With Prime Video's Pretty Lethal on its way, here are 3 more bloody ballet movies to stream
- Carla Davis
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Pretty Lethal will make its debut on Prime Video this month. The thriller is about a group of five ballerinas and their instructor who are travelling by bus to an important dance competition. While tension is high in the bus as the ballerinas are all bickering and sniping at each other, things get worse when the bus breaks down in a secluded forest.
When the group hikes to a very creepy inn and bar, they end up clashing with the inn’s owner Devora Kasimer, a former ballerina herself. When things get deadly, the ballerinas will have to put aside their differences and put their years of brutal training to work.
Pretty Lethal stars Iris Apatow (Tell Me Lies), Lana Condor (Boo, Bitch), Millicent Simmonds (A Quiet Place), Avantika (Tarot), Maddie Ziegler (The Fallout), Michael Culkin (The Witchfinder), Lydia Leonard (Down Cemetery Road), and Uma Thurman (Kill Bill).
Ballet thriller Pretty Lethal premieres on Prime Video on March 25
When you think about it, ballet dancers are pretty badass. Their training is rigorous, some might even say torturous at times, and you have to possess a lot of body strength to go en pointe. So, in a pinch, a ballerina would probably be a good person to have by your side if things start to get violent.
Apparently, horror and thriller movies agree with this assessment. So, to prep for the debut of Pretty Lethal, let’s look at a few other bloody ballet dancer flicks.
Abigail – This 2024 comedy/horror film is an action-packed (and very bloody) thrill ride. A group of skilled criminals are put together for a seemingly simple task – one that will garner each of them $7 million. They are instructed to kidnap a 12-year-old girl named Abigail after her ballet class, and hold her for 24 hours. During that time, it’s expected that her father will pay a $50 million ransom.
But Abigail is not merely a pre-teen ballerina…she is also the daughter of a very powerful vampire – and a vampire herself. Ordinarily, I would consider that bit of info to be a spoiler, but this was already spoiled in the film’s trailer, and it really doesn’t affect the enjoyment factor one little bit. In one exceptionally creepy scene, Abigail goes full-tilt violent while dancing and wearing her tutu. Alisha Weir gives a GREAT performance as Abigail, and the rest of the cast work together very well.
Abigail can be rented on demand with Amazon Prime Video.
Black Swan – I will never forget taking my non-horror-loving friend to see this psychological horror movie when it opened in 2010. As soon as the freaky violence began, Diana turned to me with shocked fury in her eyes and hissed, “You said this was a ballet movie”!
In my defense, it is indeed a ballet movie…with a vicious twist. Natalie Portman is Nina, a highly strung professional ballerina desperate to win the dual roles of the White Swan and Black Swan in the New York City Ballet’s production of Swan Lake.
She finds herself competing with a new ballerina named Lily (Mila Kunis), and that combined with the demands of her overbearing mother (Barbara Hershey) and an equally overbearing artistic director (Vincent Cassel) push Nina to her mental breaking point.
As she begins to hallucinate and imagine events, everything builds to the opening night performance of Swan Lake. Powered by strong acting performances and an intense screenplay, Black Swan is a great choice for those who enjoy more dramatic horror/thrillers.
Black Swan can be rented through a number of streaming platforms, including YouTube and Amazon Prime Video.
Suspiria – Can you even count yourself as a fan of horror if you aren’t at least familiar with giallo master Dario Argento’s 1977 Italian horror masterpiece? Though it was remade (mostly successfully) in 2018, the original truly stands out.
Young American ballet student Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) jumps at the chance to study dance at the prestigious Tanz Akademie in West Germany. She arrives at the school, only to see a student named Pat running away in abject terror. We then see Pat end up stabbed, then hanged from a skylight in the apartment building she fled to.
As Suzy settles in, some really unsettling things start to happen, and this being a 1970s Italian horror film, several people are murdered in inventive ways.
Suspiria can be watched on demand on Tubi.
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