It’s that spooky time of year where the air starts cooling down and the leaves start changing color, all to get to what some consider their favorite holiday: Halloween. While a pumpkin spice latte or two (or three) may be just the ticket to get that fall feeling, if you’re the type that loves the scary side of the season, then you’ve come to the right place. Today we’re going to be taking a look back at the top ten best teen horror movies that came out in the ‘90s. So, while you may be looking for some favorites like The Blair Witch Project, they don’t qualify because this is specifically that teen scream subgenre that rose to popularity in the ‘90s, and continues to reign supreme today.
But enough preamble, let’s get to the list of the best 90s teen horror movies…
10. Idle Hands (1999)
In Idle Hands, one of our favorite ‘90s teen dreamboats, Devon Sawa (read more about him here), stars as a lazy stoner teenager whose hand becomes possessed and goes on a killing spree. Does that sound insane? Of course! And it was. The movie tanked with critics and at the box office, but has a bit of a cult following these days.
9. Urban Legend (1998)
Now, if this movie hadn’t been made in the ‘90s, surely it would’ve been made at some other point, right? Urban Legend is all about, you guessed it, urban legends. Only this time, they’re all happening in real life! This film is more of an ensemble, starring Jared Leto, Alicia Witt, and Rebecca Gayheart as students at a New England University who are either investigating or experiencing a bunch of grisly murders resembling classic urban legends like the one where a girl sleeps through her roommate’s murder and wakes up to “aren’t you glad you didn’t turn on the light?” scrawled in blood on the wall.
8. Disturbing Behavior (1998)
James Marsden stars in Disturbing Behavior alongside other teenage stalwarts of the day, Katie Holmes and Nick Stahl. As the new kid in town, Marsden’s character starts to notice something strange about some of the students, particularly when one of his outcast friends comes back one day completely transformed as part of the “in” crowd at school. While the movie certainly isn’t super amazing, it is somewhat memorable and definitely plays into many of the desires and fears of teenagers in high school.
7. Fear (1996)
One of Mark Wahlberg’s first movie roles came in 1996 with the film Fear, also starring a young Reese Witherspoon. It would be hard to imagine these two in a movie together these days, but back in the ‘90s they starred in this psychological thriller about a teenage girl who starts dating a guy in his 20s, only to discover he’s not as cool and charismatic as he seems on the surface. Nope, he’s really possessive and jealous and, you know, murderous. If you haven’t seen this lesser known ‘90s movie, it’s certainly worth a watch just to see a young Witherspoon and Wahlberg in a villainous role rather than his typical hero fare of later years.
6. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
While many ‘90s kids never saw the original Halloween movie that came out in 1978, a good portion of them saw this follow-up film 20 years later. Halloween H20 brings back Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, who faked her death to get away from her murderous brother Michael Myers. But, Michael has found her at her new secretive headmistress gig, where her son John (Josh Hartnett) goes to school. Murderous mayhem ensues, of course, culminating in a final showdown between brother and sister.
5. Scream 2 (1997)
It’s rare that sequels can live up to the original, as characters in the movie Scream 2 even talk about within the movie. In this case, the meta nature of the Scream franchise only helps make its sequel stand out, with characters often aware and mocking what happens in horror movies, only to still fall victim to those same tropes. Scream 2 is a rare case where the sequel may be just as good as the original, so if you’ve only seen the first one thinking sequels suck, you’re missing out.
4. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
I Know What You Did Last Summer stars some of the hottest young celebrities of the ‘90s — Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Ryan Phillippe. While the Scream franchise was all about being satirical, IKWYDLS was meant to be a straight up horror movie with an ‘80s slasher vibe. For those who don’t remember, the film is about a young group of teens who are stalked by a hook-wielding mystery man a year after they hit and killed someone with their car, but never told anyone. It’s definitely nothing new, but still keeps you at the edge of your seat.
3. The Craft (1996)
In The Craft, a group of four outsider girls at a parochial school decide to dabble in witchcraft. While they have fun at first, they soon discover that their actions can have real consequences. The four girls start to disagree with what they should be doing with these newfound powers, and the group starts to splinter. Though it didn’t make a ton of money at the time, The Craft has definitely become something of a cult classic.
2. The Faculty (1998)
The Faculty may not get as much hype as some of the other movies on this list, but honestly, it should. Starring Josh Hartnett, Elijah Wood, Jordana Brewster, and Clea DuVall as the teen protagonists, it also features an awesome lineup of adults who play the teachers at the high school where the movie takes place, including Jon Stewart, Salma Hayek, Famke Janssen, and Robert Patrick. The aforementioned teen protagonists all come from different social circles and must work together to thwart a secret alien takeover of everyone at their school. It’s got action and humor and is just generally a fun time, and if our #1 movie wasn’t so iconic, it would probably take the number one spot.
1. Scream (1996)
I mean, did you really doubt that Scream would be in the number one spot? This movie is iconic in so many ways, turning the horror genre on its head thanks to its self-referential approach. The opening scene started the franchise with a bang with the casting of Drew Barrymore in a role that would typically go to a no-name actor. And in general, the movie features an awesome cast that includes Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Matthew Lillard, Skeet Ulrich, and Rose McGowan. It’s a horror classic for a reason!
What was your favorite teen horror movie in the ‘90s? Let us know in the comments!
- The script for Scream 2 was leaked during production, revealing the identity of the killers, so the film underwent some extensive last minute rewrites to change up the ending.
- Jamie Lee Curtis starred in the iconic ‘70s horror film Halloween (and its sequel Halloween H20 featured on this list) — her mother Janet Leigh starred in another classic horror film, Alfred Hitchcock’s original Psycho.
- Kevin Williamson wrote a number of the films featured on this list, including Scream, Scream 2, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and The Faculty. He also wrote another teen horror movie of the ‘90s that barely didn’t make the cut for this list — Teaching Mrs. Tingle.
- While filming The Craft, Robin Tunney had to wear a wig throughout as she had recently shaved her head for her role in Empire Records, which had finished up filming a month earlier (for more on Empire Records, check out our article The Top 10 ‘90s Teen Romance Movies to Remember – Ranked).
- A television series adaptation of I Know What You Did Last Summer was ordered straight to series by Amazon, and will release on October 15, 2021.
- The script for Scream 2 was leaked during production, revealing the identity of the killers, so the film underwent some extensive last minute rewrites to change up the ending.
- Jamie Lee Curtis starred in the iconic ‘70s horror film Halloween (and its sequel Halloween H20 featured on this list) — her mother Janet Leigh starred in another classic horror film, Alfred Hitchcock’s original Psycho.
- Kevin Williamson wrote a number of the films featured on this list, including Scream, Scream 2, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and The Faculty. He also wrote another teen horror movie of the ‘90s that barely didn’t make the cut for this list — Teaching Mrs. Tingle.
- While filming The Craft, Robin Tunney had to wear a wig throughout as she had recently shaved her head for her role in Empire Records, which had finished up filming a month earlier (for more on Empire Records, check out our article The Top 10 ‘90s Teen Romance Movies to Remember – Ranked).
- A television series adaptation of I Know What You Did Last Summer was ordered straight to series by Amazon, and will release on October 15, 2021.
