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Jenna Ortega has quickly become the slasher genre's it girl, but some of her horror movies are better than others. Beginning her career as a child actor on Disney Channel, Ortega initially received widespread recognition for her role as Young Jane in the CW series Jane the Virgin from 2014 to 2019. Ortega's big break into the mainstream consciousness came in 2019, however, when she starred as Joe's impressionable neighbor Ellie Alves in the Netflix thriller series You. Yet, her true star power came three years later, when she starred as the eponymous Wednesday Addams in Tim Burton's Wednesday.
2022 cemented Ortega's status as a scream queen. She became the new face of the horrifying Scream movies, and appeared in horror movies both large (Ti West's X) and small (Studio 666.) Since then, her horror roles have only gotten bigger and better. Ortega's most recent horror film was Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the long-awaited and critically successful sequel to Tim Burton's 1988 cult classic. Ortega's meteoric rise as the horror genre's new poster child has led the actress to be dubbed the latest "Next Big Thing" by The Hollywood Reporter, yet her horror movies definitely have their pros and cons.
8 American Carnage (2022)
Undocumented Minors Are Put In A Scary Situation
American Carnage is a thriller released in 2022, which follows the story of detained children of undocumented immigrants who, to avoid charges, volunteer at an elder care facility. Once there, they uncover unexpected and dark secrets that challenge their perceptions and safety.
Director Diego Hallivis
Release Date July 15, 2022
Writers Julio Hallivis
Runtime 101 minutes
In 2022, Ortega starred in the horror comedy movie, American Carnage. The movie follows the children of undocumented immigrants who are arrested and detained. However, they are offered an opportunity to get their charges dropped by taking care of the elderly. Of course, this plan isn't as straightforward as it seems, and both the kids and the senior citizens are dropped into a shocking nightmare that puts all their lives at risk. Ortega plays the character Camila.
American Carnage definitely has redeeming qualities. It provokes an important message about immigrant rights and the issues faced by Hispanic Americans. With comparisons to Get Out, the movie has all the ingredients of a great horror movie. Unfortunately, American Carnage does not quite hit its mark. Earning a 58% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film struggles with its storytelling, covering too much ground without focusing on its most important themes.
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7 The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020)
A Teen Is Targeted By A Satanic Cult (Again)
The sequel to Netflix's 2017 black-horror-comedy The Babysitter, The Babysitter: Killer Queen largely fails to hit the zany notes of its predecessor. The Babysitter: Killer Queen follows Cole two years after his babysitter and her satanic cult followers attempted to sacrifice him to the devil for eternal success and beauty. A traumatized Cole cannot convince anyone of the events that transpired two years ago and has only begun to heal psychologically when Bee returns from the dead to attempt her macabre ritual all over again.
The Babysitter: Killer Queen is by no means a quality affair, with McG's horror sequel missing the dark wit of the first movie - which turns the film into a gory, predictable slog as Cole eventually evades his enemies once again. Despite the film's poor reception, Jenna Ortega's turn as love interest Phoebe is serviceable enough, with The Babysitter: Killer Queen representing her first horror role as an adult actress. In this way, The Babysitter: Killer Queen may be worth the watch for Ortega fans.
6 Studio 666 (2022)
The Foo Fighters Inhabit A Haunted House
The Foo Fighters' comedy-horror Studio 666 is a riotous, if not an entirely cohesive exercise in gonzo horror sensibilities. Studio 666 follows the Foo Fighters as they struggle to record their tenth studio album in a haunted Encino mansion before the band starts being picked off by demonic forces one by one. Despite its unique premise, the movie's 56% on Rotten Tomatoes hints at its failure to launch.
Filmed as a secret pandemic passion project by Dave Grohl and company, Studio 666 is certainly a lot of fun, but the wooden performances of many of the rock band members do detract from the gory spectacle unfolding here. Jenna Ortega, fresh off of her Scream success, is limited to a cameo role as the former band Dream Widow's singer, although this does not limit her ability to deliver a suitably savage introduction to Studio 666's gory intent.
5 Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)
A Father Is Possessed By His Childhood Demon
Jenna Ortega's very first horror role was in James Wan's Insidious: Chapter 2, which sees the Lambert family plagued by malevolent forces from the spirit world once again. Insidious: Chapter 2 picks up immediately after its predecessor, with Josh Lambert now possessed by the Woman in Black that haunted his childhood in Insidious. The Lamberts must work together to understand Josh's past so that they can save him (and themselves) in the future.
The most recent installment in the Insidious franchise, Insidious: The Red Door, came out in 2023, 13 years after the first movie's premiere.
Although undoubtedly lacking the outright terrifying presence and tone of its predecessor, Insidious: Chapter 2 does contain ample scares that are sure to delight fans of the franchise. In particular, the scene in which The Woman in White attacks Renai Lambert while cackling on top of her will ensure many a sleepless night for audiences. Jenna Ortega's role in James Wan's sequel is rather minor, with the young actress playing a child named Annie in the movie's 1986 flashback.
4 Scream (2022)
Sisters Are Terrorized By Ghostface
Scream is a towering return to Wes Craven's Scream franchise 26 years after Billy Loomis and Stu Macher first terrorized Woodsboro as Ghostface. The fifth Scream installment sees Sam Carpenter return to Woodsboro after her estranged younger sister Tara is attacked by a new Ghostface. This sets off a ghastly chain of events in which classic Scream legacy characters and new faces band together to banish the ghosts of the past - ending in a climactic, lore-steeped finale at Stu Macher's old house.
As self-referential and meta-centric as it is engrossing, Scream acts as a worthy tribute to the late Wes Craven, with Scream 2022 marking the first franchise installment the horror veteran did not direct following his death in 2015. In short, Radio Silence's Scream raises the bar for aspiring new slasher movies narrative-wise as Scream did in 1996 while being bolstered by an impressive cast that delivers each slash of Ghostface's increasingly bloody knife with aplomb.
3 Scream VI (2023)
Ghostface Takes On New York
It is a great pleasure that Ortega's performance in 2022's Scream only got better with the consequent movie, Scream VI. The sixth installment in the Scream franchise returns to Tara and Sam Carpenter, along with their two friends, as they leave Woodsboro behind for New York City. Hoping for a fresh start, the teens are terrified to realize that Ghostface has followed them, and worse, is intent on carrying out his murderous plans.
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Though some audiences may prefer Scream (2022) over Scream VI, it is hard to deny that the latest movie raises the stakes in a really exciting way. It is awesome to see Ghostface outside of Woodsboro, and better yet, to see the franchise take on a sleeker, more modern ambiance. It also helps that the kills are more gruesome and the characters enter even more complicated storylines. Overall, Scream VI is one of Ortega's most enticing horror films.
2 Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)
Jenna Ortega's most recent, and arguably her biggest, horror movie is Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Directed by Tim Burton, the film is a sequel to the 1988 horror comedy starring Michael Keaton as the titular demon Beetlejuice. In the second installment, Beetlejuice returns to help Lydia Deetz find her daughter, Astrid, who was tricked into entering the afterlife. This movie reprises all the quirky tricks of the original film while also offering up a new plot that is as heartwarming as it is engaging.
Part of what makes Beetlejuice Beetlejuice so great is its star-studded cast, including Ortega, who brings just enough sarcasm and wit to her role as Lydia Deetz' daughter.
As far as sequels go, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is quite the success. With a 77% on Rotten Tomatoes and over $300 million at the box office, the new movie has bewitched audiences and left them feeling nostalgic and satisfied with this latest Beetlejuice franchise addition. Part of what makes Beetlejuice Beetlejuice so great is its star-studded cast, including Ortega, who brings just enough sarcasm and wit to her role as Lydia Deetz' daughter. Overall, this is an entertaining and colorful sequel that is perfect for Beetlejuice lovers and newcomers alike.
1 X (2022)
A Movie Set Turns Bloody
Jenna Ortega's outing as Lorraine in Ti West's erotic horror X is one of her very best. X follows a group of aspiring 1970s pornographers and actors who decide to film their latest project at a dilapidated farmhouse. However, as porn director RJ and his crew, including Mia Goth's Maxine, quickly realize, their leering host's intentions are far from pure as ample quantities of blood begin to spill on Howard and Pearl's backwoods farm.
X is a film that showcases its director at the top of his craft, with West's movie containing various nods to the slasher movies that birthed it such as John Carpenter's Halloween and Alfred Sole's Alice, Sweet Alice. Ortega is in rare form here, with her performance as a horrified wannabe porn star-turned-survivalist is as shocking as it is compelling. Put simply, X is not only Jenna Ortega's best horror movie to date, but West's movie has also been cited by many critics as 2022's best slasher to boot.
Does Jenna Ortega Have Any New Horror Movies Coming Out?
Custom Image by Yeider Chacon Jenna Ortega has several projects that she is attached to, though not very many of them fall under the horror umbrella. She will star alongside Natalie Portman in The Gallerist, about a desperate gallerist who decides to sell a dead body at Art Basel Miami. She is also set to star in Taika Waititi’s Klara and the Sun, about a robot girl who is designed to prevent loneliness.
Ortega does have a thriller project coming up, but it’s something of a genre-bender. Hurry Up Tomorrow, which is inspired by the music of The Weeknd’s sixth album, is said to be both a psychological thriller and a musical. Little else is known about the movie, but it stars Ortega, The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye), and Barry Keoghan.
Hurry Up Tomorrow was filmed in 2023 but was in limbo until Lionsgate stepped in to distribute it.
The only horror currently among Ortega’s upcoming projects is Death of a Unicorn, which is a horror-comedy, unlike Ortega’s usual horror projects. The movie follows a daughter (Ortega) and her father (Paul Rudd) who hit a unicorn with their car and then take it to a wilderness retreat hosted by a pharmaceutical CEO (Richard E. Grant).
Both upcoming projects would be very different from Orega’s previous projects, but Death of a Unicorn has been one of her most anticipated projects since it was announced. Of course, fans are also eagerly awaiting the next season of Wednesday.
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Wednesday Season 2: Cast, Story & Everything We Know
Following the climactic season 1 finale of Tim Burton's Wednesday, here's everything we know about season 2 of Netflix's Addams Family show.
Where Would Wednesday Rank?
Netflix’s Addams Family series takes place at Nevermore Academy, a school that nurtures outcasts, freaks, and monsters. The Tim Burton-directed series follows Wednesday Addams as she tries to master her emerging psychic powers and solve the supernatural mystery surrounding her family history. Jenna Ortega stars in the popular series, which originally aired on Netflix on November 23, 2022.
Release Date November 16, 2022
Showrunner Miles Millar , Alfred Gough
Though Wednesday is a fantasy series rather than horror, if placed against Ortega’s horror resume, it would outrank them all. Ortega is the lead in the reimagining of The Addams Family from Wednesday’s point of view, and much of the show’s success has rested on her shoulders. Her performance earned her Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild award nominations.
The supporting cast, the wardrobe team, and the set designers had their work cut out for them to fill out the world, but it is Ortega who anchors the show with her Wednesday’s macabre nature and dry wit. Ortega truly transformed her every movement and voice for the role and it is one of her best projects outside of the horror genre. Jenna Ortega proves with the role that she is a true chameleon.
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