10 High School Movies from the 90s So Bad, They're Actually Good

1. "Encino Man" (1992)
Here we've got a unique mashup: a prehistoric dude thawing out in the midst of a California high school scenario. Stacey and Dave, the local underdogs, excavate a caveman in their backyard. What's next? A high school makeover for the ages, that's what.

Imagine a fur-clad Brendan Fraser, suddenly a modern heartthrob. A hair cut here, a grunge outfit there, and behold! We've got a cool-kid Caveman. Is it absurd? Certainly. But that absurdity makes it undeniably entertaining.

2. "She's All That" (1999)
A bet, a transformation, an unexpected romance – sounds like a Shakespearean comedy reimagined for the 90s, right? In waltzes Zack, the jock. He's convinced he can turn any girl into Prom Queen.

Enter Laney, the quintessential art nerd with glasses and all. She gets the '90s movie makeover—glasses off, hair down. Presto, she's the "it" girl. Yet the core plot is about as superficial as Zack's six-pack, and it never pretends to be anything more. Watch for the nostalgia, stay for the cringe.

3. "Jawbreaker" (1999)
Kidnap the birthday girl as a prank, they said. It'll be fun, they said. Until, of course, she chokes on a jawbreaker and dies. The queen bees—Courtney, Julie, and Marcie—have to cover up this accidental murder while navigating high school hierarchy.

Dark comedy? You bet. It's like "Mean Girls," but with a corpse and a conscience. The dialogue reeks of forced edginess, and the plot dives headfirst into implausibility. Yet somehow, you can't help but be engrossed in the social chaos that ensues.

4. "Never Been Kissed" (1999)
An undercover assignment in a high school? Sounds like a plot ripped straight from a failed crime show, but here we are. Drew Barrymore, as Josie Geller, is a 25-year-old journalist who has to pose as a high schooler. The goal? Expose the dark secrets of American teens. Seriously?

However, reality slaps her across the face, and she becomes the nerdy outcast—again. The formula is as tired as you'd expect, but the sheer absurdity breathes life into the clichés.

5. "Can't Hardly Wait" (1998)
Take a high school graduation party, mix in various stereotypical characters, and stir vigorously. What you'll have is an oddly satisfying mess. It's one night, and everyone's got a motive. Preston wants to confess his love, Kenny aims to lose his virginity, and Amanda is just getting over a breakup.

Lives supposedly change in the span of a single night, and nobody questions it. It's ludicrously compressed storytelling, and yet you get to live a fleeting moment of pure '90s high school escapism.

6. "Idle Hands" (1999)
Astonishingly, the phrase "the devil finds work for idle hands" gets a literal interpretation here. Teenage slacker Anton wakes up to find his hand possessed by an evil force, causing him to unwillingly kill people.

Bizarre? Check. Gory? Absolutely. Still set in high school? Yes, weirdly enough. Even when dealing with a killer hand, Anton's still trying to win the girl of his dreams. It's part slasher flick, part teen comedy. The hybrid makes it both confusing and intriguing.

7. "10 Things I Hate About You" (1999)
Shakespeare goes to high school and decides to surf on the grunge wave. What's not to like? It's a "Taming of the Shrew" redo. One sister can't date until the other, the notoriously unapproachable Kat, has a boyfriend.

Enter Heath Ledger, the bad boy hired to tame the shrew. Does it work? Sort of. The plot tries to balance an age-old narrative with '90s sass, which results in a strange but compelling anachronism.

8. "Disturbing Behavior" (1998)
One word: brainwashing. The high school's elite, known as the "Blue Ribbons," are literally too good to be true.

The new kid in town, Steve, finds this fishy and decides to investigate. What he uncovers? A dark secret involving psychological conditioning. The creepy adults want to turn troublesome teens into perfect citizens.

Ridiculous? Maybe. A sneaky commentary on conformity? Could be. But its heavy-handedness makes it too bad to overlook and too interesting to forget.

9. "Drive Me Crazy" (1999)
This is a classic case of neighbors-turn-fake-couple-to-make-exes-jealous, which is as ludicrous as it sounds. Melissa Joan Hart plays Nicole, who recruits her next-door neighbor, Chase, to pretend they're an item. Why? High school politics. They do a switcheroo on their personalities and suddenly become the talk of the town.

It's a bizarre social experiment, wrapped up in teen drama, set against a forgettable '90s pop soundtrack. A beautiful disaster, really.

10. "Varsity Blues" (1999)
Football reigns supreme in a small Texas town, but the stakes have never been higher. The star quarterback gets injured, and his backup, Mox, reluctantly takes the spotlight. Instead of exploring the psychological depth of these young athletes, we get whipped cream bikinis and a curiously antagonistic coach.

The movie wants to be deep – but, sadly, settles for shallow teen melodrama layered with football jargon, sports clichés and predictable plot twists.