[Editorial] Survival and Suspense: 7 Recommended Horror Films for Lovers of Yellowjackets

Yellowjackets quickly became must-see TV for horror fans after its debut in 2021. While at first glance, it may have seemed like a gender-swapped Lord of the Flies, the show has emerged as a complex mystery with survival, cults, cannibalism, gore and teen drama.

The series is split between two timelines: in the mid-90s, a plane carrying a high school soccer team crashes in the remote Canadian wilderness, leaving the survivors stranded for over a year while in the present day, the survivors are trying to carry on with their lives, but the memories of what transpired 25 years ago still haunt them. Throughout the season, we discover a cult led by one of the survivors, mysterious symbols, the specter of cannibalism, a French-Canadian ghost and characters who will do whatever they have to in order to survive – both as girls and later as women.

The second season of Yellowjackets airs on Showtime on March 24th, and it’s promising to serve even more mystery, suspense and female rage than the first. But if Yellowjackets has given you a taste for more, here are some films and series you need to check out.

The Terror (2018)

As the first season of Yellowjackets ended, winter was just beginning for the plane crash survivors. Finding food and shelter was hard enough during the fall, but now that temperatures had dropped and the first frost claimed a life, we know the bleak winter months that are to come will make an excruciating ordeal for the group. If a snowy Canadian landscape, survivors driven mad, cannibalism, and a hint of the supernatural are your jam, then the first season of The Terror might be for you.

In 1845, Sir John Franklin and Captain Franklin Crozier set sail on the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, respectively, to try and find the Northwest Passage. The ill-fated attempt sees both ships trapped in the ice in the Canadian arctic for months on end. Real history and Inuit folklore merge as the crew begin to starve, succumb to madness and turn to cannibalism, all while being stalked by a creature with supernatural strength and agility. 

I Don’t Feel At Home in This World Anymore (2017)

Melanie Lynskey’s Shauna goes through the most notable character arc during the first season. At first glance, she appears to be a downtrodden housewife, soft-spoken and put-upon by her teenage daughter and check-out husband. As the series progresses, we see layer after layer peel back from Shauna: she’s assertive, angry, sexy, calculating, and harboring more secrets than we even knew.

If you’ve seen I Don’t Feel At Home in This World Anymore, you already know what Lynskey is capable of. She plays Ruth, a shy and quiet woman who is the victim of a robbery and turns to vigilantism after the police refuse to help. Elijah Wood, a Yellowjackets season two newcomer, joins her as the pair take on a dark and violent quest for justice. Watching Wood and Lynskey play together here could be a sneak peek at what’s to come in the next series of Yellowjackets.

Misery (1990)

In the classic Stephen King novel, famous author Paul Sheldon is injured after crashing during a blizzard. A nurse, Annie Wilkes, finds him in the snow and brings him to her home to recover from his injuries. Annie is a fan of Sheldon’s works and is enraged when she learns he plans to kill off his main character and take his career in a new direction. A psychological game of cat and mouse breaks out between the two, with a bedridden Paul trying to keep a violent and unhinged Annie mollified until he can escape her clutches.

It’s hard not to see parallels between Annie Wilkes and Christina Ricci’s Misty. After the plane crash, she nominates herself as soccer coach Ben’s caregiver and makes him sick as much as she helps him heal. In the present day, she also channels Annie by keeping fake journalist Jessica captive in her basement. Misty is one of the more unhinged characters in Yellowjackets – at least, more outwardly unhinged.

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The Descent (2006)

The Descent is a master class in survival horror. A group of women head out to explore a cave in North America, one year after a personal tragedy rocks the group. Juno, the more adventurous of the crew, secretly takes them to a previously undiscovered cave that ends up being more dangerous than anyone intended. One of the best things about The Descent is that you spend so much of the movie on the edge of your seat as the women, trapped after a cave-in, try to crawl through tight tunnels or climb, rope-free, across great heights – and that’s before the monsters show up. Once the movie takes a supernatural turn, it also becomes gory and vicious, right up to the blood-soaked ending. 

Watching the group dynamics at play in The Descent takes their tale of survival to the next level. There are friends, sisters and rivals constantly deciding who to save, who to trust and how to get out of this alive – and together.

Servant (2019 - 2023)

The psychological horror series from M. Night Shyamalan just finished its final season on Apple+. The show follows Dorothy and Sean Turner, a wealthy couple who hire a nanny to take care of their baby, when it becomes clear there is something strange and mysterious surrounding both of them. The series is twisted and dark, with elements of the supernatural blending with themes of grief, loss and trauma.

Ambrose will expand her horror resume in the new season of Yellowjackets as the adult Van. In the 90s, Van was attacked by wolves and became one of the first converts to Lottie’s cult, much to the dismay of her girlfriend Taissa. While we’ve seen adult Taissa plenty, this new season will be our first look at what happens to Van after the girls make it home.

The Lodge (2019)

Cults, wintry landscapes, isolation horror - The Lodge has it all. The 2019 film follows two young siblings, Aidan and Mia, who are trapped in a remote cabin over Christmas with their father’s new girlfriend, Grace. A snowstorm rages outside while the three trapped within are suspicious and hostile toward one another. Grace survived a religious cult and is coping with PTSD when things appear to unravel. The slow-burning, atmospheric film explodes into a shocking and brutal ending that is hard to forget.

As winter set in on the survivors during Yellowjacket’s last season, Lottie’s cult was starting to gain in power. While her new religion might not have the same dark ending as Grace’s, The Lodge is a great watch for fans who want to explore more themes of trauma and psychological horror.

The Ritual (2017)

Talk about the Antler Queen. The creature at the heart of The Ritual could easily become a god worshiped by the Yellowjackets cult! The Ritual, directed by David Bruckner, follows a group of friends who go on a hiking trip in the Swedish wilderness. After taking a shortcut, they encounter a terrifying ancient presence in the forest. They experience strange visions and discover mysterious symbols and markings, ramping up the tension and creating a sense of dread and unease. The Ritual mixes folk and supernatural horror, with a small town populated entirely by a Pagan cult and the stag-like creature they worship, both providing the film with terror and danger.

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