In horror, there are many archetypes that show up multiple times — the virginal final girl, the intelligent love interest, the bad boy, the pretty girl, flirty best friend, the comic relief, and so on. These tropes are so relevant that they’ve become staples in parodies of horror films; it seems that you can’t have a horror story without this core group of friends. And along with this core group of friends, there is always those tropes on the opposite side; the big lumbering killer and their (usual) first victim: the bitch.
The bitch is almost as relevant in a horror film as the main protagonist; where our final girl is kind, virginal and unassuming, the bitch is always a stark contrast. The bitch is sexually confident and mocks our final girl for lacking that confidence. The bitch is feared and makes our final girls life a living hell. The bitch is popular, but only because she is feared. She is here for a good time, not a long time, and usually brings the party to the cabin in the woods that attracts the killer in the first place. The bitch is important because it shines a spotlight on how good the protagonist is — just because she isn’t popular doesn’t mean she isn’t a good person. Yeah, our final girl follows the rules, but that’s why she’s still alive. Because she isn’t like The Bitch.
But is The Bitch necessary? Sure, it helps to have someone popular die first to show how powerful the killer is, taking down what is otherwise an unstoppable force. But does this character always have to be a bully?
Not always. And if anything, that works better.
May I introduce you to the Nice Queen Bee — the popular girl who is popular because people like her. She is nice, she is supportive, she is usually a cheerleader with a heart of gold. These characters marry the best qualities of the Final Girl and The Bitch, making a character that is truly compelling but so often under utilized because…I can’t exactly tell you why. While high school dynamics have shifted since I was in school, with jocks and cheerleaders no longer being this ever present force of both being well liked while being the worst, I don’t know if Hollywood for the most part has kept up. Cheerleaders are still often portrayed, especially in horror, as these horrific forces of evil who torment and rain down terror on the poor Final Girl and her crew. When they die, it’s to illustrate how powerful the monster is, taking down the only other force of evil in the hero’s life.
While the Nice Queen Bee doesn’t exist to show how powerful the monster can be, she can exist to show it’s cruelty. Enter Chrissy Cunningham.
Stranger Things is a show that has exceptional hits and misses but, in my opinion, Chrissy Cunningham is a homerun played wonderfully by Grace van Dien. Chrissy is the ‘Queen of Hawkins High’ — she is a head cheerleader, dating the douchebag captain of the basketball team, and is well liked by almost everyone. However, unlike every other character of this type to exist in horror, there is one crucial difference — Chrissy is nice. When she starts getting tormented by Vecna, it’s because she is sad, lonely, and doesn’t have anyone to talk to about her problems — except local King of the Nerds and drug dealer, Eddie Munson. She is not targeted because she is a bitch, she’s targeted because she’s putting on a brave face and trying to be everyone’s friend, all the while hurting herself. Eddie and Chrissy quickly strike up a dynamic, very ‘different sides of the tracks’ flirty type banter, only for that to be quashed when Vecna kills her in one of the most brutal ways possible in front of Eddie. Chrissy’s death not only rocks him and gives him his entire character arc, but it shifts the entire town. Witch hunts start, friendships are tested and torn apart because no one could fathom why or how anyone could do this to Chrissy Cunningham.
And this is so much more poignant than killing her because she was a bitch. If Chrissy was another dead mean girl in another horror series, none of this would have happened. No one would have cared or looked into this death, no one would have had season long arcs of development. She would have served no narrative purpose and her death would have been some number on a YouTuber’s kill count at the end of the season and that’s it. But Chrissy is so much more than that — she’s a character that, no matter how short her screen time, matters.
And you don’t have to just kill the Nice Queen Bee off to create emotional weight. She can also survive til the end, even be a final girl — enter Taffy.
I’ve written a think piece already about Taffy from Lisa Frankenstein is the best final girl, so I will keep this short — she is the best final girl. Taffy is one of the best characters in general. Like Chrissy, Taffy is a cheerleader who is the hottest and most popular girl in school. Unlike Chrissy, however, Taffy is overflowing with confidence. Nothing can bring her down, and she exists to hype up her fellow girlies. While Chrissy is similar to the typical Final Girl in struggling to find her voice, Taffy knows her voice well and wants to help you find yours. Her entire arc is trying to be a good sister to Lisa, using her popularity and knowledge of fashion and boys to make her new step sister feel as confident as Taffy could hope for. Taffy is protective, she is loyal, she believes the best in people an assumes because she has good intentions, so does everyone else. It’s this genuine love of others that ends up saving Taffy in the long run — if she had been as fake, vapid and cruel as most would assume her to be, she would have bitten the big one. But she is saved because Lisa knows, in her heart of hearts, Taffy really loved her.
Diablo Cody, the writer of Lisa Frankenstein, and Zelda Williams, the director, have discussed how Taffy was a tricky role to figure out because of how easily she could slip into The Bitch, which is what neither of them wanted. Sure, Lisa Frankenstein is a love story but it’s not just romantic love they’re talking about. The love between Lisa and Taffy transcends any of the whacky hijinks and violence that they both go through, and their relationship is one of the best parts of the movie. Taffy could be so easy to write off or play as the bully, so to have her pull through as essentially the heart of the film and become the ultimate final girl is so telling about what power the Nice Queen Bee has when they aren’t just used for plot fodder.
And these girls wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for Grace van Dien or Liza Soberano. When auditioning for Chrissy, van Dien got the part because she was the only one who played it nice. Soberano was sought out by director Zelda Williams because she didn’t want Taffy to be played as The Bitch and knew Soberano could give her the heart the script needed. The women bringing these characters to life are also what brought them their souls, taking outlines and concepts and creating a character that is so much more important than The Bitch. Chrissy’s death is the catalyst of the action because she was so kind and well liked. Taffy is spared because she tried to use her popularity to help Lisa and be a good sister. Just because someone is liked doesn’t mean that their character has to be vain, shallow and a terror. People are well liked because they are kind, and it’s time horror really leaned into this concept — having a character we care about exist in horror is important. It’s what gives the whole thing meaning.
Thinking about both of these characters reminds me of how wonderful writing can be, and how subverting horror tropes is something we need to lean into more when it comes to horror. I don’t think that we need to necessarily shit on the horror tropes that came before us, but having some fun with them and creating really beautiful, poignant characters is something really remarkable and should be done more. The Nice Queen Bee character is one that should be utilized far more as it’s such a versatile role and creates such compelling narratives.
And cast Grace van Dien and Liza Soberano in everything. Thank you.