Jenna Ortega has quickly become the slasher genre’s it girl, but which of her horror movies ranks best? First beginning her career as a child actor with roles in Iron Man 3 and The Little Rascals Save the Day, American-born Jenna 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 (Penn Badgley) impressionable neighbor Ellie Alves in the Netflix thriller series You.
2022 has seen Ortega cement her status as the newly crowned scream queen of the year, with star turns in slashers such as Scream 2022, Studio 666, and Ti West’s erotic slice-em-up X. Ortega’s meteoric rise as the horror genre’s new poster child has led the 19-year-old to be dubbed the latest “Next Big Thing” by The Hollywood Reporter, while she has also caught director Tim Burton’s eye, with Ortega set to play the lead role of Wednesday Adams in Burton’s upcoming Addams Family spin-off series Wednesday.
As a result, Jenna Ortega already has an impressive body of work in the horror genre despite her relatively young age. From portraying demonic rock pioneer Skye Willow in the Foo Fighters’ Studio 666 to Sam’s targeted sister Tara Carpenter in Scream 2022, Ortega already has a clear affinity for Hollywood’s thrills and chills. Here’s every Jenna Ortega horror movie ranked from worst to best.
5. The Babysitter: Killer Queen
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 (Judah Lewis) 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 (Samara Weaving) 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 its predecessor – 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.
4. Studio 666
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. 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 2022 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.
3. Insidious: Chapter 2
Jenna Ortega’s first horror role arrives 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 (Patrick Wilson) now possessed by the Woman in Black that haunted his childhood in Insidious. 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 (Rose Byrne) while cackling on top of her will ensure many a sleepless night for Insidious: Chapter 2 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.
2. Scream 2022
Scream 2022 is a towering return to Wes Craven’s Scream franchise 26 years after Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) and Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard) first terrorized Woodsboro as Ghostface. The fifth Scream installment sees Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera) return to Woodsboro after her estranged younger sister Tara (Jenna Ortega) 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 2022 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 2022 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.
1. X
Jenna Ortega’s latest horror genre outing is also her best, with Ti West’s erotic horror X acting as a fitting homage to his beloved slasher genre. 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 (Owen Campbell) as his crew quickly release, their leering host’s intentions are far from pure as ample quantities of blood begin to spill on Howard’s (Stephen Ure) backwoods farm. X is a film that showcases its director at the top of his craft, with West’s movie containing ample nods to the slasher movies that birthed it such as John Carpenter’s Halloween and Alfred Sole’s Alice, Sweet Alice. Jenna Ortega, alongside her role-swapping co-star Mia Goth, is in rare form here, with the pair’s performances as two horrified wannabe pornstars turned survivalists as shocking as they are compelling. Put simply, X is not only Jenna Ortega‘s best horror movie to date, but West’s movie also has also been cited by many critics as 2022’s best slasher to boot.
