High school is chock-full of scary moments. Impossible assignments, teachers who you're sure are out to get you, and mean girls and bullies lurking around every corner. Is it really a surprise that so many horror films take place within these horrifying halls? Whichever direction they go in, they truly seem to capture the worst parts of secondary education and blow them up on the big screen for audiences to relate to in some capacity. They also offer plenty of new plot points for the protagonists to face, creating tangible obstacles besides pre-calculus. This still rings true in the case of horror TV shows as well.
Whether they begin a beloved franchise or they stand alone as pillars of the genre, horror films set in high schools often have a few reliable similarities. They typically involve an ensemble cast of kill-off-able characters, with, of course, a final girl or two who makes it out in the end. They almost always involve whiplash-inducing twists, turning familiar faces against each other, as unassuming characters often have a hand in the horror. And despite their younger cast members, they spare no expense in terms of violent scenes, iconic villains, and other elements that help to boost the scare factor.
Updated on August 16th, 2023 by Federico Furzan: This article has been updated with additional content to keep the discussion fresh and relevant with even more information and new entries.
14 Fright Night (1985)
The body count in Fright Night is curiously low. Even though uses teenagers as the counterpart to one great vampire creature, they don't behave the same way and are actually smart in their own way.
Their friendship is also pretty loyal by '80s standards, and Evil Ed, as much as he doesn't like to be called that, was a magnetic character that we still miss to this day, and cry whenever we see him fall in the grasp of Jerry Dandridge. Charlie, Ed, and Amy are kids that come up with a plan to fight a new vampire in town, and they do this in the halls of their school, of course.
13 Cry_Wolf (2005)
This slasher takes place in a top boarding school somewhat removed from the rest of society, an out-of-the-ordinary setting for a high school horror movie. Cry_Wolf tells the story of a few teens who play a game of the same name, in which they try to guess who the "Wolf" is.
The group eventually takes it too far, spreading chain emails throughout the campus about a masked killer on the loose, which slowly starts to come true. This film captures the growing power of the Internet on younger generations during the 2000s, and the cast includes big names like Jon Bon Jovi and Jared Padalecki. While it received low critical ratings, it does develop a unique dark academic atmosphere to accomplish its scares.
12 I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
Jim Gillespie's I Know What You Did Last Summer is the perfect '90s slasher with all the tropes that made the genre perish quickly after its revival in that decade. However, the premise is truly fascinating. It tells the story of teenagers who after a school party run over a person, and they decide to dump the body to cover their crime.
One year later, someone begins stalking them and letting them know he knows what they did last summer. The potential franchise sadly died too soon, and after a terrible TV show was released recently, we confirmed it's better to stop knowing about past summers.
11 The Loved Ones (2009)
If you think school is a great setting for horror, then all the events associated with high school will surely be part of the movie. And prom will probably be featured in the final act. However, in the Australian horror gem The Loved Ones, everything starts with the prom. Brent is going through grief, but somehow he manages to go through school.
Lola is his classmate who politely asks him to go to prom with her. He rejects the offer because he prefers to attend the party with his girlfriend. After contemplating suicide, someone hits his head. The next day he wakes up strapped to a chair. Lola is angry and will take revenge on Brent because of his rejection to go to prom with her. This is one great modern horror film.
10 Halloween (1978)
In John Carpenter's Halloween, everything starts in school. Well, at least for Laurie Strode and her friends who leave their school and make plans to have fun on Halloween night. Laurie's first look at Michael is when she's sitting in class and stares out the window, and there stands the Shape.
The same day Michael Myers even shows up at the school and terrorizes a small boy, and curiously forgives him, becoming the only human being Myers forgave during his entire run. In 2018, we confirmed Michael doesn't kill children as he also forgives a baby in the relaunch of the franchise.
9 Carrie (1976)
The original Carrie takes what should be the most magical night in a high schooler's life – the long-awaited prom – and turns it into a bloody nightmare. Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) lives a sheltered life under the shadow of her uber-religious mother, grappling with her telekinetic powers that are as unknown to her as her own puberty.
Of course, Carrie gets tired of being the butt of every joke, unleashing her righteous anger on that fateful evening. This movie adequately captures some of the darkest corners of high school, whether or not you can relate to being drenched in pig blood in front of your peers.
8 It Follows (2014)
It Follows is a cautionary tale and a scarily realistic depiction of the impact of sexually transmitted diseases. Following a steamy night with her boyfriend Hugh (Jake Weary), high school student Jay (Maika Monroe) discovers that she is next in line to be stalked by an entity that will follow her everywhere until it gets the chance to kill her.
Her only out would be to have sex with someone else, passing it along further. A Roger Ebert review stated, "The horror at the heart of 'It Follows' isn't a singular threat, but the vague knowledge that nothing lasts forever... That kind of primordial dread is embedded in the film's visual style." Monroe expressed interest in a sequel just for the chance to work with director David Robert Mitchell one more time.
7 Jennifer's Body (2009)
Jennifer's Body is equal parts campy and carnivorous, drawing its power from the height of the Y2K aesthetic, quotable one-liners, and an incredible cast. At Devil's Kettle High School, nerdy Needy (Amanda Seyfried) is best friends with the alluring Jennifer (Megan Fox), until Jennifer develops an insatiable hunger for more than the latest fashion trends.
Hunting down boys who think they're about to get lucky, Jennifer feeds and boosts her beauty, until Needy discovers the true source of her new ferocity. Eventually becoming a cult classic, this movie stands as an excellent example of feminist horror and explores the depths of friendship and emerging sexuality.
6 The Faculty (1998)
The Faculty by Robert Rodriguez is a great adaptation of the body snatcher's classical story that doesn't acknowledge its inspiration. But it's all good. We still dig it. Herrington High School is the setting where teenagers of all social groups will have to overcome their differences.
They need to get together and fight their teachers who appear to be possessed by something. Literally, most of the film takes place in the school and even features a soundtrack of school-themed songs. Its best sequence is based on the "blood sample" scene in The Thing.
5 Battle Royale (2000)
The premise of Battle Royale has been called the predecessor to dystopian death matches like The Hunger Games, but this movie staked its claim first. Directed by Kinji Fukasaku, this Japanese thriller positions a large group of 9th-grade students against one another in a fight to the death.
On a remote island, the teens – wearing collars set to detonate if rules are broken – are instructed to battle it out with provided weapons, until one victor remains. The film has fittingly been remembered as merciless in its execution, in more ways than one.
4 The Craft (1996)
While The Craft initially bombed at the box office, it garnered a cult following and some serious appreciation throughout the years. Sarah (Robin Tunney), a telekinetic newbie to a Catholic prep school, falls in with the right crowd as she befriends three young witches who aim to better their craft. Their powers become more pronounced after a spell ends up working – and that's putting it lightly.
An Insider review reads, "This perfect mix of horror and empowerment has solidified [the film's] presence on lists of countless '90s movies and horror films to watch and for good reason. The film feels far more progressive today than many other high-school movies released around the same time." The Craft was released the same year as another high school horror film you will definitely find if you keep reading.
3 Final Destination (2000)
The first in the franchise, the original Final Destination proves that even if you leave the halls of high school, horror will find ways to follow you. Ready to embark on the senior trip of a lifetime, Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) boards a flight to Paris with the rest of his class.
His split-second premonition about the plane crashing comes true, kicking off a scary series of events. He learns that Death itself is claiming the survivors of the accident, picking them off one by one. On the edge of the new millennium, this film ushered in the new era of 2000s horror, which often increased cheap scares with a stunningly realistic sense of shock value.
2 A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
The original A Nightmare on Elm Street imparts to audiences that nowhere is safe from otherworldly threats – not even your own imagination. Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) chases Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) throughout her dreamscape, and these occurrences start bleeding into her waking reality when some of her classmates and friends wind up dead.
This classic teen scream sets up a franchise that introduces audiences to an '80s horror icon. As the story unravels, it also encourages viewers to trust the judgment of the film's younger counterparts rather than the omissions of its secretive adults.
1 Scream (1996)
Of course, the original Scream is arguably the best high school horror movie within the genre. Its daring, self-aware deviations from typical horror tropes culminate in a sincerely surprising ending for first-time watchers.
This slasher revolves around Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and her close-knit posse, as the high schoolers of Woodsboro begin to be picked off by a masked murderer. Scream proved that sometimes, the killer is truly the devil we already know, but never saw coming. Ghostface quickly became another instantly recognizable horror icon as the franchise continued into the 2000s, and is still alive and kicking.