The Final Girl in the Red Dress: Ways of Moving in the Resident Evil Films

Abstract

This chapter looks at the Resident Evil films, which according to Rybin perform a fascinating variation on the Final Girl trope in contemporary action-horror cinema. It shows how the character of Alice may be placed in the lineage of Final Girls initially identified by Carol J. Clover in her landmark work of feminist scholarship on the horror film. While Alice shares some traits with the earlier character types identified by Clover, such as courage and intelligence, the character also introduces intriguing modifications into the figure, including maturity and physical athleticism. The chapter also explores the relationship between the Final Girl trope and the concepts of narrative knowledge and cinematic space at play in the Resident Evil films.