Black, Bold, and Still Breathing: The Final Girls (and Boys) Who Survived Horror

For decades, horror movies treated Black characters like disposable extras—comic relief, cannon fodder or the first to go when things got stabby. But every now and then, a Black character defies the trope, fights back and makes it out alive. With Brandy reprising her role as Karla Wilson in the latest I Know What You Did Last Summer installment, it’s the perfect time to celebrate the rare breed of Black final girls and boys who survived the carnage and rewrote the genre’s rules—often with a one-liner, a side-eye and a sprint for their lives.

Let’s start with Brandy, who outran the killer in 1998’s I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, dodging knives, jumping out windows and catching a helicopter rescue like the R&B action hero we didn’t know we needed. Her return to the franchise two dec