whim. There are a lot more characters who did not make it into the top 50 that will be in my honorable mentions so scroll down to the end to read that. If you missed the previous parts, you can go back to past posts or click here for 1, 2 and 3.
We know that women in horror, or female characters in horror are who we root for (protagonist or antagonist) and fall in love with and just go crazy for them. I’ve noticed that most of the people on my list are majority protagonists, trying to survive and put into positions they did not ask for and manage to come out. There are those who become the antagonist through circumstances and then the just the few who really don’t give a fuck after a while or at the beginning and it’s them and I enjoy that very much too!
Let’s conclude my list!
12. Reagan – The Exorcist
11. Rosemary Woodhouse – Rosemary’s Baby
10. Annie Wilkes – Misery
09. Ellen Ripley – Alien(s) franchise
08. Nancy – The Craft
07. Jess – Black Christmas
06. Sidney Prescott – Scream franchise
05. Jennifer Check – Jennifer’s Body
04. Ginger – Ginger Snaps
03. Marion Crane – Psycho
02. Nancy Thompson – A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise
01. Laurie Strode – Halloween franchise
This final 12 are the meat and potatoes as they say. Most of these characters are the big grand poobahs of final girls, basically the blueprints of what a final girl can/should look like in some aspects. I am looking at Laurie, Nancy, Sidney, Jess, Ellen and even Marion are who you think of as final girls. Yes, Marion doesn’t survive her time at the Bates Motel however her role ties into Scream and the character Casey (played by Drew Barrymore). That role is a fakeout. And we don’t have to go into detail about the other ladies, they are iconic and legendary in horror and their characters are highlighted. I think what also helps drive these final girls to be where they are is the actresses themselves. They bring these characters to life and have this inside depth and understanding of the character. Yes, they are written for them but the portrayal on screen is more important in my eyes.
The remainder, as in Reagan, Rosemary, Annie, Jennifer, Nancy and Ginger are an interesting bunch. Reagan, Ginger, Jennifer and perhaps Nancy are end products of their circumstances. I mean, nobody asks to be become possessed or transform into a creature. Nancy kinda was asking to become a great powerful witch and get all the powers of Manon and she eventually paid for it. But looking at the other characters, yeah, their circumstances of being at the wrong place at the wrong time and then put into these positions of… losing their identities. Rosemary was losing hers as the movie went on and her role as “mother”, which should have been a joyous one, was more of just “i’m here, i guess i have to deal with it” energy by the end. Giving birth to the antichrist will do that to you.
Annie is a more special oddity here. She’s sweet, helpful and then aggressive, evil, maniacal, obsessive and that’s a lot of mood changes. She’s an ordinary woman who takes advantage of a situation and just… god Misery is such a good film!
And that’s it, that’s my top 50 list! Now if you have some characters who might not have made the list, they might show up in my honorable mentions! Most likely, they were in a 70-60 range and just missed the mark! And some of them are from television which would be a great list to do maybe a top 20 in that regard and then maybe focus on villains/antagonists, male characters, I’ll think about it… this was fun however! Thank you for going on this mini journey with me. Leave a comment of which characters you would add to this list or on your own list, who would you add or take away?
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Annie – Hereditary
Sue Ann – MA
Asami Yamazaki – Audition
Thomasin – The Witch
Dani – Midsommar
Julia – Hellraiser & Hellbound: Hellraiser II
Clarice Starling – The Silence of the Lambs
Alana, Margot, Freddie, Abigail, Bedelia – Hannibal
El, Nancy, Joyce, Max – Stranger Things
Shots of Horror 