5 high school revenge movies that show hell is a teenage girl
They walk down the school hallway in slow motion, perfect outfits, hair billowing in the draft. No one crosses them, because crossing them would mean certain death — or worse, death of social status. Everyone hates them. Everyone wants to be them.
The Heathers, The Plastics, you name it: Each generation has a movie dedicated to the beautiful mean girls of high school. They have more bite than in cozy rom-coms or nostalgia-fueled coming-of-age films, and often, the girls are out for blood, be it through social sabotage or literal murder.
This subgenre has a wickedly fun time with the conventions of teenage girlhood, especially when it comes to the design choices. These movies are united in iconic fashion and specific visual palettes that play with the popular aesthetic conventions of their respective time periods. They bring an edge and a hardness to elements often associated with diminutive girlhood, be it bold lipstick, pink mini skirts, or red scrunchies.
But even more central than the distinct visual motifs are the female relationships at the center of these movies. The most catastrophic and disarming relationships these girls have are with each other, and these relationships are simultaneously their saving grace and ultimate downfall. And that thread stitches the more over-the-top elements with grounded relatability — demon-possesed best friends who eat boys aren’t exactly common, but toxic best friends who put others down to climb over them are.
With its pastel-swathed costumes and conniving lead duo, Netflix’s Do Revenge is a worthy entry into the genre. In honor of these black comedies that aren’t afraid to show the dark side of high school popularity, we’ve selected some quintessential classics in the canon of
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