Not-so-final girls: 17 girls (and 1 guy) who didn’t survive their horror movies

The archetype of the “final girl,” or “survivor girl,” has been much celebrated, subject to academic studies and revisionist takes and generally held up as the lone redeeming feminist quality of the otherwise-despicable slasher genre. But what about the other, not-so-final girls? The best friends, the queen bees, the mean camp counselors, and the sexually adventurous classmates who didn’t have the wit and determination to make it to the final reel? Don’t they deserve a little recognition? After all, without a gaggle of gal pals to get murdered, she wouldn’t be the “final” girl, would she?

In honor of these bridesmaids of the horror world (always the victim, never the victor, right ladies?), The A.V. Club has assembled 17 notable examples of not-quite-final girls (and one overtly sexualized guy) who served honorably as cannon fodder in slasher films throughout the decades. There have been others—the notoriously prolific Jason Voorhees personally dispatched dozens—but these are the ones who stood out.

2. Barbara Coard (Margot Kidder)

Dies fourth in: Black Christmas (1974)Like many inevitable victims in slasher movies, Margot Kidder’s Barb likes to smoke, drink, and have sex. But unlike so many other doomed co-eds, she’s defined by much more than these madman-tempting vices. For one, Barb’s not afraid to stand up to Black Christmas’ forever-anonymous killer, responding to his obscene phone calls not with silence, but acid-tongued quips such as, “Why don’t you find a wall socket and stick your tongue in it? That’ll give you a charge.” Her verbal confrontations anger several of her sorority sisters, especially Claire, who storms out only to become the first victim. Later on, Barb drunkenly expresses guilt over driving Claire away, adding even more humanity to her character and making it all the more tragic when the killer stabs her to death with a glass unicorn from her nightstand. [Dan Caffrey]