When one describes the CW’s Riverdale, there are a lot of applicable adjectives. You could call it dark, campy, cheesy, or scary. None of those are inaccurate descriptions. The show has dabbled in many genres since its debut. One minute, the series is a neo-noir, then another, it’s a thriller.
At the end of the day, Riverdale is more or less a teen drama with a penchant for experimentation. Now, if you can’t quite get enough of Archie and his friends, you’re in luck. Here are ten teen drama movies that are worth checking out if you love Riverdale.
Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999)
Straight-A student Leigh Ann is on the cusp of a bright future when everyone’s least favorite teacher Mrs. Tingle intervenes. With a bad grade from Tingle, Leigh Ann won’t qualify to be her high school’s valedictorian. So, she and her friends abduct Mrs. Tingle until she agrees to change the grade. Things, of course, don’t go as planned.
In one of Katie Holmes’ most underrated movies, she plays yet another academic overachiever. However, there’s a dark edge to her character that’s just delectable. Helen Mirren, meanwhile is marvelous as the wicked Mrs. Tingle who everyone loves to hate.
Foxes (1980)
Four teens growing up in the late 1970s struggle with their restless lives in San Fernando Valley. Deidre looks for love in all the wrong places, Annie struggles with problems at home, and Madge is trying to fit in with the others. Meanwhile, Jeanie is the heart of the group; she’s doing her best to keep them all together and safe.
Foxes may not have the deepest plot, but Jodie Foster and the other actors deliver heartfelt performances in this riveting movie. So, viewers can be forgiving of its somewhat lacking story.
The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015)
Set in San Francisco during the 1970s, an aspiring comic artist is curious about the world around her. As she explores her own sexuality, she begins to take an interest in her mother’s boyfriend.
Bel Powley wows as the precocious Minnie Goetze. She hits all the right notes while Alexander Skarsgård nails his role as Monroe. This is one of those movies that touches on some painful and controversial themes, but you’ll also feel enlightened in some odd way.
Happy Birthday to Me (1981)
At Crawford Academy, a group of elite students nicknamed the “Top Ten” is being killed one by one by an unknown assailant. People suspect Virginia — a student who survived a terrible car accident — has something to do with this. If not her, who could be murdering the Top Ten? And do these deaths have anything to do with a horrible incident that happened years ago?
This is one of the strangest teen slashers ever; it stuffs itself with soapy drama and red herrings. The ending is more kooky than spooky, but the killer’s reveal is befitting of a Scooby-Doo unmasking.
The New Kids (1985)
After their parents die in an accident, siblings Loren and Abby move in with their aunt and uncle in Florida. The two are then harassed and stalked by a local gang of deviants. The situation finally escalates in a grisly attack at a rundown carnival.
Sean S. Cunningham is best known for directing the original Friday the 13th, but he attempted to do something a little less “horror” with The New Kids. The majority of this film plays out like a feature-length after-school special about bullying. In the last act, it transforms into a a violent bloodbath.
Mysterious Skin (2004)
Teenage Brian struggles to remember a traumatic episode when he was eight years old: he woke up with a bloody nose after blacking out. Some years later, he thinks maybe he was abducted by aliens. Brian seeks answers out from a childhood friend, Neil, who has since become a hustler. Unlike Brian, Neil wants to forget about his own childhood.
Gregg Araki directed both this movie and an episode of Riverdale (“Chapter Twenty-Four: The Wrestler”). He’s at his best when he’s unfiltered and honest. Mysterious Skin is an absorbing drama that explores two very different reactions to adolescent trauma.
Go (1999)
Told from three perspectives, this crime comedy is set on Christmas Eve. It all starts when two soap opera actors come into a grocery store. They find Ronna, who is looking to make some money. To get said money, she needs supplies. Thus, Ronna gets caught up in a series of unfortunate events.
Go has deservedly earned itself a cult following. This clever black comedy is likened to a teen movie that was directed by Quentin Tarantino. If you like your comedy dark and intertwined, give Go a go.
Donnie Darko (2001)
The dysfunctional Darko family nearly loses its son Donnie when a jet engine crashes into his empty bedroom. The origin of the engine is unknown, though. From that point onward, Donnie is the only one who sees a man dressed in a rabbit costume. The mysterious figure is named Frank, and he tells Donnie the world is going to end in 28 days.
It seems trendy to reject Donnie Darko as a seminal coming-of-age drama nowadays, but Richard Kelly’s breakthrough film earns its status as a genre-bending, cerebral story about an inescapable, cruel fate.
Hana and Alice (2004)
Hana and Alice are best friends whose relationship is tested by a boy. When the boy runs into a wall, he awakens to Hana standing over him. She tells him he has amnesia and that she’s his girlfriend; he believes her. Things get even more complicated when the guy falls for Alice, who he thinks is his ex.
The plot of this movie is nothing like anything in Riverdale, but that dreamy, almost twee state of mind isn’t too dissimilar either. Ultimately, Hana and Alice leaves its viewers feeling uplifted and encouraged.
Evil (2003)
When his turbulent home life causes him to hurt a classmate, Erik is sent away to an idyllic boarding school. It’s there that he’s subjected to bullying from a group of older students.
Originally titled Ondskan and based on a semi-autobiography by Jan Guillou, this Swedish film is a tour de force for stories about structural violence. Andreas Wilson both undersells and masters his role as the protagonist. While there are a lot of movies about how violence begets violence, not too many of them are as shrewd as Evil.
