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AfterEllen.com Huddle: Horror film heroines

If you’re like me, your television has been turned onto FearNet or the Chill Channel for most of October already. So I had to know who everyone’s favorite final girl is. There are so many to choose from, I thought it’d be difficult, but it seems like it was an easy task for our AfterEllen.com writers – at least for the ones that watch scary movies.

OK, team: Who is your favorite horror film heroine?

Drummerdeeds: I feel like appreciating female stars in horror movies could get a little bit raunchy. I mean, what can you compliment them on besides having a damn good scream? See what I mean? Nonetheless, Jennifer Love Hewitt was the bomb in I Know What You Did Last Summer.

And Naomi Watts in The Ring – and Nicole Kidman in The Others. Ugh, it’s way too hard to pick one; how can you not like scary movies? I’m gonna go watch The Shining by myself. Happy Halloween, ghouls and bois!

Courtney Gillette: I don’t know much about the heroines of scary movies, since any time I’m forced to watch a scary movie, I watch 90 percent of it with my hands over my eyes. But my favorite faux scary movie would have to be that awesome gem of the ’80s, Clue. And while every woman in that film is pretty badass (I’ve wanted Mrs. Peacock’s glasses for the longest), my favorite leading lady has gotta be Mrs. White, hands down.

That veil, that affect of disinterest, that scathing sarcasm! Homegirl killed her husband, then kills her husband’s lover, and does it in pearls. She’s definitely a little crazy, but if I got an invitation to some dark mansion on a rainy night, you better believe I’d want her on my team.

Alley Hector: I’m not sure if this fits exactly, but one of the horror movies with more interesting heroines (even though I kind of hated the movie itself) is High Tension. Even though (SPOILER ALERT) one of the main characters, Marie (Cécile De France) turns out to be the villain she really kicks ass throughout the whole film and is incredibly hot while covered in blood and holding various weapons. Even Alexa (Maïwenn Le Besco) gets in some good hero action.

Bridget McManus: My pick is Sarah Polley’s character, Ana, in Dawn of the Dead. She kicked so much ass in that film. In 30 seconds, she killed a random little girl and her own husband.

And don’t forgot Shelley Duvall in The Shining. A knife and a bath robe – so rad!

Grace Chu: Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs, because it’s Jodie Foster.

Karman Kregloe: One of my favorite horror hotties isn’t exactly a heroine. She’s more like one of the original Mean Girls. Nancy Allen in Carrie (1976) was a high school nightmare, the hot chick who tormented poor, telekenetic Carrie White. In real life, Allen does good deeds (she’s the program director for the WeSpark Cancer Center) so maybe she’s a heroine after all.

My favorite “scary” movies are creature features, probably because they aren’t really scary (unless you’re talking about the acting, writing or production values). I would like to say that Peta Wilson in Malibu Shark Attack (2009) is my favorite heroine, but the movie is just too terrible to justify it. I guess my ultimate female horror heroine is the unnamed female shark in Jaws (1975). In the book on which the film was based, the killer shark was specifically identified as female. In the movie, the mechanical shark was nicknamed “Bruce” by the cast and crew. But based on her terrifying presence, her hunting prowess, her taste for vengeance and her fondness for the flavors of Amity Island (which bears a striking resemblance to P-town), I’m sticking with female, all the way.

The Linster: I will stick with a classic: Janet Leigh as Marion Crane in Psycho. That movie was brilliantly shot and scary as s–t. I haven’t used an opaque shower curtain since – and I read that Janet Leigh never took a shower again after filming Psycho.

What nobody remembers about Marion is that the reason she ended up in that shower is because she stole $40,000 from her boss and was on the lam. She wasn’t all sweet and innocent – but she sure was sexy.

By the way, Psycho was released in 1960 – 50 years ago – and it’s still scarier than any movie I’ve ever seen.

Jamie Murnane: The older I get, the more freaked out I am by horror movies. The Scream trilogy came out when I was in high school though, and I wasn’t scared then, thanks to Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott. I loved Campbell since Party of Five, and let’s be honest, probably was way more into her in Scream 3, after seeing Wild Things.

While, these days, I pretty much avoid anything scarier than Criminal Minds, my longtime crush on Campbell might just get me to suck it up and watch the upcoming fourth installment of the Wes Craven film. So I’ll stop being a wuss next Halloween. Maybe.

Mia Jones: I hate scary movies so I’m not sure how to answer this one. My imagination has been going wild since I was a wee young lez. So, I guess I’m going to say my favorite scary movie heroine is Jennifer Lopez in Gigli because it was so bad it was scary.

Lesley Goldberg: My favorite scary movie heroine? The girl who a) gets this total scaredy cat to watch anything remotely scary; and b) sits next to me holding my hand and repeating that what’s on-screen isn’t real. When it comes to Halloween movies, I prefer classics like It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown – though the more I think of it, Lucy in her witch costume is a little scary. Someone hold me.

Heather Hogan: I don’t watch scary movies. In fact, I have never watched a single scary movie in my whole entire life. My parents wouldn’t even let me watch Unsolved Mysteries as a kid because I couldn’t sleep for weeks after hearing Robert Stack’s voice telling me how there were actual axe murderers on the loose.

However,I do have a very favorite horrific Halloween heroine, and that heroine is Cady Heron. Not only did Mean Girls give us the best line of Halloween dialogue ever – “In the real world, Halloween is when kids dress up in costumes and beg for candy. In Girl World, Halloween is the one day a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girls can say anything else about it” – it also gave us a classic misunderstanding trope in the form of Lindsay Lohan dressed as the Bride of Frankenstein/anex-wife. Plus, of course, Gretchen and Karen: “What are you supposedto be?” “I’m a mouse. DUH.”

Trish Bendix: Unlike some of the ladies here, I love scary movies. I’m going to go with my ultimate favorite female protagonist, despite the fact that she eventually gives in to the dark side: Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby.

Rosemary is smart enough to suspect her neighbors are doing her wrong, but still gives them the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, they’re all evil and impregnate her with the devil’s child. At least she doesn’t die, so that’s kind of a win. And what a fierce ‘do!

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