10 Most Underrated 90s Teen Films

By Audrey Fox / January 4, 2014

The 1990s were an interesting time for teen films. Not as commercial and all-American as the ones came out in the 80s, you start to notice a pattern that separates these films from their predecessors far more than you would expect for a period of only ten years or so. A lot of 90s teen films were more edgy and cynical, focused less on the drama of the high school social structure and more on the societal outliers. There's a lot more absurdism and black comedy to be found, fewer traditional romantic dramas. In this way, teen films from the 90s were surprisingly interesting, with fantastic characters that went so much further than trite stereotypes.

But for some reason, a lot of the best films of the decade are ignored in favor of movies like Clueless and American Pie. Nothing against those films -- they're good in their own right. But there are a lot of classic 90s teen films that better represent the decade as a whole, that have been sadly neglected over the years. These are some of my personal favorite films aimed broadly at the teenage demographic, that I'd like to see get the attention they deserve.