We’re officially in back to school season. Right now, young people all over the country are digging through their closets for their best pair of kids jeans to build a first day of school fit. So in honor of the moment, we here at Streaming Grades decided it was time to rank the best high school movies of all time.

These are the underrated classics, the ones that don’t make every list unless you’re a true movie lover. Yes, The Breakfast Club and Mean Girls are fantastic films. You won’t find them here. This list is for the heavy hitters.

Not every movie on here is a traditional high school movie either. Some are gritty and filled with drama. Some are outright hilarious. All of them earned their spot. Here are the best high school movies of all time.

The Best High School Movies Of All Time

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

Matthew Broderick stars in this John Hughes classic about a charming high school senior who fakes an illness to pull off an elaborate, joy-filled day off across Chicago. I remember the first time I watched it and thinking this guy was the coolest person in history. When it came on HBO, it was appointment viewing.

The movie earned over $70 million domestically against a modest $5 million budget and remains a definitive pop-culture touchstone, preserved in the National Film Registry since 2014. Iconic, and honestly its the sole reason I ever watched Win Ben Stein’s Money.

House Party (1990)

Nothing says high school movie quite like a teenager sneaking out to attend the ultimate house party while dodging rivals and parents the whole night. Kid ‘N Play, along with a young Martin Lawrence, make this one of the most underrated high school movies of all time.

It was also a massive financial win, grossing over ten times its $2.5 million budget and cementing hip-hop cinema in mainstream pop culture. It picked up the Filmmakers Trophy at Sundance too. Throw in a career-making performance from Robin Harris, and you’ve got movie gold.

Menace II Society (1993)

Starring Tyrin Turner, Larenz Tate, and Jada Pinkett, this gritty coming-of-age drama takes place the summer after Caine’s senior year. His boy is headed off to college. His best friend is still tangled up in the streets. Caine has to navigate gang violence in Watts and decide between that life and something better, and by the end you’re not even sure he cares whether he lives or dies.

This isn’t happy-go-lucky high school life. This is the real deal of what was going on for Black men in America at that time. Menace was also a major independent box office hit, grossing nearly $30 million on a $3.5 million budget. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and stands as one of the defining triumphs of 1990s Black cinema.

Juice (1992)

You don’t think of this as a high school movie, but at its core it’s about four Harlem teenagers just trying to figure out life. When their bond fractures violently after an armed robbery, things blow up between Omar Epps and Tupac Shakur. Pac delivers a magnetic breakthrough performance, one that a lot of people say he never really stopped playing in real life.

Juice became an instant commercial hit and a defining piece of 1990s urban neo-noir cinema. Bishop is one of the great characters in movie history, and he came out of a high school movie.

Lean on Me (1989)

Morgan Freeman stars as the powerhouse lead alongside Robert Guillaume in this biographical drama dramatizing the real-life, and controversial, principal Joe Clark as he implements strict discipline to turn around a troubled New Jersey high school.

Lean on Me had me scared to go to high school. Coming off the height of the crack epidemic, this movie captures New Jersey like nothing else from that era. It also solidified Freeman as a premier Hollywood leading man.

Remember the Titans (2000)

Denzel Washington, alongside a young ensemble including Ryan Gosling and Wood Harris, puts on a masterclass in acting. This true-story sports drama follows a newly integrated high school football team navigating racial tension in 1971 Virginia.

I didn’t watch this one until after The Lox dropped D Block Anthem, but once I did, I was kicking myself for waiting so long.

Heathers (1988)

Starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, this pitch-black satire follows a high schooler who teams up with a rebellious loner to violently dismantle their school’s ruthless clique. It was a box office failure on release, but it grew into an iconic cult classic that reshaped dark teen comedy and even inspired an acclaimed stage musical. It’s a movie about some really mentally broken people that you kind of start rooting for by the middle of the film.

American Pie (1999)

My kids will never go to band camp because of this movie. American Pie stars Jason Biggs and Alyson Hannigan in a raunchy coming-of-age comedy about four horny high school seniors making a desperate pact to lose their virginity by prom night.

It was a global box office juggernaut, pulling in over $235 million worldwide and single-handedly reviving the R-rated teen sex comedy for the turn of the millennium.

Back to the Future (1985)

This one’s a no-brainer. You’ll find it on other lists too, and that’s because Marty McFly is goated. So much so that Nike actually did drop his sneakers, the self-lacing Nike Mags from Back to the Future Part II, decades after the sequel hit theaters.

Starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, this sci-fi adventure follows 1980s teenager Marty McFly after he’s accidentally sent back to 1955, where he has to make sure his high-school-aged parents fall in love so he can still exist. It was the highest-grossing film of 1985 worldwide, pulling in over $380 million and earning four Academy Award nominations. A permanent spot in cinematic history, no question.