Being a teen girl is tough. Too much attention from boys can get uncomfortable, long-held friendships can be tested, and hair and teeth can start to grow in strange places. Wait,teeth? That doesn’t sound right. In any case, the horror genre features many excellent explorations of teen girlhood and the terrifying transformation from childhood to womanhood.
While the films featured here might not seem like “teen horror” in the traditional sense, they each offer a genuine view of what it’s like to be a teenage girl, with all the awkwardness and hormonal weirdness that comes with it. Also, many of the movies were penned or directed by women, who brought their authentic perspectives to the screen, often subverting tropes that were historically associated with male characters. Whether it’s a body horror movie about puberty or a slasher movie about creepy men, these arethe best female-led horror movies that capture the unsettling reality of growing up, ranked by how accurate and terrifying they are.
10’Slumber Party Massacre' (1982)
Directed by Amy Jones
The girls inSlumber Party Massacrejust want to have fun, but these men keep getting in the way. The neighbor drops by at awkward times, and the boyfriends crash the party, looking to get laid. And then, of course, there’s the crazed murderer with a power drill who wants them dead. Written byRita Mae Brownand directed byAmy Holden Jones, the movie isa feminist parody of the slasher genre.
This message makesSlumber Party Massacrestand out from other slashers of the era. Ittakes aim at the male gazein an early shower scene, as the camera deliberately pans down and lingers on a girl’s naked behind. A later scene–showing the drill hanging between the killer’s legs before he kills a woman crouched before him–makes the sexual subtext of his murders clear. One great thing aboutSlumber Party Massacreis that the killer isn’t some shadowy, invincible figure but a creepy guy with a van, and once the girls start working together,they take him down in a satisfying scene.
The Slumber Party Massacre
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9’The Company of Wolves' (1984)
Directed by Neil Jordan
Neil Jordan’sThe Company of Wolvesis a gothic fantasy that evokes the classic fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood.” Most of the surreal, loosely-structured film takes place in a dream. Young Rosaleen dreams that she lives in a forest with her grandmother, who warns her against meeting strange men in the woods. Of course, she does exactly that, falling under the spell of a handsome man who turns out to be a werewolf.
The Company of Wolvesdoes a fantastic job of exploringthe excitement and the terror of being a young womanwhose sexuality is awakening. On the one hand, teen girls often feel burdened by unwanted attention from men. On the other hand, girls have sexual desires that they wish to act on without putting themselves in dangerous situations.The Company of Wolvesis also an exciting piece of filmmaking, includingstrange, unnerving practical effectsthat contribute to the movie’s dreamlike feel.
The Company of Wolves
8’Jennifer’s Body' (2009)
Directed by Karyn Kusama
“Hell is a teenage girl.” This is the first line spoken inKaryn Kusama’s 2009 filmJennifer’s Bodyby protagonist Needy. She has been living in the shadow of her best friend, Jennifer, a raven-haired sex kitten with a massive streak of narcissism. Jennifer is already an intimidating figure, but after she gets kidnapped by a band and used in a satanic ritual, she becomes a downright terrifying man-eater…literally.
When it was first released,Jennifer’s Body’s marketingfocused onMegan Fox’s sex appeal, a particularly ironic move given how the film rejects the objectification so many women experience. Audiences were disappointed to find a completely different film from what they’d been sold, finding insteada feminist story about rage and friendship. In the fifteen years since its release,Jennifer’s Bodyhascome to be appreciated as a cult classicandone of the best horror comedies of the 2000s.
Jennifer’s Body
7’Valerie and Her Week of Wonders' (1970)
Directed by Jaromil Jires
LikeThe Company of Wolves, the 1970 Czech filmValerie and Her Week of Wondersisa dark and dreamlike fairy tale about a young woman coming of age. Thirteen-year-old Valerie has a wild and strange week when she gets her first period. A young man with a crush on her steals her earrings, starting her on a journey that includes dodging sexual assault by a priest, escaping from a coven of vampires, and nearly being burned at the stake as a witch.
Throughout all these horrors, Valerie is mostly unbothered; in fact, she seems to be having the time of her life. If it weren’t for Valerie’s charming, wide-eyed wonder,the film might be too shockingin how it sexualizes the young star and repeatedly puts her in uncomfortable situations. Although she is on the cusp of adolescence and has boys and men lusting after her, she is undeniably a child and not ready to enter the frightening world of adulthood.
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6’The Lure' (2015)
Directed by Agnieszka Smoczynska
With the Disney adaptations looming large, it’s easy to forget that Hans Christian Andersen’sThe Little Mermaidis a tragic tale. The mermaid experiences incredible pain from walking on human legs and risks everything for the love of a human man. After the prince marries another woman, the broken-hearted mermaid turns into sea foam.The Luretakes the classic story ofThe Little Mermaidandsets it in the 1980sin a Polish club, where two mermaid sisters, called Silver and Golden, perform.
While the musical-fantasy elements can makeThe Lurefeel over the top, the story will resonate with the female experience.
The Luretakes the heightenedemotions of being a teen girl in love and expertly turns them into horror. Silver is in love with the band’s bass player and has surgery to get human legs. Her painful transformation–which will also allow her to have sex–can be interpreted as a metaphor for puberty. The boyfriend was turned off by Silver’s fishy mermaid body, but he’s equally repulsed by her bloody, post-surgical body. While the musical-fantasy elements can makeThe Lurefeel over the top, the story will resonate with the female experience.
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5’Picnic at Hanging Rock' (1975)
Directed by Peter Weir
More of a mystery than an outright horror film,Peter Weir’sPicnic at Hanging Rockis nonetheless filled with an eerie sense of dread. The story is about students at a girls' school in Australia who take a field trip to Hanging Rock, a striking geological formation in the wilderness. Soon, the trip turns tragic when three students and a teacher disappear without a trace. One student is found alive a few days later, but her amnesia infuriates her classmates, who are now desperate for answers.
Picnic at Hanging Rockhasa hallucinatory quality that can be unsettling. The rock practically vibrates with a mystical energy that seems to draw the girls deeper and deeper into its disorienting twists and turns. Perhaps there’s a feminine energy here at play. Indeed,Picnic at Hanging Rockis suffused with femininity, with images of the girls in bride-like white dresses and the dorm rooms of the school decorated with lace and flowers. At the heart isthe connection the girls feel with each other, which makes the disappearances all the more devastating.
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4’It Follows' (2014)
Directed by David Robert Mitchell
Image via RADiUS-TWC
The sexually transmitted curse inIt Followswas a novel twist on the old trope that girls who have sex are doomed to die. The movie quickly became recognized as a modern classic, helpingMaika Monroachieve scream queen status. In the story, Jay (Monroe) is chased by an entity that was passed to her by someone she slept with. The only way to rid herself of the entity is to pass it to someone else, knowing that they might be killed.
Sex has always been a big source of anxiety for characters in horror movies, whether over being a virgin, getting pregnant, or catching a disease. The surprisingly clever and atmosphericIt Followsappears to be a metaphor for STDs, but it can also representthe stigma that sexually active young women must fight, much more so than young men. The idea that one’s “reputation” doesn’t just follow them around but can kill them, too, is relatable and terrifying.It Followshad a somewhat open ending, so fans will no doubt be looking forward tothe upcoming sequel,They Follow, anticipated for a 2025 release.
It Follows
3’Teeth' (2007)
Directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein
A new twist on the old rape-revenge subgenre,Teethis about a young woman, Dawn, whose sexual awakening is accompanied by the discovery that she has vagina dentata or teeth in her vagina. As long as the sexual activity she is engaged in is consensual, the teeth are inactive, but whenever Dawn feels threatened, the teeth chomp down on anything that tries to enter. Throughout the film, Dawn is victimized an alarming number of times, but she learns to wield her dark superpower to take vengeance against the predators in her life.
Teethisa deeply uncomfortable movie, which is why it was a smart decision to make it a horror comedy. In addition to skewering powerful men, such as doctors abusing their positions of authority,the story takes aim at sexual repression within Christian purity cultureand the failures of abstinence-only sex education. At first, Dawn is horrified by the sexual attacks and her body’s violent response. However, knowing that her body will protect her against violation makes her more confident in the end.
2’Carrie' (1976)
Directed by Brian De Palma
Based onthe classic novel byStephen King,Brian De Palma’s adaptation ofCarrieis iconic. From the shower scene in which Carrie (Sissie Spacek) is bullied about starting her period tothe blazing finale in which everyone dies, even people who have never sat down and watched the movie are familiar with these striking images. Poor Carrie has little kindness in her life; at home, she’s terrorized by her fanatically religious mother, Margaret (Piper Laurie), and at school, she’s bullied for being awkward and uncool. When she’s asked to the school dance by a handsome classmate and voted prom queen, it seems like things are finally looking up.
Of course, it’s all a trick, and the betrayal brings out Carrie’s latent telekinetic powers.Carrieisa visceral depiction of female rageand a wish-fulfillment fantasy for anyone who’s ever wanted to burn it all down. Carrie’s supernatural powers are obviously dangerous, but for a few brief minutes, she’s able to enjoy a sense of power she’s never had before. Spacek is beautiful, ethereal, and fragile in the role of Carrie, qualities that provide an excellent contrast to her complete loss of control in the final act.
1’Ginger Snaps' (2000)
Directed by John Fawcett
InGinger Snaps, Ginger and Bridgette are death-obsessed sisters who spend all their time together, rejecting outside connections. However, when Ginger is attacked by a werewolf and starts to change, Bridgette seeks help from a local teen drug dealer, Sam, who seems to know a few things about dealing with lycanthropes. Bridgette and Sam try to hide Ginger’s condition until they can find a cure, but Ginger’s behavior spirals out of control, becoming less human and more dangerous.
The werewolf transformation is used asa metaphor for sexual maturity. Ginger is attacked in the woods right at the moment she discovers her first period, and throughout the movie, she goes from a girl who doesn’t care about male attention toa young woman who revels in her power. Certain aspects of the transformation, such as growing body hair and a tail, are unsettling for Ginger, but other aspects, like her confidence and newly acquired sex drive, are empowering.Ginger Snapsisan effective teen body horror moviethat hasfinally gotten the recognition it deserves.
