A final girl in the horror genre is the woman who is left to deal with the aftermath of surviving a terrifying killer. From
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, to
Friday the 13th, to
Halloween.
The term 'Final Girl' was first coined by writer Carol J. Clover in her book
Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film.
Society knows this trope well. But after the credits roll, audiences typically don't know much about what actually happens to that final girl. Or whether she can live a normal life after being hunted down by a masker killer.
Author Grady Hendrix unpacks that in his latest novel,
The Final Girl Support Group."The ultimate faceless killer they can't escape is the forces of market capitalism. There's always a sequel. So even if you survive Part I and II, they're going to get you in Part III. And there's something terrible about that to me, that you never get to let your guard down," Hendrix said.
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