Introduction:

Coming of age is a genre marked by its protagonists’ transition into a new, more adult iteration of themselves, where they shed some of their naivete and youthful idealism. In many ways, coming of age is inherently a kind of autumnal genre in how it follows the protagonist’s slow process of transformation, with a pensiveness and bittersweetness that reminds me of those last days of late fall. Coming-of-age horror takes this transition and reimagines it as something far more sinister, made worse by the protagonist’s inability to prevent what is happening to them. For this reason, I think that watching some coming-of-age horror is just the right way to celebrate the remnants of spooky season and of fall itself, so here are some recommendations to get you started. 

• Ginger Snaps (2000)

One of the first movies to explore coming-of-age tropes within the context of horror, Ginger Snaps follows sisters Brigette and Ginger Fitzgerald in the dreary suburbs of Bailey Downs. Outcasts at their local high school, the sisters spend most of their time together, working on gory art projects and longing for an escape from their town. One night, while the sisters are wandering around near their high school, Ginger is suddenly attacked by a wild creature. While her wounds miraculously heal the next day, Brigette slowly begins to sense that something is not quite right as Ginger begins a transformation, not into her adult self, but into something else entirely.

• Stoker (2013)

Following the aristocratic India Stoker in the days after her father’s death, Stoker is a beautiful film with smooth, delicate transitions. It takes the audience through India’s meeting with her uncle Charlie, a man she never knew existed, at her father’s funeral. Both she and her mother appreciate the warmth and friendliness of Charlie in the wake of tragedy, but the longer he stays with them the more India begins to suspect that he has ulterior motives and that there’s something about herself that she has yet to find out. Stoker is layered in complex visual metaphors that signal India’s slow awakening to violence, and I’d highly recommend it as an example of some of director Park Chan-wook’s most thoughtful use of visuals.

• Raw (2016)

Justine, a lifelong vegetarian just like her family members, is ready to begin her first year at veterinary school, where she will join her older sister. However, the school environment is nothing like what she thought it would be and she is subjected to various hazing rituals and initiation tests, during one of which she is forced to eat raw meat. Suddenly, Justine is overcome with constant cravings, that nothing will satisfy and which she cannot resist. Directed by the provocative Julia Ducournau, Raw is a cinematic tour-de-force worth seeing if you can stomach it.

• Bones and All (2022)

Abandoned by her father after impulsively attacking and biting a girl at a birthday party, teenager Marin finds herself on the fringes of society as she decides to take a trip through the backroads of the United States. There she discovers others like her and meets drifter Lee, whom she tries to build a future with. But despite both their best efforts, all roads lead back to one final stand and the understanding that they cannot escape their pasts.

Conclusion:

I’m sorry I couldn’t do an October horror round-up as was promised, but I hope that this has been a good substitute. As you make your way through this fall, remember to cozy up by the fireplace, whip up hot cocoa, and enjoy a movie.