10 of the Most Frustrating Horror Movie Final Girls

Dashcam was Rob Savage's second feature after the enormously popular Host, a screenlife found footage film set during the lockdown phase in 2020. Annie Hardy of the band Giant Drag and the YouTube series Band Car seemed to have been plopped into a lockdown in England for no real reason. Hardy is a performer, but she's not an actor. Aside from the airing of the character's bizarre viewpoints and seeming hatred of public health regulations, there's not much else to her as a lead character. While anti-heroes can work as final girls, see Jane Levy's work in Evil Dead (2013) and Don't Breathe, you need someone with great acting chops and personal charisma to make it work.

There's an honest debate on forums about who should be the final girl in I Know What You Did Last Summer. A very vocal contingent thinks Sarah Michelle Gellar as Helen Shivers should have been the final girl, and they argue the point vociferously. It might be related to Gellar's fame as Buffy Summers, but some people disagree with this belief. Helen Shivers fans think she was a more assertive and more charismatic character, and Julie James fans believe that James was the only character who showed discernment after the accident and cared about the victim. I'd say they both have valid points; what do you think? Read more: Vampire Classic The Lost Boys Heading To Mahoning Drive-In.

Rooney Mara has said in an interview that she didn't have the best experience while filming her role as Nancy Holbrook in the A Nightmare on Elm Street remake. She has gone on to do award-winning work. It's possible that may have affected her performance in the role. Horror fans seem disappointed in Mara's interpretation of the role, which doesn't have the same name as the original character, Nancy Thompson, or the same kind of spirit. Mara's character is much more downbeat and shy, which didn't work well for fans of the original film.

Rennie is not a favorite among horror fans. Admittedly, the story for this entry in the Friday the 13th franchise is a bit misleading since most of the action takes place on a boat sailing to New York. Most of the complaints about the character are that the character isn't interesting enough to be the central character or strong enough to be the final girl. She has aquaphobia, which seems like the writers wanted to tie in with Jason and his apparent issues with water, but it doesn't seem to go anywhere or add to the character or the story. Read more: Scream Musical Parody Slashes Its Way Into Our Hearts in Las Vegas.

Fans have said about this film from 2014 that they don't have anything against Mandy (Elizabeth Gillies) as an actor or a character. Still, they are disappointed that Alissa (Keke Palmer) died instead. They point out that Alissa was set up as the final girl in the film; she is strong, with personality and bravery, but suddenly, she is killed after the character of Mandy announces she is pregnant. We have seen that Keke Palmer makes a great protagonist in horror in Jordan Peele's Nope, and fans seem to have foreseen this and lament that she wasn't given the chance to survive in this film.

The criticism of the character of Beth seems to lie in how each one of her attempts to escape or deal with the killers in the film fails. I'd say that the problem that the fans might have is probably more about the script. One fan notes that she has the keys to a car with one of the villains standing in the road and doesn't take the initiative to run them over with that car. Fans note that Beth's attempts to escape usually result in someone else being killed. Read more: The First Night Swim Trailer Teases A Deadly Game Of Marco Polo.

While people seem to agree with the choice of villain in Urban Legend, they seem to not be down with the choice of the final girl, Natalie. Others seem to prefer Tara Reid's DJ character, Sasha Thomas, even though they admit they didn't expect to be so fond of the character. They seem to think the idea of a fabulous DJ as the protagonist would be more entertaining. People on the forums liken the character of Sasha to Adrienne Barbeau's character, Stevie Wayne, in The Fog.

The main complaint about Pam in The Mutilator is the opposite of some of the other issues with characters on this list. Fans seem to think she is too responsible, judgmental, and ready to assign people tasks. She is a virgin, which fits the criteria of the final girl, but one complaint is that she spends too much time announcing that she is a virgin for their liking. I guess you can't please everyone. Also, I should point out that Martinez didn't write the script.

What fans seem to have a problem with here is not the character, Kate Ward, but the fact that her dad, Scott Ward, keeps doing things to save his daughter, that gets other characters killed. In the end, Ward gives his life to save her, and because of his choices, the new Patient, Zero, has escaped into the world, and the zombie epidemic will likely break out all over again. None of this is her fault, which happens because of her dad's love for her and his inability to trust her ability to care for herself. It seems more like a dad problem than a daughter problem.