13 Best Mean Girls in Horror

The conversation around women in horror usually revolves around final girls, female villains, scream queens, and monstresses. Something that is so often left out of the conversation is the antagonistic character of the mean girl, which horror has aplenty. It’s not just other genres who use the quintessential mean girl archetype to drive the protagonist’s story. This type of character has been around going further back than Carrie’s Chris Hargensen.

She’s an unapologetically cruel, vicious, and cunning person who typically thrives off of making the heroine’s life a living hell. Typically, she’s seen as queen bee of her respective circle of close friends, but can also be a loner or sociopathic killer who keeps to herself. Bottom line, she’s just plain mean. She doesn’t care whose feelings she hurts, so long as she gets her way. She’s catty and bossy. She finds enjoyment in bullying others. She’s a terrifying force to be reckoned with. 

Below are the top 13 mean girls of the genre:

Barbara “Barb” Coard in Black Christmas (1974)

To some, Margot Kidder’s city-reared rich girl Barb may come off as just another mean girl, but there’s something much deeper about this highly misunderstood young woman. On the surface, she’s rude and sarcastic, but that’s just an armor she wears to hide a much softer, sensitive side of her who yearns to be loved and accepted. Barb uses her harsh bluntness as a defense mechanism and the alcohol to numb the years of pain of dealing with a narcissistic, neglectful mother.

Yes, she’s unkind to Clare (Lynne Griffin), speaks without a filter, acts insensitive, and gets way too drunk, but if any of her sorority sisters made the effort to really see her, they’d understand that she’s just acting out of a place of profound pain. Barb may come off as giving zero f**ks, but she actually feels way too deeply. Her habit of making others feel uncomfortable by scandalizing them is just a way to protect herself and hide her insecurities. Her bite truly isn’t as bad as her bark. She’s a beloved bisexual icon who deserved to be a final girl in this classic Christmas horror. Barb was progressive and had an admirable refusal to conform. Not to mention, she wasn’t afraid of sticking it to a dumb cop. Now, that’s a mean girl who slays!

Chris Hargensen in Carrie (1976)

Typically considered the OG mean girl, sadistic high-school bully Chris Hargensen (Nancy Allen) is certainly the most soulless of them all. Her cruelty knows no bounds or reason. She’s practically a sociopath who derives enjoyment from terrorizing Carrie White (Sissy Spacek), a sweet, reclusive girl who has never done anything to anyone.

Chris isn’t just ruthless, she’s downright emotionally and psychologically abusive to Carrie. Instead of using her popularity to, at the very least, push others to be kind to a terrified Carrie in a vulnerable moment, she incites her classmates to throw tampons and pads at her in the locker room. When her morally repugnant act gets her banned from prom, she fails to hold herself accountable and decides to “punish” Carrie for it. Not only does she lack empathy for other people, but she holds no regard for animals, going as far as sneaking into a pig farm and cheering on her boyfriend as he brutally slaughters a couple of the helpless creatures. Prom night was the only time Carrie ever felt a happy moment in her life, and Chris was beyond happy to ruin it by dumping a bucket of pig blood on her. She couldn’t give her just one evening. Her demise was one of the most satisfying deaths in cinema.

See also: The most satisfying slap in movie history

Jennifer Lawrence in The Initiation of Sarah (1978)

The Initiation of Sarah may be a college ripoff of Carrie, but it’s still certainly worth a watch, if not for anything, than for its star-studded cast. Morgan Fairchild gives a fantastic performance as one of the meanest girls there ever was, the wonderfully b*tchy Jennifer Lawrence, president of Alpha Nu Sigma, the most exclusive sorority on campus. Her character may even give Chris Hargensen a run for her money.

When the movie’s titular heroine arrives at university, Jennifer becomes determined to make her life a tormenting nightmare, for no reason, really. She’s unkind to her and makes fun of her. She drives a wedge between her and her sister to make her feel as alone as possible. She’s horrible to other members in Sarah’s (Kay Lenz) sorority, Phi Epsilon Delta, and refers to their house as being full of “pigs, elephants, and dogs.” She, along with other ANS sisters, throws mud, tomatoes, and garbage at Sarah after inviting her to a fake birthday party for her love interest. Seeing her get her due karma at the end through a rapid aging spell makes you want to pour out some bubbly and cheers. 

Debbie Jelinsky in Addams Family Values (1993)

“Bachelors, beware!” Joan Cusack is electric in one of her most memorable roles as the beautiful and deranged Debbie Jelinsky, AKA Ursula, Carmen, Nadie, and the Black Widow. Never ever was there a mean girl more conniving. The Addamsverse TV show America’s Most Disgusting Unsolved Crimes has plenty to say about her: “She mates, then she kills. She investigates wealthy men, finding the richest, loneliest bachelors, gaining their trust and their love and she finally marries them. Then on the wedding night, she kills them. Their deaths appear accidental. Then after the funeral, she disappears, cash in hand. But the money never lasts, and soon the Black Widow is hungry again.”

Debbie is shallow, vain, materialistic, and manipulative. She has no empathy and views men as mere objects. To her, they’re simply the means to get what she wants. All she cares about is wealth. When she targets Fester (Christopher Lloyd), the Addams Family is faced with one formidable enemy. As the audience, we can’t help but stan. Strapped to electric chairs, the Addamses also seem to have respect for her game as she delivers one of the best monologues in the genre.

Laura Lizzie in The Craft (1996)

The Craft perfectly captures girlhood with its exploration of all-consuming female friendships. This rich portrayal of 90s teenage girl angst wouldn’t be complete without the stereotypical mean girl. In this case, she’s a rich blond named Laura Lizzie (Christine Taylor), whose brattiness and mean streak aren’t even the worst thing about her. The girl is a racist bully who makes Rochelle’s (Rachel True) life a living hell on the swim team and at school. Laura openly hurls racist comments and slurs at Rochelle with terrifyingly great amusement. At practice, she goes out of her way to get into Rochelle’s head and negatively affect her performance. She feels no shame. In fact, Laura seems to take pride in her bigotry and delights in singling out Rochelle as the target of her hatred.

She’s no girls’ girl, either. When toxic boy Chris (Skeet Ulrich) spreads false rumors about Sarah (Robin Tunney), Laura wastes no time in slutshaming her. Call it karma. Call it revenge. Call it schadenfreude. Watching her hair fall out—first strand by strand, then in huge clumps—until she’s completely bald and bawling in the shower is one of the most enjoyable moments in horror.

Jessica Pierson in Sorority Row (2009)

Leah Pipes gives an iconic performance as the meanest sorority girl there ever was, Jessica Pierson. The president of Theta Pi rules over her sorority with an iron fist, preaching about “sisterhood,” while caring nothing at all for any of the women she calls “sisters.” Ruthless and vicious, she has no qualms when it comes to hurting others, regularly making fun of her so-called friends and calling them ugly names. Her only concerns are herself and keeping her relationship with the senator’s son intact.

When Megan (Audrina Patridge) accidentally dies in the prank, she’s only horrified by the thought of what it might cost her. There is no sadness and no grief for her dead sister. Like a sociopath, she instantly devises a plan to cover up her death. To get the group on board, she makes them fear the consequences, waxes poetic about sisterhood, and talks about “what Megan would want” for them. She’s a master manipulator. Cassidy (Briana Evigan), who wants to do the right thing, is blackmailed by Jessica into silence, with the threat of having it all pinned on her. Once the girls start being stalked and hunted, Jessica still can think about no one but herself. One can’t help but cheer on the killer when he shoves the tire iron into her mouth at the end.

Lola Stone “Princess” in The Loved Ones (2009)

The Loved Ones smartly subverts the final girl trope by flipping traditional gender roles in horror. This Australian horror gem has one of the most unhinged, sadistic female villains in the genre. Lola Stone (Robin McLeavy) isn’t your typical mean girl. When the audience first meets her, she’s asking the will-be final boy Brent (Xavier Samuel) out to prom. She comes off as shy and sweet, and even a bit innocent. After he kindly rejects her, her true maniacal and wicked nature is exposed. With the help of her psychotic father, Lola abducts Brent and holds him hostage at her house, where she has set up for a special prom night of her own. Tied to a chair, Brent is subjected to a long, macabre night of horrific torture at the hands of Lola.

Before carving her initials into his chest and pouring salt on the wounds, she reveals a trap door to an underground cellar filled with her previous lobotomized victims. Lola has been at her game since she was a small child, and it’s not just boys she loves to hurt. Before killing her, there are glimpses of Lola’s abuse of her lobotomized mother. Lola is undoubtedly a terrifying monster, but one the viewer can’t help but find compelling with her sense of humor, depravity, and astounding lack of empathy. 

Jennifer Check in Jennifer’s Body (2009)

The titular character in cult classic Jennifer’s Body was a self-absorbed mean girl way before she was sacrificed in a Satanic ritual by a loser rock band seeking fame and fortune. The popular high school cheerleader never had a filter. Jennifer (Megan Fox) always said what came to mind, which usually involved ruthlessly insulting others. She was as nice as she was capable of being to her nerdy bookworm sidekick Needy (Amanda Seyfried). Despite holding a sweet spot for her sandbox bestie, Jennifer still walked all over Needy, who did whatever Jennifer asked, whenever she asked. Their friendship was a toxic, codependent bond that kept Needy from asserting herself.

Jennifer was meaner than ever after her possession, and no one, not even Needy, was immune to her casual cruelty. Jennifer may have stopped herself from feeding on Needy, but pettiness and heartache pushed her to devour her friend’s boyfriend—ouch! It’s hard not to sympathize with Jennifer, however, who despite never being a nice girl, started out as a relatively normal teenager. She went through an unspeakable trauma that fundamentally changed her as a person. Her experience in the film reflects that of many female viewers, so it’s difficult to blame her for feasting on the flesh of young men. Like she points out to Needy, she wasn’t killing people, she was just killing boys.

Sadie & McKayla in Tragedy Girls (2017)

What’s meaner than burning your entire graduation class alive just for sh*ts and giggles?

Unlike Carrie, Sadie Cunningham and McKayla Hooper (Briana Hildebrand and Alexandra Shipp) were never terrorized by their classmates. This sociopathic duo mirrors Scream’s Billy Loomis and Stu Macher. Tragedy Girls is basically the iconic slasher told from the killers’ POV. The childhood besties are obsessed with murder and fame. Their ultimate desire is to gain more followers for their titular true crime blog. To boost their social media, the girls try to enlist a killer they’ve taken captive for help. When he refuses, they brutally commit the murders they want to report on themselves.

They’re callous about their murdering, choosing their victims like they would a lipstick shade. As McKayla holds their decapitated cheer captain’s head, they joke and laugh. The girls are at their absolute meanest in the final act, where it seems Sadie may soften her heart to save Jordan (Jack Quaid), who has always carried a torch for her. Even after it’s revealed that the girls killed his mom as kids, Jordan tries to get Sadie to safety and declares his love for her. She quickly turns on him and kills him, making up with her bestie, and subsequently setting fire to 124 prom-goers.

Sheila in Fear Street Part Two: 1978 (2021)

When the audience first meets Sheila (Chiara Aurelia), she’s chasing Ziggy (Sadie Sink) down with her friends. They tie her up with rope by the wrists and hang her from a tree, taunting her and saying that she’s possessed by the witch Sarah Frier. Sheila busts out a lighter and threatens to set her on fire, going as far as causing her actual bodily harm by burning her arm. Even her posse of followers are afraid and think that her torture methods are spiraling out of control. The Sunnyvaler is just downright sadistic, finding enjoyment in her cruelty. There’s no reason for her to have it out for Ziggy other than she’s a Shadysider. 

Alex in Sissy (2022)

Not only is Sissy one of Shudder’s finest, but it’s one of the best horror movies of 2022. The film was featured in the newer expanded edition of Kier-La Janisse’s House of Psychotic Women, one of the best books of genre study. If “unhinged woman horror” is your thing, then it’s definitely a must-read. Sissy is sympathetic in its exploration of Cecilia’s (Aisha Dee) female neurosis, painting her as someone who was denied love and acceptance her whole life. It makes sense why the emotional wellness guru preaches both things to her many followers.

When she rekindles her friendship with her childhood BFF, Emma (Hannah Barlow), the last person she expects to see at Emma’s bachelorette party is Alex (Emily De Margheriti), the girl who bullied her throughout her most formative years. Through flashbacks, the depth of Alex’s wickedness is shown. She brutalized Cecilia, known as “Sissy” back then, inciting others to join in on the bullying. It was Alex who drove a wedge between the two former besties. As an adult, Alex has done zero growth. Picking up the torment right where she left off, she intentionally pushes Cecilia’s buttons. She insists on calling her Sissy, although she has made it clear she goes by Cecilia now. She minimizes her job as an influencer, makes fun of her to her face and behind her back, excludes her from group activities, and goes out of her way to make her feel as small as possible. Is it a wonder why Cecilia snapped, not once, but twice? 

The Mother in Hatching (2022)

This deviates from archetypal convention, but sometimes the meanest girl you encounter in life is your mother. In this coming-of-age horror, it’s certainly true for 12-year-old Tinja (Siiri Solalinna), who yearns for nothing more than the love and approval of her image-obsessed, demanding mother (Sophia Heikkilä). Nothing is ever enough for her domineering mom, who does nothing but make her feel like everything and anything she does is never enough.

Mother is Tinja’s biggest bully. She pulls back and gives Tinja the silent treatment when she is less than pleased with her gymnastics performance. Never has she stopped to ask Tinja what she’s truly passionate about. The poor girl only does gymnastics because her mother considers it the best sport, finding no actual joy in it. Instead of cheering Tinja on and giving her reassurance, Mother puts her down. Tinja lived her whole life being afraid of disappointing her mom and carrying the weight of her expectations.

Further reading:

• 10 Horror Films That Subvert the Final Girl Trope
• 23+ Sorority Horror Movies
• The 10 Most Toxic Men in Horror Movies