23+ Sorority Horror Movies

College is often said to be the best years of your life. It’s when young adults are able to finally break free from their parents, figure out who they are away from home, and start taking big risks to become the person they aspire to be. There’s no curfew, no rules, and no shortage of fun. It’s no wonder that some of the best movies are centered around the collegiate experience.

As free-spirited and liberating university may be, it’s also a terrifying time, a fact which is reflected in countless horror movies. The genre has no shortage of films set in academic institutions—Suspiria (1977), Final Exam (1981), Pieces (1982), Flatliners (1990), Urban Legend (1998), Scream 2 (1997), The Skulls (2000), The Roommate (2011), Truth or Dare (2018), and so many others. These chilling campus tales include a very special and creepy subgenre: sorority horror.

When Bob Clark’s Black Christmas came out in 1974, the sorority house proved to set the perfect stage for a maniac to stalk and hunt his victims. For decades, many have tried to recreate the magic of the classic holiday horror movie. The 1980s, especially, saw the lives of many Greek life coeds end in blood and gore. Haunted houses, deadly secrets, high stakes hazing, occult Pagan rituals, B-movie camp, demonic possession, knife-wielding maniacs—sorority horror has it all. 

Cataloged below are the 20 best sorority horror movies:

Black Christmas (1974)

Bob Clark’s Black Christmas is one of the greatest films in the genre (and the best on this list). The timeless classic pioneered the slasher, sorority horror, and Christmas horror subgenres. It was a work ahead of its time, with its progressive stance on abortion. Clark unapologetically emphasizes a woman’s claim over her body and the terrors of the patriarchal world. Olivia Huxley stars as Jess Bradford, a member of Pi Kappa Sigma sorority dealing with an unwanted pregnancy and a toxic boyfriend. As winter break begins, her sorority house is terrorized with disturbing phone calls, stalked, and hunted down by a deranged killer.

The Initiation of Sarah (1978)

The Initiation of Sarah is a made-for-TV movie that basically imagines Carrie going off to college, meeting a pack of cruel sorority girls, and being mentored by an evil version of Miss Collins. The movie’s impressive cast makes this entry worth checking out. A young Kay Lenz stars as the titular Sarah Goodwin, who goes off to college with her more extroverted adoptive sister, Patty (Morgan Brittany). Sarah is a shy, reclusive girl who harbors psychokinetic powers and is prone to bursts of anger, making her fearful of her abilities. She struggles to fit in with their mother’s exclusive sorority, Alpha Nu Sigma, unlike her sister, who becomes their pledge. A rival sorority, the nicer and more inclusive Phi Epsilon Delta, gives Sarah a bid. Tensions rise when HBIC at ANS, Jennnifer Lawrence, played immaculately by Morgan Fairchild, tries to make Sarah’s life on campus a living hell. Shelley Winters plays PED housemother Mrs. Hunter, an occultist teacher who motivates Sarah to get even with ANS using her powers, and who is determined to restore PED’s former prestige, but is hiding much sinister intentions beneath the surface.

The House on Sorority Row (1982)

RHOBH and soap opera superstar Eileen Davidson stars as Vicki, the ringleader of Theta Pi, alongside Kathryn McNeil, who plays heroine Katey, in this cult classic directed by Mark Rosman. Angered that their domineering house mother, Mrs. Slater (Lois Kelso Hunt), isn’t letting the house stay open over graduation weekend, Vicki devises a plan for revenge and to get her way. As she, Katey, and five other sisters set up for a prohibited graduation party, Mrs. Slater kicks them out once again, and Vicki’s scheme ensues. The dangerous prank goes fatally wrong, leaving the girls with a dead body to hide and an unknown killer stalking them throughout the night’s celebrations. The House on Sorority Row is pure campy fun and a must-watch for 80s horror fans. The shockingly effective slasher deserves a lot more attention from fans of the genre. 

The Initiation (1984)

Since she was nine, Kelly Fairchild (Daphne Zuniga), a freshman who suffers from amnesia, has been plagued by a recurring nightmare of a man’s fiery demise. Eager to unravel the mystery, she enlists the help of Peter (James Read), a psych graduate student writing his thesis on dream analysis, much to her mother’s dismay. Kelly is also in the process of being initiated into Delta Rho Chi sorority, which will involve a hazing ritual in which she and three other pledges have to break into her father’s giant department store. Meanwhile, there’s a killer on the loose. When her friends and other coeds who have broken into the mall start being picked off one by one, Kelly discovers the murderer’s link to her traumatic past. 

Sorority House Massacre (1986)

Carol Frank served as personal assistant to director Amy Holden James during the filming of Slumber Party Massacre (1982), originally intended as a feminist satire of slashers. Following its commercial success, Roger Corman’s New Concorde Studio hired Frank to write and direct Sorority House Massacre, creating the first spin-off film series in a wider Massacre franchise, which also includes the Cheerleader Massacre films. The first installment in the Sorority House Massacre trilogy follows Beth (Angela O’Neill), a young woman with a traumatic past who’s plagued by visions of a knife-wielding maniac she has an inexplicable telepathic connection with. As she settles into the Theta Omega Theta house over Memorial Day weekend, the psychopathic killer escapes a mental facility and starts stalking her and her sisters.

Killer Party (1986)

If what you’re craving is a demonic possession sorority slasher, then Killer Party has you covered. The Canadian film follows three Briggs College students who decide to pledge to the popular Sigma Alpha Pi sorority during Hell Week—Vivia (Sherry Willis-Burch), Jennifer (Joanna Johnson), and Phoebe (Elaine Wilkes). After initiation, their sorority decides to throw a wild party at a nearby abandoned fraternity house, despite urgent pleas by their housemother not to do so. A bloodthirsty evil spirit is unleashed at the April Fool’s Day costume party, possessing one sorority member who begins killing off the sisters and their party guests.

Black Christmas (2006)

The loose remake of Black Christmas delivers more blood and gore than its predecessor, with a 2000s it girl cast including Katie Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg, Lacey Chabert, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. This reimagining is set at Clement University’s Delta Alpha Kappa sorority house, former home to Billy Lenz (Robert Mann), a vicious killer with a dark past who has just escaped from his cell on Christmas Eve. When he returns to his childhood home, a group of sisters stranded by a snowstorm are picked off one by one. The movie may not be a masterpiece, but this 2006 version is an atmospheric, aesthetic, creepy, fun watch that deserves a lot more love than it gets. Don’t let its low ratings and poor critical reception discourage you from enjoying the campy seasonal slasher. 

The Initiation of Sarah (2006) 

The Initiation of Sarah is a supernatural made-for-TV film that aired as part of ABC Family’s 13 Night of Halloween. The movie is a loose remake of the 1978 movie of the same name. Morgan Fairchild returns in a much different role, playing Trina Goodwin, the mother of Sarah (Mika Boorem) and Lindsay (Summer Glau). Here, the Goodwin sisters are biological and their roles are reversed in terms of personalities. Magic is central to the plot, as is a battle between good and evil. This is the first sorority horror movie to feature a woman of color in a meaningful role, with a young Tessa Thompson playing Esme, Alpha Nu’s VP. Iconic scream queen Jennifer Tilly also stars. 

Sorority Row (2009)

In this remake of 1982’s The House on Sorority Row, a vile prank goes fatally wrong, resulting in the death of Megan (Audrina Patridge), a member of Theta Pi. The practical joke in Sorority Row is much darker than in the original, and the sorority sisters are a lot more despicable. Theta Pi’s president, Jessica, the baddest and most rotten HBIC there ever was, is superbly played by Leah Pipes, who inspires a strong dislike for her morally repugnant character. After Megan’s death, Jessica manipulates those involved into dumping her body into a mine shaft and never speaking of it again. She blackmails Cassidy (Briana Evigan), who wants to do the right thing, into silence. Months later, the girls are stalked and tormented by a hooded killer who knows their secret. Sorority Row is peak 2000s slasher.  

Happy Death Day (2017)

Happy Death Day is probably the most fun you’ll have on this list. Theresa “Tree” Gelbman, played with a magnetic presence by Jessica Rothe, is certainly the most badass and clever protagonist. Despite not starting out completely likable, the film peels back her layers and gives her a great character arc. The movie follows the Kappa Pi Lambda sorority coed as she dies over and over again on her birthday, waking up each day in Carter Davis’ (Israel Broussard) dorm room. Tree must figure out a way to prevent her death at the hands of a masked killer in order to escape the time loop she’s stuck in. Waking up weaker every time, Tree tries her best to discover the identity of her murderer. 

More sorority horror movies…

Sisters of Death (1977) during an initiation, a new sorority member is killed in a game of Russian roulette. Years later, under the guise of a college reunion, her father lures those involved to his lavish estate for revenge.

Hell Night (1981) Linda Blair stars in this movie about a group of sorority and fraternity pledges who must spend the night locked in the deserted Garth Manor as part of their initiation, a house where a family was murdered years prior.

Night of the Creeps (1986) is a collegiate alien invasion movie that focuses on a sorority and fraternity. Slug-like parasites turn their hosts into killing zombies. 

Scream 2 (1997) Rebecca Gayheart and Portia de Rossi play creepy sorority sisters, and one of the best chase scene follows Sarah Michelle Gellar in an empty sorority house.

The Haunting of Sorority Row (2007) this made-for-TV film stars Leighton Meester as Samantha Willows, a college freshman pledging a prestigious sorority on campus, which, unbeknownst to her, is haunted by the vengeful spirit of a former pledge. Imagine a Lifetime supernatural horror movie. 

The Cook (2008) is a cannibal sorority house slasher. A cannibalistic killer poses as a chef at a sorority house over a long holiday weekend. 

The Sleeper (2012) takes place in 1981 and focuses on the sisters of Alpha Gamma Theta, who are unaware that they are being watched by The Sleeper, a maniac who killed a member a couple of years prior. The low budget movie impresses with style and a vintage feel. 

Die Die Delta Pi (2013) is a comedy horror set in the 1980s. The sleazy micro-budget film follows a group of sorority girls who play a mean-spirited prank on a sister that results in her being burned alive. Now, there’s someone seeking revenge.  

The Row (2018) Riley (Lala Kent) pledges a sorority where sisters are being taunted by a serial killer.

Black Christmas (2019) directed by Sophia Takal, this reimagining of Black Christmas is entirely different from its predecessors. The movie is set at Hawthorne College near the holiday break and focuses on Riley Stone (Imogen Poots) and her Mu Kappa Epsilon sisters, as a cloaked figure leaves a trail of bodies on campus. The girls discover that the attacks are part of a sinister fraternity conspiracy. 

Nesting Dolls (2019) three sorority sisters plan a weekend at a cabin in the woods but a prank gone wrong ruins the party (forever).

Initiation (2020) after a sorority coed is found unconscious in a room with three Sigma Nu Pi guys and subsequently mocked on social media, frat members start being murdered by an unknown killer…because death to all rapists!

“Suicide Bid”, V/H/S/99 (2022) this segment in the found footage horror anthology focuses on a college freshman eager to join Beta Sigma Eta, the best sorority on campus. During a hazing ritual, she must spend the night buried in a coffin in a cemetery.

Further reading:

• 19 Best Horror Movies from the 80s
• 22+ Best Slasher Movies of All Time
• 50+ Best High School Horror Movies