Quick Links Jess Bradford Is the Anti-Laurie Strode Final Girl 'Black Christmas' Makes a Feminist Statement with Jess's Pregnancy Jess's Fate Is Left Uncertain in 'Black Christmas'

Olivia Hussey was 16 when she gained international stardom with her exciting performance as Juliet in the 1968 film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. However, Hussey, who died on December 27, 2024, is undoubtedly best remembered by audiences for her groundbreaking performance in the classic 1974 slasher film Black Christmas, in which she plays Jess Bradford, one of a group of sorority sisters who are stalked by a serial killer during the Christmas season.

Just as Black Christmas was one of the progenitors of the slasher genre, Jess became one of horror cinema’s first final-girl heroines, more than a decade before the term was invented in reference to the last surviving female character in a horror film. As the lone survivor of Black Christmas, Jess attained final...