Subgenre Sampler

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Sugar and Spice (2002): Dir. Francine McDougall
Feat. Mena Suvari, Marley Shelton; A group of 'sugar and spice' cheerleaders plan a bank–robbery in this passably efficient black comedy. Despite the array of stereotypes, this…
Anti-Trust (2001): Dir. Peter Howitt
Feat. Ryan Phillippe, Tim Robbins, Rachael Leigh Cook…; Dot.com billlionaire Tim Robbins (modelled on Bill Gates) tries to buy the soul of computer whizz Ryan Phillippe in this competent hacker thriller,…
Get Over It (2001): Dir. Tommy O’Haver
Feat. Kirsten Dunst, Ben Foster, Melissa Sagemiller…; Although helped by the charisma of Kirsten Dunst, this teen–movie retreads many of the usual formulas, with hero Ben Foster losing his…
Interstate 60 (2001): Dir. Bob Gale
Feat. James Marsden, Gary Oldman, Kurt Russell…; An appealingly quirky teen road movie from the writer of the BACK TO THE FUTURE series, in which Marsden sets out on the mythical American highway,…
Long Time Dead (2001): Dir. Marcus Adams
Feat. Joe Absolom, Lara Belmont; Though hip, slick and atmospheric, this British horror entry for the multiplexes is at once straight–faced and silly, and strictly…
Princess Diaries, The (2001): Dir. Garry Marshall
Feat. Julie Andrews, Anne Hathaway; PYGMALION–style tale of an initially gawky Anne Hathaway getting made over as a princess, that doesn’t exactly get the royal treatment…
Tart (2001): Dir. Christina Wayne
Feat. Dominique Swain, Brad Renfro, Lacey Chabert…; Dominique Swain (LOLITA) comes a cropper in New York’s prestigious prep–school, Hewitt College, becoming involved with cocaine,…
Van Wilder - Party Liason (2001): Dir. Walt Becker
Feat. Tara Reid, Ryan Reynolds, Tim Matheson; Freewheeling 'college comedy' in which perenial undergrad Reynolds must use his social skills to make a living after his allowance is cut off. Fairly…
Cheaters (2000): Dir. John Stockwell
Feat. Jeff Daniels, Jena Malone, Paul Sorvino; Solid cable–movie based on the alarming true story of a state schoolteacher (Jeff Daniels) who encouraged his team of underachievers to cheat…
Cut (2000): Dir. Kimble Rendall
Feat. Molly Ringwald; Solid Australian variation on SCREAM, with an imported Molly Ringwald helping complete a horror film abandoned some years before due to an…
Edge of Seventeen (2000): Dir. David Morton
Feat. Thomas Arklie; With its drab mid–1980s Ohio setting, complete with pastel clothing, Boy George–inspired haircuts and Bronksi Beat music, this puts a…
Hole, The (2000): Dir. Nick Hamm
Feat. Thora Birch, Daniel Brocklebank, Desmond Harrington…; Thora Birch (AMERICAN BEAUTY) delivers a convincing English accent for this Brit variation of Teenage Gothic, emerging as the only survivor of a…
Hopeless (2000): Dir. Stephen Hickey
Feat. Philip Pinner, Scott Wills, Adam Gardiner; Charming enough to have inspired a 26–episode TV series, this rookie Kiwi comedy boasts a genuine low–budget verve, a charismatic cast of…
Kevin's Guide to Being a Teenager (TV Series) (2000): Dir. Dewi Humphreys
Feat. Harry Enfield; Kevin (Harry Enfield) and his odd–bird disciple Perry, two disaffected, DJ–worshipping teens, give us the run–down on how to hate…
O (Othello) (2000): Dir. Tim Blake Nelson
Feat. Josh Hartnett, Mekhi Phifer, Julia Stiles; Continuing recent trends, this ‘updating’ of Shakespeare’s ”Othello” transfers the dialogue and setting into the US schoolyard, where Josh…
Where the Heart Is (2000): Dir. Matt Williams
Feat. Natalie Portman, Ashley Judd, Stockard Channing; A likeable chick flick tracking Natalie Portman's path from pregnant, jilted trailer–trash, towards some kind of happiness. The movie's…
Carrie 2: The Rage (1999): Dir. Katt Shea
Feat. Emily Bergl; The secondary school system gets another dousing in pigs–blood in this less–sequel–more–remake of the Brian DePalma original…
Girl (1999): Dir. Jonathan Kahn
Feat. Dominique Swain; Hybrid of the teen–flick with grunge–rock movie, starring Dominique Swain (LOLITA) as a brainy virgin who decides to fall in with some…
Pups (1999): Dir. Ash
Feat. Burt Reynolds; A frustrated thirteen–year–old comes across the family firearm, prompting him to hold up the local bank with his reluctant girlfriend in…
Skipped Parts (1999): Dir. Tamra Davis
Feat. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bug Hall, Brad Renfro…; Set in the early 1960s, this begins as a typical coming–of–age comedy, with Jennifer Jason Leigh and her son shifting to Smalltown, USA…
Strange Fits of Passion (1999): Dir. Elise McCredie
Feat. Michela Noonan; On a quest to lose her virginity, break out of the rut and gain some life–experience, Michela Noonan goes after a reclusive…
Whiteboys (1999): Dir. Marc Levin
Feat. Danny Hoch, Dash Mihok, Mark Webber…; Wannabe honky rappers Danny Hoch, Dash Mihok and Mark Webber take their many–times–removed Iowa version of hiphop to the streets of…
200 Cigarettes (1998): Dir. Risa Bramon Garcia
Feat. Ben Affleck, Martha Plimpton, Jay Mohr…; An all–youth ensemble sample some Big Apple nightlife in the last remaining hours of 1981 before mingling at a precarious loft party.…
Butcher Boy, The (1998): Dir. Neil Jordan
Feat. Eamonn Owens, Stephen Rea, Fiona Shaw; Despairing yet distinctive black comedy depicts the insanity implicit in a boy's view of his small town in Ireland, circa 1962. Adopts a lurid…
Can't Hardly Wait (1998): Dir. Deborah Kaplan
Feat. Jennifer Love Hewitt; Getting good party–points out of the classic formula, this perky high–school comedy unravels the limited world–views of its…
Dead Man's Curve (1998): Dir. Dan Rosen
Feat. Matthew Lillard, Keri Russell, Dana Delaney; Taking malicious advantage of a school–policy loophole, two desperate students conspire to dress up the murder of their room–mate as a…
Jawbreaker (1998): Dir. Darren Stein
Feat. Rose McGowan; A trio of teen–queens (incl. Rose McGowan), used to inflicting tongue–lashings on their classmates go onto the back foot when they…
Outside Providence (1998): Dir. Michael Corrente
Feat. Alec Baldwin; The Farrelly Brothers venture towards the deeper end of comedy with a, by turns, idiosyncratic and witless farce about a 70s era teen–stoner…
Slums of Beverly Hills (1998): Dir. Tamara Jenkins
Feat. Marisa Tomei, Alan Arkin; A New York teen comes of age while being dragged around various LA hovels by her poor–schmuck father (Alan Arkin) and her two irritating…
Stella Does Tricks (1998): Dir. Coky Giedroyc
Feat. Kelly MacDonald; Worldly teenage prostitute Stella escapes the paternal clutches of her pimp to reclaim herself and find companionship in a sympathetic young junkie.…
Urban Legend (1998): Dir. Jamie Blanks
Feat. Alicia Witt, Danielle Harris; A serial killer is offing students in the manner of various urban legends (grisly rumours that become so commonly known they're accepted as fact).…
Whatever (1998): Dir. Susan Skoog
Feat. Lisa Weil; Beset by apathy, uncertainty and her indulgent best friend, a teenage girl falls victim to her own adolescence while trying to complete her final…
Young Person's Guide to Becoming a Rock Star, The (1998): Dir. Sheree Folkson, Kieron Walsh
Feat. Ciaran McMenamin, Simone Lahbib, Nicole Stapleton…; Young persons are the target of the whimsical Scottish TV series following the fortunes of an eclectic rock group who go from garage nobodies to gain…
All Over Me (1997): Dir. Alex Sichel
Feat. Alison Folland, Tara Subkoff, Cole Hauser…; A lesbian festival hit that has 'crossover' hit written all over it, as it persuasively pinpoints some of the universal, intense emotions of…
Daria (TV Series) (1997-2002): Derisive cult animation series starring the ultimate high school anti–heroine – Daria Morgendorffer – a bookish student who keeps…
Hurricane Streets (1997): Dir. Morgan J. Freeman
Feat. Brendon Sexton III, Antoine McLean; The excellent Brendan Sexton III (WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE) does a sympathetic about–turn for this unflashy take on teenage delinquency. It…
Slab Boys, The (1997): Dir. John Byrne
Feat. Russell Barr, Bill Gardiner, Robin Laing…; A quiff–headed rites–of–passage in dead–end 1950s Scotland, follows three apprentice dripheads at a carpet factory and their…
Suburbia (1997): Dir. Richard Linklater
Feat. Giovanni Ribisi, Parker Posey, Steve Zahn…; Dir. Linklater returns to his favourite milieu – the teen angst movie – only this time working from someone else's material, a play by…
Sugar Factory, The (1997): Dir. Robert Carter
Feat. Matt Day; The director adapts his novel about a disturbed Aussie teenager (Matt Day) searching for love and meaning in his life after a string of traumatic…
Trojan War (1997): Dir. George Huang
Feat. Will Friedle, Jennifer Love Hewitt; Comic misadventures beset a young turk who scours the town in search of a condom in order to consummate with the ready–and–willing girl…
True Love and Chaos (1997): Dir. Stavros Andonis Efthymiou
Feat. Ben Mendelsohn, Noah Taylor, Miranda Otto; A half–baked script straight out of the same Melbourne film school that produced LOVE & OTHER CATASTROPHES leaves an Aussie brat–pack…
Boys (1996): Dir. Stacy Cochran
Feat. Lukas Haas, Winona Ryder; Downbeat, murky tale of adolescent intrigues has high scholar Lukas Haas becoming entangled in the mysterious past of accident victim Winona Ryder.
Campfire Tales (1996): Dir. David Semel, Martin Kunert, Matt Cooper
Feat. Jay R. Ferguson, Christine Taylor, Christopher Masterson…; Urban legends pervade a trilogy of spook stories that emanate from a roadside breakdown. Some competent storytelling is undone by an irritatingly…
Loaded (1996): Dir. Anna Campion
Feat. Oliver Milburn, Dearbhla Molloy, Danny Cunningham…; Fans of Trainspotting will connect with this compelling snapshot of the E–generation – an acid–inflected psychodrama that unfolds…
Angus (1995): Dir. Patrick Johnson
Feat. Charlie Talbert, Kathy Bates, Rita Moreno…; Angus, the uncoolest geek in school, gets his big chance at popularity and girlfriends. Unsentimental and geniunely funny boyhood tale, with Kathy…
Delinquent (1995): Dir. Peter Hall
Feat. Desmond Devenish, Shawn Batten, Jeff Paul; The dysfunctional initiation into adulthood of a 15–year–old in a rural East Coast backwater. Atmospheric, with a groovy soundtrack by…
S.F.W. (1995): Dir. Jefery Levy
Feat. Stephen Dorff, Reese Witherspoon; Based on a significant Gen–X novel, Stephen Dorff plays Cliff Spab, a teenage loser who garners a major cult following as a hostage in a…
Fun (1994): Dir. Rafal Zielinski
Feat. Renee Humphrey, Alicia Witt; Two teenage girls just want to have fun, but their obsessive pursuit of it leads them to murder an old lady for no other reason. This remarkable…
Imaginary Crimes (1994): Dir. Anthony Drazan
Feat. Harvey Keitel, Kelly Lynch, Fairuza Balk…; Con–man Harvey Keitel attempts to raise two daughters after their mother dies, and struggles to reconcile the demands of parenthood with his…
Pcu: Pit Party (1994): Dir. Hart Bochner
Feat. Jeremy Piven, David Spade, Jessica Walter…; Boisterous, ANIMAL HOUSE–style campus comedy takes an unabashed poke at that '90s catch–cry – 'political correctness'. Beer…
Far Off Place, A (1993): Dir. Mikael Soloman
Feat. Reese Witherspoon, Ethan Randall, Jack Thompson…; Quality drama follows two teenagers across the African desert after they witness a poacher's deadly assault. Superb location photography, but maybe…
Secrets (1993): Dir. Michael Pattinson
Feat. Noah Taylor, Willa O'Neill; During the Beatles' Melbourne tourdate of 1964, four Beatle–maniacs and an Elvis fan find themselves trapped together in a hotel basement,…
Totally F***ed Up (1993): Dir. Gregg Araki
Feat. James Duval, Roko Belic, Susan Behshid…; A corrosive portrait of a group of alienated gay comrades, and the first (and perhaps best) part of dir. Araki's 'teen apocalypse trilogy' (completed…
Class Act (1992): Dir. Randall Miller
Feat. Meshach Taylor, Rick Ducommun; Funky feature with HOUSE PARTY rap act Kid 'n' Play as a straight–A student and street–wise homeboy who have their identities switched at…
Guncrazy (1992): Dir. Tamra Davis
Feat. Drew Barrymore, James LeGros, Billy Drago…; Drew Barrymore and James LeGros are tearaway teens who find solace in each other, but together sink further into the mire of trouble. Maturely…
Midnight Clear, A (1992): Dir. Keith Gordon
Feat. Peter Berg, Kevin Dillon, Arye Gross…; A provocative, suspenseful anti–war parable about a fresh–faced American platoon assigned to an abandoned chateau near the German border…
Mima (1992): Dir. Philomene Esposito
Feat. Nino Manfredi, Margarita Lozano, Virginie Ledoyen; The first–time director captures the nuance and feeling of her own experience as a young girl who witnesses the mysterious disappearance of her…
Vincent and Me (1992): Dir. Michael Rubbo
Feat. Tcheky Karyo, Nina Petronzio, Christopher Forrest; A young girl learns to paint like Vincent Van Gogh and sells one of her works to an unscrupulous art dealer. You'll learn much about the Dutch master…
Waterland (1992): Dir. Stephen Gyllenhaal
Feat. Jeremy Irons, Sinead Cusack, Lena Headey…; Jeremy Irons plays a history teacher in America who recounts his own suppressed coming of age to his cynical students. Adapted from Graham Swift's…
Flirting (1991): Dir. John Duigan
Feat. Thandiwe Newton, Nicole Kidman, Noah Taylor; Award–winning sequel to THE YEAR MY VOICE BROKE sensitively explores adolescent life in two single–sex high schools in rural Australia,…
London Kills Me (1991): Dir. Hanif Kureishi
Feat. Justin Chadwick, Stephen Mackintosh, Emer McCourt; MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE writer Kureishi directs a young ensemble for his glossy depiction of drug–dealing squatters in London's Notting Hill.…
On My Own (1991): Dir. Antonio Tibaldi
Feat. Judy Davis; Coming–of–age tale draws a devastating performance from Judy Davis as the imbalanced mother of a fifteen–year–old boarding…
Talk 16 (1991): Dir. Janis Lundman, Adrienne Mitchell; The transition of childhood to womanhood is revealed in this intimate, candid study of five 16–year–old girls over a five year period.
C'est La Vie (1990): Dir. Diane Kurys
Feat. Nathalie Baye, Richard Berry; Another twee autobiographical snapshot, set at a French holiday resort in a late–'50s summer. A teenager's coming of age is marked by the…
Where the Heart Is (1990): Dir. John Boorman
Feat. Uma Thurman, Crispin Glover, Dabney Coleman…; Trendy New York teens are forced out of their parents house to live in a ramshackle dump, and learn the ways of the real world. Kooky fun.
Hush-A-Bye-Baby (1989): Dir. Margo Harkin
Feat. Seamus Ball, Rosina Brown, Sean Carlin…; Excellent portrayal, using 'workshop' methods, of the tribulations of four teenage girls in Northern Ireland, as they negotiate the local facts of…
Matter of Degrees, A (1989): Dir. W.T. Morgan
Feat. Arye Gross, Sarah Bork; Student life on a Long Island university campus, centering around the imminent commercialisation of their beloved radio station. Well–made…
American Gothic (1988): Dir. John Hough
Feat. Rod Steiger, Yvonne De Carlo, Sarah Torgov; Creepy psychos living on a remote isle make life hell for holiday–making teens. Sound familiar? It is, but done with a certain inventive…
Fresh Horses (1988): Dir. David Anspaugh
Feat. Andrew McCarthy, Molly Ringwald; Blue–blood collegian Andrew McCarthy falls for the wrong–side–of–the–tracks and underage Molly Ringwald. Earnest love…
Permanent Record (1988): Dir. Marisa Silver
Feat. Keanu Reeves; Keanu Reeves stars in this slight but interesting teen drama about the effects of a suicide on a group of college friends.
Prince of Pennsylvania (1988): Dir. Ron Nyswaner
Feat. Keanu Reeves, Fred Ward, Bonnie Bedelia…; Fans of Keanu Reeves will find small delight in the hunky one cutting his teeth in this often amusing comedy as a free–spirited teenage misfit.
School Daze (1988): Dir. Spike Lee
Feat. Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn…; Spike Lee's black high–school musical is perhaps over–ambitious, but the disorder is compensated in sheer exuberance and…
Heavy Petting (1987): Dir. Obie Benz; A nostalgic peagent to what made being a teen in the 50's as cute and corny as it was. A mix of cheesy pop music, clips from sex and drug–ed…
Some Kind of Wonderful (1987): Dir. Howard Deutch
Feat. Mary Stuart Masterson, Eric Stoltz, Lea Thompson; Some wonderful romantic angst from John Hughes' pen, with Mary Stuart Masterson in love with Eric Stoltz in love with Lea Thompson.
Hamburger: The Motion Picture (1985): Feat. Leigh McCloskey; Typical 80's teen sex comedy largely inspired by fast food jobs and the Hamburger University program of the McDonald's Corporation.
Tex (1982): Dir. Tim Hunter
Feat. Matt Dillon, Jim Metzler, Meg Tilly…; Arguably the best adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s teen fictions (THE OUTSIDERS etc.), with Matt Dillon giving an early, heartbreaking performance as a…
Tattooed Tears (1978): Dir. Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill; Early Nick Broomfield doco eschews his later interactive style for an unrelenting examination of the life of four youths in a prison for young…
Skateboard (1977): Dir. George Gage
Feat. Leif Garrett, Allen Garfield, Kathleen Lloyd; Teen idol Leif Garrett is barely out of huggies to star in this quite entertaining cash–in on the first wave of the skateboard craze in the…
Massacre at Central High (1976): Dir. Renee Daalder
Feat. Andrew Stevens, Robert Carradine; An estranged new student uses his homicidal tendencies for the public good, by eliminating trouble–makers in imaginative ways. The superior…
Conrack (1974): Dir. Martin Ritt
Feat. Jon Voight, Paul Winfield, Hume Cronyn; Based on the true experiences of a teacher in a sunlit backwater of South Carolina, Jon Voight gives one of his best performances, trying to rouse…
Riot On Sunset Strip (1967): Dir. Arthur Dreifuss
Feat. Aldo Ray, Mimsy Farmer; Restless hippy kids cause headaches for parents and police as violence and recreational drugs take root in affluent Hollywood. The fashions and…
Live it Up! (Sing and Swing) (1963): Dir. Lance Comfort
Feat. David Hemmings; Low–budget, but historically fascinating musical wraps some great mid–60s pop music around its slender plot. Hemmings plays a…
Yellow Teddybears, The (Gutter Girls) (1963): Dir. Robert Hartford-Davies
Feat. Annette Whiteley; Packaged as a sexploitation movie, this is actually an earnest message movie about illicit teenage sex, set in a girl's school where those that have…
Young Racers, The (1963): Dir. Roger Corman
Feat. Mark Damon, Patrick Magee; Teensploitation melodrama from the king of the drive–in cheapie about motor–racing rivalry. Some great racing footage and bratty…
Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961): Dir. Paul Wendkos
Feat. Deborah Walley, James Darren; Deborah Walley as teenage Gidget #3 says ‘aloha’ in this superfluous sequel.
Beat Girl (1960): Dir. Edmond T. Greville
Feat. Gillian Hills, Adam Faith, Christopher Lee…; Providing a rare peek into the British 'beat scene', this groovy juvenile delinquency drama proves there was teenage wildlife before the Beatles, and…
Platinum High School (1960): Dir. Charles Haas
Feat. Mickey Rooney, Terry Moore, Dan Duryea…; Mickey Rooney overheats in investigating his son's death at a military academy. Casting quirks includes singer Conway Twitty.
Sex Kittens Go to College (1960): Dir. Albert Zugsmith
Feat. Mamie Van Doren, Tuesday Weld; Despite having thirteen diplomas, Mamie Van Doren (the B–Movie's Marilyn Monroe) has trouble being taken seriously as a college professor!…
Tall Story (1960): Dir. Joshua Logan
Feat. Jane Fonda, Anthony Perkins; A young Jane Fonda makes her screen debut in this candy–coated comedy as a bubbly co–ed with romantic yearnings for basketballer Anthony…
Gidget (1959): Dir. Paul Wendkos
Feat. Sandra Dee, James Darren, Cliff Robertson; Cute–as–a–button Sandra Dee goes all out to prove she can hang with surf bums James Darren and Cliff Robertson, in the first and…
High School Confidential (1958): Dir. Jack Arnold
Feat. Russ Tamblyn, Mamie Van Doren, Jerry Lee Lewis; When not gathering dirt on local marijuana dealers, 'student' narc Russ Tamblyn is clinching it with Mamie Van Doren. This hard–biting 'JD'…
Reform School Girl (1958): Dir. Edward Bernds
Feat. Gloria Castillo, Sally Kellerman; A “shocking true story”, this cheapie concerns the rough–ride of 17 year–old Gloria Castillo, who gets mixed up with a…
I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957): Dir. Herbert Strock
Feat. Whit Bissell, Phyllis Coates, Robert Burton; Campy drive–in classic about a mad scientist who pulls a teen from a car wreck and 'repairs' him. Best seen as a double feature with 'Teenage…
I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957): Dir. Gene Fowler Jnr.
Feat. Michael Landon; A cool Michael Landon scored a big hit in his film debut – a hilarious mishmash of horror and juvenile delinquency dramas.
Violent Years, The (1956): Dir. William J Morgan
Feat. Mamie Van Doren; Scripted by Ed Wood Jnr (PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE) this tawdry 50s juvenile–delinquent pic features Mamie Van Doren leading a gang of…
Brighton Rock (1947): Dir. John Boulting
Feat. Richard Attenborough, Hermione Baddeley, William Hartnell; One of the coolest British crime flicks sees Richard Attenborough give an attention–grabbing portrayal of a delinquent gang leader who wants…

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Subgenre Sampler