2. Carrie White – Carrie (1976)
Carrie is an iconic story. It launched the career of a little writer named Stephen King – a man whose work has shaped the entire horror genre – and it also features some unforgettable imagery to go alongside its powerful narrative. It follows teen Carrie White as she tries to reconcile the difficulties of her militantly religious upbringing against being bullied at school. She also happens to have powerful telekinetic abilities which factor into the story in a big way.
After years of being bullied, Carrie’s classmates play an even worse trick on her: they lead her to believe she’s their friend in order to publicly humiliate her in front of the whole school. Carrie risks the ire of her abusive mother for her new “friends”, heading off to the prom and attempting to live a normal teenage life. The bullies’ plan comes off, and Carrie is humiliated. She then snaps, attacking her classmates with her powers, and eventually confronts her mother, who believes her to be evil incarnate.
Having said it numerous times already in this list, it should go without saying that murder isn’t cool. However, Carrie’s already miserable life was torn apart by the cruelty of her “friends”, and it’s pretty easy to sympathize with her situation. She’s young and she’s upset, and that causes her to lose control in a way that would be largely harmless were she not gifted with telekinetic powers. Carrie is a tragic figure, and her endless torment makes her violent actions seem far less irrational than they probably should.