When the original Black Christmas first hit cinemas in 1974, the slasher film would unknowingly create a pop-culture phenomenon that would later rule the horror genre: the Final Girl.
The film saw Jess (Olivia Hussey) end up the sole survivor of a sorority killing-spree – the only one clever enough to remain alive by outwitting the villain and surviving when her peers couldn’t, taking all the guts, glory, and, of course, screams, for herself.
That trope of “the final girl” has become “strongly embedded in the genre”, says arts critic and senior lecturer in English and Cultural Studies at the University of Canterbury Erin Harrington, and if you look around, you’ll see her influence everywhere.
