Each Tuesday, FANGORIA will be presenting Terror Tuesdays on the streaming service Pluto TV, a triple feature of horror films personally selected by a member of the Fango fam. Each week, one of us will curate three titles with a theme of some sort, and the party starts every Tuesday night at 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific on the Pluto TV Terror channel. It's all free!
Jennifer's Body opens with the line, "Hell is a teenage girl," but the origin of hellacious teen girls wreaking havoc on deserving peers is a tale as old as time. This week we continue our Terror Tuesday fun with a triple header of one of our favorite subgenres. Girl gets revenge.
The Blood On Satan's Claw
This 1971 British horror film centers on a group of youths led by a girl named Angel. A corpse is dug up in Angel's small town by a small boy, and shortly after, some of the local teens start acting rather strangely, which leads some to believe the exhumed corpse was once possessed. Naturally, Angel and the gang then begin to perform rituals in an attempt to make contact with the devil via the corpse, and this all causes quite a fuss with the local adults. As Satanic Panic spreads through the tiny village, some of the parents start locking up the kids. No Satan for you, until you've eaten all your stew! A folk horror classic and an excellent case of a teenage girl taking the reigns and running amok.
Carrie (1976)
Is this the epitome of "hell hath no fury?" I'd like to think so. Released in 1976, Carrie remains as effective as ever. I don't think I'm going out on a limb here to say this is hands down the best adaptation of Stephen King's debut novel. Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) is relentlessly bullied at school, and her home life leaves much to be desired. Her religious fanatic mother (Piper Laurie) has some pretty warped views on puberty and biology as a whole. Things seem to be turning around when one of the popular boys invites her to prom, but it's all a prank, in a series of unusually cruel pranks. But fret not, because our girls unlocks a murderous telekinesis and delivers 1) the best prom scene of all time and 2) a gratifying comeuppance finale.
The Initiation of Sarah
Did this come out two years after Carrie? Yes. Does it also center on a bullied girl who happens to have psychic and telekinetic powers that she uses to enact revenge against those who wronged her? Also yes, but who can get tired of that plotline? Also, Sarah takes the action to a college campus, giving us sorority mean girls, with Morgan Fairchild leading the pack. The movie is a little made-for-TV gem, originally airing on ABC. It was remade in 2006 with Morgan Fairchild returning (not as an evil sorority girl).
Join the fun tonight at 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific on the Pluto TV Terror channel. Enjoy the sweet revenge and come back next week for another trifecta of terror!
