13 Horror Movie Heroines That Kick Butt

Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), Silence of the Lambs (Image via Orion Pictures)

12.) Clarice Starling (Silence of the Lambs)

How many times has an ambitious, intrepid woman in a horror movie become a victim? The assertiveness necessary to catch a killer or defeat a monster is not often rewarded, or at least not as it manifests in female characters. Sometimes, it even leads our heroine into danger, where she either waits to be rescued or meets a gruesome end. Curiosity is frequently rewarded with death.

At first, you might think that this is exactly the fate of young, naive Clarice Starling. The FBI trainee is sent to consult with Hannibal Lecter, an infamous serial killer and cannibal. “Buffalo Bill”, an unidentified murderer, has been killing women in the region, and the FBI has reason to believe that Dr. Lecter may have information.

Naturally, they send a green recruit to interview Hannibal Lecter. Played by Jodie Foster, Clarice Starling initially comes across as exceedingly earnest and transparent. Says Lecter, “You know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube. A well-scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste.”

Harsh, but not entirely off the mark.

Yet, Clarice Starling survives. Not only does she merely continue to live, but she saves a Senator’s daughter and kills Buffalo Bill, effectively ending his reign of terror. Though during the course of the movie, Hannibal Lecter escapes custody, she is seemingly safe from his murderous desires. Starling, after all, has earned his respect. Yes, it came at the cost of her moral certitude, and one might wonder if she got a little too close to the concept of evil – but, in the end, she survives, and survives well.