Coming of Age Horror Movies About How Scary It Is to Be Young – A Little Bit Human

Halloween is upon us and, I dont know about you, but Ive been on a steady diet of horror movies for several weeks.

So far, Ive seen some really praise-worthy entries from this year alone, from Ti Wests erotic thriller X to Jordan Peeles creature feature Nope. X, the first of Wests film series, dealt with themes of ambition, while Peeles fourth feature in the horror genre is nothing short of spectacular. But I have to admit that my favorite horror movies are usually those that center around much smaller tropes. Most often, these are coming-of-age motifs with a horror twist.

Coming-of-age horror movies deal with themes like learning about your sexuality, overcoming bullies, or trying to fit in when youre different. Fine, thats just the plot of Carrie, Stephen Kings very first published novel masterfully adapted into a horror movie in 1976. The shocking narrative of the films eponymous charactera bullied teenage girl who unlocked her telekinetic abilitiesis one of the first to ever turn the dark parts of growing up into a proper, bloody horror story.

Growing pains and teenage experiences, such as those explored in Carrie, are already terrifying to begin with. So, a relatable coming-of-age story easily writes itself into an effective horror movie, too. Id argue that Carrie branched into its own subgenre of horror movies with coming-of-age themes. Thanks to King and director Brian de Palma for that, we now have a growing list of coming-of-age horror movies to binge-watch this spooky season.

Ginger Snaps might not have been a box office hit but the coming-of-age horror movie is a cult classic. Brigitte (Emily Perkins) and Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) are two odd but very close sisters on the cusp of becoming young women. Getting their period is all that needs to happen.

On the night that Ginger gets her first period, shes attacked by a strange animal. It doesnt take very long before she changes. She develops extreme mood swings, risky and violent behavior, and a taste for blood. The school nurse chalks it up to symptoms of menstruation, but Ginger was actually transforming into a werewolf. Its up to Brigitte to undo the curse and save her sister.

If you think Ginger Snaps sounds very campy, thats because it is. The John Fawcett feature is bloody but it doesnt have a lot of jumpscares that many horror movies use as a crutch.

What this coming-of-age horror movie does very well is create a metaphor for the uncomfortable and often embarrassing changes young girls experience during puberty. Instead of creating a female character who becomes oppressed by her own body, she learns how to own it. The change only empowers her and makes her angryand rightly so, as she realizes how difficult it is to be a woman in this world.

Sex is daunting enough for young people, but what if instead of STDs, you passed on a homicidal entity? Thats the premise of It Follows, a coming-of-age horror movie that puts a spin on why sex can be a scary act.

Jay (Maika Monroe) gets intimate with her new boyfriend, Hugh. Only after theyve already had sex, Hugh chloroforms her and ties her up. He explains that hes passed on a supernatural curse to her through sex. An entity, who can take the appearance of someone she knows, will be following her to try to kill her. If Jay dies, it will attack the sexual partner who infected her. If she has sex with another partner, it will follow that person instead.

It could just be a psychological thriller with straightforward rules of pass it on or youll die. But one could also read It Follows as a thought-provoking commentary on how we view STDs. Its a legitimate risk to consider when having sex, yet theres a palpable stigma surrounding it. It makes it even more difficult for young people to educate themselves on prevention, and even scarier to seek treatment.

But if you come to coming-of-age horror movies just for the jump scares, the good news is that It Follows has excellent scare factor, too. It plays on the instinctive fear that youre being stalked and could fall prey to, in this case, a malevolent spirit.

The Witch is a celebration of firsts its Robert Eggers directorial debut and Anya Taylor-Joys debut in film. But the A24 production is far from being amateur. Dark and oftentimes unsettling, this period piece is the perfect addition to our list of coming-of-age horror movies.

As you might have already gathered, The Witch deals with themes of witchcraft and religion. Its set in New England, when a family of Puritans is banished from their settlement.

Thomasin (Taylor-Joy) is at constant odds with her familys faith and her inner desires. She thinks of herself as a sinner but tries really hard to become the ideal daughter in a dysfunctional family. Despite being set in 17th century, striving for perfection is a relatable struggle for a lot of young people in a religious family.

The Witch doesnt waste time in establishing a history of witchcraft in New England. Instead, the main focus is on how the ever faithful Thomasin becomes vulnerable to dark forces. To get to that answer, viewers are accompanied by visual perfection, a dread-building score, and some really unsettling scenes. If you loved atmospheric horror movies like Hereditary, this coming-of-age horror movie is a must-see.

Theres nothing supernatural about Super Dark Times. Its a psychological thriller about a young serial killer in the making. There might not be any ghosts or supernatural entities of any kind (just some really disturbing dream sequences). But the realism its founded on makes Super Dark Times a truly terrifying coming-of-age horror movie.

It starts out like any other male-centric teen flick, with a pair of boys talking about girls they like. But it quickly turns dark with the accidental killing of one of their friends. Instead of confessing to manslaughter, the boys agree to hide the body and never speak of their crime.

That doesnt work very well in their small sleepy town. Apart from the threat of being caught by the authorities, guilt eats them upbut only for one of the two best friends. As for Josh, the one who was holding the katana that drove through their friends throat, it was bloodlust that awakened in him.

The real shock of this coming-of-age horror movie is finding out someone youve known since childhood is hiding super dark secretsmaybe secrets that they didnt know about themselves to begin with. Watching it as an adult, you also begin to thank your lucky stars that you were never bored or dumb enough to do something that could ruin lives.

You wouldnt believe it if I said Hellbender is a home movie, but it is. The 2021 coming-of-age horror movie is written, directed, and edited by a family of budding filmmakers, the Adams family. It also starred the familys own Toby Posey and Zelda Adams in the mother and daughter roles of the film.

At its core, Hellbender is a movie about growing up different from everybody else. Mother (Posey) comes from a family with supernatural abilities that she later passes on to her teenage daughter, Izzy. The film never truly explains what hellbenders are (aside from being a kickass name for their garage band), but they have witch-like and demonic capabilities.

Izzy grows really close to her mother but is isolated from everybody else. Mother tells her shes immunocompromised and cannot get close to other people, but Izzys curiosity gets the best of her. She befriends Amber (Lulu Adams) who quickly realizes that Izzy is a very odd girl. Izzy begins to explore her power on her own, which scares her mother of the dangers that could befall on her. Or worsethe dangers she could inflict on people like Amber.

Hellbender falls under the subgenre of coming-of-age horror movies because of the theme of rebellion it explores. Teenagers are at that age where they could be a little more independent from their parents, but not enough that theres nothing they could learn from their elders anymore. Izzy is a perfect example of a character on the verge of adulthood, one who isnt fully aware of the power she holds yet or how she can use it.

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Coming of Age Horror Movies About How Scary It Is to Be Young - A Little Bit Human

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero