The intoxicating first season of Yellowjackets is now available to watch on Sky Atlantic and NOW for UK viewers. But what the hell are we meant to do once it’s over—just chill until season 2, like a pack of teen soccer stars waiting around in the woods for the cannibalism to kick off??
No: instead, you should delve into the filmographies of that stellar cast, and we’ve got the top recommendations for you just below. Check out any of these brutal stories about coming-of-age, survival, and fierce female friendship to get your YJ fix.
I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore
Melanie Lynskey is getting the career recognition she deserves as Shauna, Yellowjackets’ complex, haunted protagonist. The disgruntled housewife character feels like an extension of her work in this punchy black comedy, all about what humans owe each other in a menial and uncaring world. Elijah Wood is hilarious as Lynskey’s nunchuck-twirling neighbor, as they trawl the suburbs seeking petty revenge and obviously get in way over their heads.
Jennifer’s Body
Horror auteur Karyn Kusama directs the tremendous Yellowjackets pilot, and it’s not her first time telling a genre story through the social terrors of teen intimacy. Megan Fox is deliciously evil as a possessed high schooler: Amanda Seyfriend plays the goody-two-shoes Shauna to her Jackie, as their small town’s most eligible boys become Fox’s prey. What really hits hard about this reclaimed cult hit is the relationship between the two friends. Are they besties or toxic enemies? Does Seyfried want to be Fox, kill her, or make out with her?
Addams Family Values
An episode of Yellowjackets just doesn’t feel right until you’ve been forced to utter, ‘Misty, you crazy f***king bitch…’ That’s how deliciously unhinged Christina Ricci’s wildcard character is, and you can trace her misanthropic roots right back to the actress’ preternatural, black charisma as Wednesday Addams. The best Addams Family movie, Values even sees our emo queen getting into some Yellowjackets-esque summer camp activities: burning pilgrims, slinging arrows at Bald American Eagles, and radicalizing nerdy BF David Krumholtz to the dark side.
Whip It
Directed by Drew Barrymore, Whip It is kinda made for the exact same demographic as Yellowjackets, right down to the casting of Juliette Lewis as an embittered badass. The sports-comedy stars Elliot Page as a wannabe roller-derby champ, finding empowerment and friendship against a soundtrack of indie pop and 90s riot grrl anthems. Basically, I’d kill to see the film’s ‘Hurl Scouts’ face off against the Yellowjackets in some kind of unholy soccer-on-skates melee.
Sound of Violence
Hello Jasmin Savoy Brown, my old friend…As the Yellowjackets’ most fierce player Taissa or as a sarcastic cinephile in the new Scream film, Savoy Brown has made a huge impact recently playing young women with a sinister side. This high-concept horror flick stars the actress as an experimental musician obsessed with the sound of human pain. She’ll go to gory lengths to capture that synesthetic feeling—the result isn’t quite as creepy as the Man With No Eyes, but it’ll haunt your ears nonetheless.
Ladyworld
Yellowjackets was originally pitched as a gender-flipped take on Lord of the Flies, showing the secret and brutal nature of teen girlhood. If you’re seeking that story all over again with some arthouse flavour, Ladyworld will knock your socks off. Indie director Amanda Kramer has a few recognisable faces in her claustrophobic cast (Maya Hawke, Annalise Basso, Ryan Simpkins) but they’re all dolled up in clownish, abstract makeup, trapped together after a devastating earthquake. Chaos reigns, as you might expect.
Fear Street Part One: 1994
The opening chapter of Netflix’s throwback horror trilogy, Fear Street 1994 honors its nineties slasher ancestors with plenty of vicious kill sequences. It’s all caused by a mysterious serial-killing curse that dates back to colonial times, where we end up in the third film after a 1970s detour for the second movie. If you loved the badass teen athlete characters, heartfelt lesbian romance, and multiple timelines of Yellowjackets, the Fear Street series will be right up your spooky alley.
