The final girl is a trope in horror films (particularly slasher films). The final girl is referencing the last girl, usually the last character, alive to confront the killer towards the end of the film, and if there is a narrative voice she is the one to tell the story. The term was coined by Carol J Glover in her book "Men, women and chainsaws: gender in the modern horror film". Clover suggested in this book, that the viewer began by sharing the perspective of the killer but encountered a shift in identification to the female protagonist partway through the film.
A common plot line in many horror films is one in which a series of victims is killed off one-by-one by a killer, and the last character left alive (usually female) must either defeat the killer or escape. Usually the final girl is portrayed unlike the other victims and is typically sexually inexperienced or a virgin and avoids the vices of the victims such as consuming alcohol and using illegal drugs. The final girl is the "investigating consciousness" of the film, moving the narrative forward, and as such, displays many qualities such as intelligence, vigilance, and being strong willed.
Examples of final girls
Ellen Ripley
Ellen Ripley is the main protagonist of the "Alien" franchise and appears in four out of the five movies in the series, minus the prequel "Prometheus". She exhibits many of the traits that Clover associates with the final girl: intelligence,competent in practical matters and strong. She also has several traits that make her stand out from typical horror female victims such as being somewhat of a tom boy, having short hair. She manages to defeat the xenomorph in the first film by using her intelligence to cast the creature into the vacuum of space, uses her strength to kill the alien queen in the second film and even though she dies in the third film, it's only because she takes her own life in order to stop an alien queen from escaping her body and thus preventing further killing sprees.
However, it can be argued that due to being a science fiction film, Ellen Ripley is not a final girl, or at least not the conventional final girl- as the film does not follow the conventions of a slasher film and abides by those of the sci-fi genre. Although Ripley refuses the men's sexual advances in the films there is no foregrounding of the characters abstinence and in alien 3 it is heavily implied that she has sexual intercourse, thus she does not fit the standard conventions of the final girl.
Nancy Thompson
Nancy Thompson is the protagonist of the film "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and 'A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors". She is regarded as one of the most influential horror heroines and has lead the way for later female characters in horror movies. She is intelligent and investigates the Freddy Krueger killings and uncovers the mystery of why all the teenagers are dying in their dreams. She is strong willed and capable of defeating Freddy at the end of the film by actively getting him to chase her and louring him into a series of traps. In the third film she is portrayed as the same insightful young woman and helps teens troubled by Freddy by working with them to uncover their powers inside the dreams and is integral to the survival of the remaining characters.
Sidney Prescott
Sidney is the protagonist of the "Scream" franchise. She displays the general conventions associated with the final girl character archetype. However, towards the end of the first film she loses her virginity, to the killer nonetheless, but she defies the horror trope of the characters who engage in sexual activity die. She manages to defeat both killers; first by using her strength to over power Stu Macher and then pushing a television onto his face. Then using her smarts and turning the tables on Billy and stabbing him through the chest and the shooting a bullet into his head. In the second film she manages to defeat the two further killers, in Scream 3 she overcomes her half brother who attempts to kill her and in Scream 4 she overcomes her niece and her friend. She shows great strength in overcoming the death of her mother and facing her killers and shows much character development throughout the series.
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