Top 10 Most Popular Teen Movies of the 90s

If you were a teeny-bopper in the 90s, you know what a great time it was. While the 80s were known for teen dramas and the brat pack, the 90s produced some of the best bad teen propaganda ever. It was also the decade that teen horror films really milked it for all they could get. While some on the list have gone down in history as cheesy but funny, others have become cult classics and will always be loved – no matter how old you get.

1. Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead (1990)

This dark comedy, starring Christina Applegate, who most people knew at the time as Kelly from Married With Children, is the story of five kids who find themselves left to their own devices after their babysitter dies while watching them. Applegate, gets a job at an upscale fashion company and lies her way into success. While the lovey-dovey teen romance and conflicts were fairly predictable, the storyline was original and the film is still a favorite.

2. Mermaids (1990)

This film was a huge hit and very well written. Charlotte (Wynona Ryder) is a lost teen who changes her religion like most teen girls change their hair color. Somewhat prudent, herself, her relationship with her hussy mother, played by Cher – is dysfunctional but honest. This teen movie was very true to life and the characters were well-rounded and real.

3. Clueless (1995)

This cult classic set the stage for teen movies for the rest of the decade. For the next five years the preppy princess and the ugly duckling makeovers would rule the on screen school. Cher (Alicia Silverstone) is a sixteen year old fashionista and modern day version of Jane Austen’s Emma. Cher was the valley girl of the 90s and and loved by most high school girls. No teen film would live up to Clueless caliber until Mean Girls in 2004.

4. Scream (1996)

Oh the rebirth of teen screams. The film while once considered to be a serious horror film is now seen as rather comical. The town has a serial killer, and there is a lot of blood, and you know you are about to die if a creepy man calls your phone and asks you what your favorite scary movie is. The movie desperately hoped to be the next Halloween or Friday the 13th but the killer was not taken seriously and the teenage drama was too much.

5. The Craft (1996)

In the spirit of movies such as The Initiation of Sarah and The Witches of Eastwick, no decade would be complete without the teenage witch. The 90s was a great decade for witches, very interesting and creative films and shows revolved around the magical beings and this one especially. Sarah (Robin Tunney) is a new student at a catholic high school in California who joins a coven of teenage outcasts. This film had every teenage girl putting spells on her crush during gym class.

6. Romeo & Juliet (1996)

Like many Baz Luhrman films, you either loved the modern day version of the star-crossed lovers or you hated it. The film was fast-paced and had an amazing soundtrack that may have been more popular than the movie. The film also had the teen dream of the 90s, Leonardo Dicaprio – so most girls did love the film, even though they had no idea what anyone was saying.

7. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) / I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)

Again, there is another serial killer out for revenge and he is after four really good looking teens. It is a wonder that the film didn’t ruin the careers of Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe because it definitely didn’t help Jennifer Love Hewitt or Freddie Prinze Junior. In this movie, which resembled Scream in many ways, the killer strategically places a note for the four teens, informing them that he knows what they did last summer. If you haven’t seen the movie, you don’t know what they did last summer and I am not going to spoil what the rest of us already had to go through for you, but it was bad. And if it couldn’t get any worse, they made a sequel and the guy STILL knew what they did.

8. 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

While this film had multiple teeny-bopper cliches it was well done and loosely based on Shakespear’s Taming of the Shrew. Julia Stiles gives an amazing performance as the wretched outcast who would rather read Charlotte Bronte and score concert tickets, than read Cosmo Girl and score the attention of some self-absorbed high school boy. It was nice to finally have a teen movie where the brainy girl didn’t need a frilly makeover to be cool.

9. American Pie (1999)

Let the slap-stick, raunchy teen comedies begin. The American Pie films were for the older teen on their way to college or suffering through their freshman year. The Graduate meets Porky’s was a big, steamy batch of raging hormones. Quite literally. Still, the movie helped to end the prom queen era, and set us up for the sharp comedy and sexual hilarity of the millenium.

10. She’s All That (1999)

Laney Boggs finally showed us the artsy-fartsy outcast, which was a favorite of Louisville Painters, and other artists alike. Unfortunately, poor Laney had to go through the ugly duckling turned swan makeover before the hot jock knew what she was worth. And there was the whole popular girl winning prom queen bit, but what can you do it marked the end of a long barbie-complexed era.

Kristina Carpenter is a writer for CertaPro Painters of Louisville, which specializes in commercial and residential painting.