20 best badass women of horror movies
1. Ellen Ripley (Alien)
While this list isn’t exactly a ranking of badass women in horror film, the best really was saved for last.
What’s is there to say about Ellen Ripley that hasn’t already been sung in praise? Seriously, someone should write a Norse-style epic poem about all of her spacefaring exploits and self-sacrificing bravery. She’s the ur-badass of all horror movie women. Facing down the utterly alien and brutal xenomorphs will certainly push you into that role.
In case you’ve somehow missed the movies in the Alien franchise, here’s the backstory. Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver) begins 1979’s Alien as an everyday worker on a deep space craft, the Nostromo. When the ship picks up a transmission from a nearby planetoid, the crew is obligated to respond.
Here’s evidence of Ripley’s intelligent badassery: while many of the other crew members explore the hostile surface, she sensibly stays behind on the ship.
Frankly, if everyone else was as intelligent as Ripley, things would have been very different. One of the crewmembers inevitably gets face-to-appendage with a “facehugger”. Despite the pleading from everyone else, Ripley refuses to let the infected crewmember in. She’s eventually overridden, making way for the xenomorph infestation that ravages the ship and its inhabitants.
Next: 20 scariest female horror villains
At least Ripley knows how to survive, thanks to some quick thinking and the occasional flamethrower. She makes it all the way to the end and even dispatches the alien when it surprises her in the escape shuttle. She goes on to defeat even more xenomorphs in a variety of sequels, including an alien queen and her brood that dispatch an entire squad of space marines.
But from Carrie to Ripley, from Sidney to Selena, horror has badass women.