Top 10 Scariest Teen Horror Movies

Grab some popcorn, turn off the lights and make sure your doors are locked. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the "Top 10 Teen Horror Movies."

For this list, we’ll be looking at horror films where the main characters are in their teens or early 20s, and/or that attract a mostly young adult demographic. We’re narrowing it down by only considering one film per franchise.

After falling asleep on a plane that’s about to depart on a class trip, Alex Browning, played by teen heartthrob Devon Sawa, has a horrific vision of the future. In a panic, he tries to warn everyone and is dragged off screaming. A couple of his classmates are kicked off with him. Sure enough, the plane explodes, and it seems he and his fellow survivors have escaped death... or have they? Turns out Alex wasn’t supposed to see Death’s plans, and the reaper’s out to get his due. They may have avoided a plane crash—but they still have to watch out for bathtubs, busses, trains, and falling signs.

In this cult favorite, Angela—a young girl traumatized from a childhood accident that left her father and brother dead—and her cousin Ricky are sent to Camp Arawak for the summer. She’s bullied because of her shy nature, but there are a least a few people who treat her well, including her counselor Susie and fellow camper Paul. This is a slasher flick though, so don’t expect a Molly Ringwald-esque happy ending. Campers and staff start to be killed in increasingly creative ways, and it all culminates in a shocking twist ending that makes this film a classic.

This is the movie that made teen girls everywhere wish they were witches. Moving to a new school is rough, but outcast Sarah Bailey manages to fall in with a trio of self-proclaimed witches. She is the missing final piece in their coven, and with her, they tap into powers like they had only dreamed of. At first, their magic brings them closer together and helps them, but when the other girls start to get reckless, only Sarah can see that maybe they’ve gone too far. When murder becomes the name of the game, she wants out of the coven, but you don’t just walk away from witchcraft.

This, and its sequel I STILL Know What You Did Last Summer were a part of the mid-90s resurgence of the slasher film. After spending the Fourth of July celebrating Helen’s beauty pageant win and swapping urban legends at the beach, friends and high schoolers Julie, Ray, Helen, and Barry hit a pedestrian on a lonely stretch of road. In a panic, they dump the body into the sea, and promise to never speak of it again. But a year later, it becomes clear in a big way that someone knows exactly what they did, and is going to make them pay.

And you thought a regular STI was bad. After having sex with her date, college student Jaime “Jay” Height is horrified to discover that she is the target of a supernatural creature. Invisible to everyone except for the people who have "contracted" it, the thing doesn’t lurk, it doesn’t hide, or hunt... it follows. And if it catches up to you… well, you don’t want to think about that. Constantly looking over her shoulder and trying to outrun it long enough to buy some time, Jay and her friends try everything to stop it for good. With an electrifying soundtrack, and a subtly eerie premise, this is one film you’re not likely to forget.

The day before the 15th anniversary of his first murder, Michael Myers escapes from a mental institute and makes his way back to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, to continue what he started. While his doctor hunts for him, the teenagers of the area have no idea what’s coming their way. Soon, the masked killer is picking them off one by one. This iconic film helped to kickstart the trend of holiday- and occasion-themed horror, while the score is considered one of the best in the genre. The indie movie also established John Carpenter as a horror film legend.

One of the first to follow suit in the trend set by Halloween, Friday the 13th has become just as beloved as the material it was inspired by. A group of teen camp counselors arrive at Camp Crystal Lake, a supposedly cursed camp where a young boy drowned and two counselors were murdered over 20 years earlier. With a storm approaching, the new counselors attempt to fix up the cabins, unaware that a killer is in their midst. While the story has very little to do with the title (other than it being the day the counselors arrive), it set the standard for summer chillers, and was at the forefront of the 1980s slasher craze.

The "King" of horror’s first published novel was also his first adapted film. Stephen King’s Carrie tells the story of Carrie White, a much-maligned young girl who, upon experiencing her first period, unlocks her latent telekinetic powers. Tormented at school by her classmates, and abused at home by her fanatically religious mother, Carrie just wants to fit it. Despite being asked to the prom by the most popular guy in school—the first nice gesture she’s ever experienced—the bullies can’t leave things alone. What they unleash is one of the most iconic scenes in the horror film canon.

From horror master Wes Craven came one of the most iconic horror villains of all time: Freddy Krueger. Playing with the audience’s sense of reality, the disfigured killer stalks the kids of Elm Street through their dreams. Terrified, Nancy Thompson and her friends search for answers on how to stop Krueger; and in the process, unearth a dark secret involving their parents. The film has been parodied several times—a testament to its enduring enjoyability—and despite its age, still holds up as a decent scare-fest. Sweet dreams!

Before we reveal our number one pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

• Prom Night
• Ginger Snaps
• The Faculty

Just when audiences thought that horror movies were getting stale, along came Scream. This meta-film turned the genre on its head, with characters who were aware of the tropes and clichés of classic slasher films, yet were still powerless against them. Sidney Prescott and her fellow classmates of Woodsboro High School are menaced by the killer, known only as Ghostface. At once a love letter to, send up of, and perfect execution of a slasher flick, Scream is considered by many to be the film that breathed new life into the genre.