20 best badass women of horror movies
13. Kirsty Cotton (Hellraiser)
If you thought that the Candyman was an intense villain, then you should really take a seat for the Cenobites. These malformed demons are a sight to behold, but they won’t just frighten you with their strange appearance. They’re also particularly devoted to torture and won’t stop at tracking down the evil and innocent alike. Their leader, the now infamous Pinhead, epitomizes their grim, uncaring nature (not to mention the group’s devotion to skin-tight leather outfits).
Imagine, then, the kind of character that could face off against these beings and survive with her sanity intact. She would have to possess the kind of inner strength and moral certitude of a unique caliber.
Thankfully, there’s Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence). She starts off in the first Hellraiser film innocently enough, as the daughter of Larry Cotton. Larry and his second wife, Julia, have just moved into an appropriately creepy old house. Meanwhile, Julia’s lover, Frank (who also happens to be Larry’s brother), has disappeared from the scene.
It’s assumed that the freewheeling, amoral Frank has simply run off, but the truth is far worse. He’s crossed paths with the Cenobites and has only recently escaped their clutches. Frank has reappeared the house’s attic as a half-formed, skinless man who needs just a few human victims to regain the rest of his body.
Kirsty stumbles upon this extremely odd and terrifying situation through no fault of her own. When the half-formed Frank attempts to attack her, she grabs a mysterious puzzle box he wants and throws it out the window. With Frank distract, she escapes.
Kirsty grabs the puzzle box and, upon solving it, inadvertently summons the Cenobites. What she does next, however, cements her status as a formidable female character. Instead of thoroughly freaking out, she offers up a bargain: the Cenobites will leave her alone if she leads them to Frank. They agree and, when the demons later try to renege on their promise, she even manages to banish them back to their own dimension. And not once does she faint.