With Fear Street: Prom Queen hitting Netflix this week, it would have been easy to make another list of movies that take place at prom. Or even revisit dance horror. I’ve written many streaming guides and would like to do a victory lap for a few topics. However, none of them gave me an excuse to share my knowledge of YA fiction until today. After decades of refusing to let go of my collection of R. L. Stine, Christopher Pike, and Richie Tankersley Cusick books, it’s time. Like many horror weirdos, I grew up reading anything where teens got stabbed or ancient evil enrolled in high school. It’s still one of my weird little obsessions. Whenever I think I am out of the YA game, I get pulled back in.
It feels so good to write about these movies and their YA horror beginnings. I was starting to worry this day would never come. I’ve been concerned I might implode while waiting to gush about my favorites. So, if the new Fear Street has you wanting to return to your YA fiction roots, check out these 5 YA film adaptations below. You know the books are always on hold at the local library anyway.
Bones and All (dir. Luca Guadagnino)
Where You Can Watch: Prime Video
A young woman traveling across the country meets a drifter who shares her grisly secret. The film is based on the cannibal coming-of-age tale Bones & All, written by Camille DeAngelis.Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet ate these roles, so it is hard not to favor the adaptation more. I read the book after watching the movie, and I like both versions, but there are some notable differences between the two. However, I’m always here for YA fiction that uses cannibalism to explore a young girl’s identity. We need so much more of this brand of chaos, and I love to see it. While the story has a bit more romance in the horror than I would prefer, enough people get eaten that I was able to overlook that minor gripe.
Down a Dark Hall (dir. Rodrigo Cortés)
Where You Can Watch: Prime Video and The Roku Channel
A troubled teen is sent to an exclusive boarding school where she finds herself surrounded by sinister forces. To make this an even more perfect setting for teenage danger, there is an evil headmistress. This chaotic movie is adapted from Down a Dark Hall by Lois Duncan. A huge part of why I chose it is because this work lives in the shadow of her other YA horror book that spawned a franchise. However, we also need to talk about this cast, which includes Isabelle Fuhrman, Victoria Moroles, Taylor Russell, and Uma Thurman. So, if nothing else, this adaptation has an impressive squad that would have encouraged us all to join this girl gang. I do not regret watching this 2018 moment, and I might do it again while it’s streaming for free.
I Know What You Did Last Summer (dir. Jim Gillespie)
Where You Can Watch: Netflix
Four friends try to bury the evidence of their hit and run, and learn their past misdeed is not ready to be laid to rest. Who knew this adaptation of I Know What You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan would span a franchise that is still going? This wildly popular film starred 90s icons Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Freddie Prinze Jr. It also gave us one of the most contested final girls in Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt). So, no matter what came after it, this hook man dressed for severe thunderstorms made a strong impression on my generation. Many of us will be revisiting this YA adaptation as we prepare for the newest movie. I pray we can skip everything after Ben’s son because the franchise got shaky starting with that reveal.
The Midnight Club (dir. Various)
Where You Can Watch: Netflix
Terminally ill young people in hospice care come together to tell each other stories at midnight. However, the gatherings take a turn when the club makes a pact to keep in touch even in death. I am not just listing this show because I am a little afraid of the Flanastans. Mike Flanagan and Leah Fong’s adaptation of Christopher Pike’s The Midnight Club is here because it is a book I have loved for over two decades. It is one of the many Pike books I hoped to adapt myself. So, I hope the more we talk about it, the more people will read his other gems. By all means, rewatch these 10 episodes, cry it out, and pick up more of Pike’s YA fiction. He was one of my favorites as a kid, and I still carry boxes of his books with me every time I move cross-country.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (dir. André Øvredal)
Where You Can Watch: VOD
After playing a prank on a bully, a group of teens sneak into a haunted house and accidentally unleash evil forces. We all hate when that happens. However, we loved seeing Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark make the leap from page to screen. This YA horror anthology should never have been given to children. It is the reason most of us turned out the way we did. So, it is fitting this adaptation is directed by André Øvredal, who also helmed my comfort movie, The Autopsy of Jane Doe. I’m one of the people who think this film is a fun autumn horror title for the youth. Sadly, many people were expecting stories straight from hell, like the ones we read as children. However, nothing will ever compare to the actual books because that shit was sick.
Bonus Pick:
Warm Bodies (dir. Jonathan Levine)
Where You Can Watch: Plex
A zombie saves a girl from being eaten alive, and they fall in love. Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies is another YA horror romance where people get eaten. This cutesy Romeo & Juliet take for the Twilight crowd stars Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer. I know many of you like romcoms, and we all win whenever Hoult steps into the genre. However, I decided to give the movie a whirl because John Malkovich was there. As usual, he was worth the journey. While I am not the audience for this movie, I know many people are fans. This explains why the series now has four books. So, if all the scarier and more depressing titles above were not for you, check this one out.
Fear Street: Prom Queen is now streaming on Netflix.
Are you a nerd who has moved their collection of YA horror across the country multiple times? Then we are cut from the same weird cloth and should probably be friends on Bluesky.
Categorized:Streaming Guides
