12. Heathers
A definite precursor to Mean Girls (also on Netflix and only just failing to make the cut here), Heathers is a bleak and cynical comedy, one regularly cited as one of the best high-school films of all time. Cult in almost every regard, the film was widely praised on release but failed to generate much at the box office. Since then, however, the film has amassed a devoted fan-base, with everything from the film's fashion, dialogue, and lead performances - from Winona Ryder and Christian Slater (when he was good) - used as some sort of touchstone. A sardonic antithesis to the spate of John Holmes high-school films of the same period, Heathers is a biting, outright nasty affair; a morbid dissection of the pressure of cliques and popularity. As funny as it is ultimately bitter, the film set the benchmark for nearly every other high-school film that followed.