Top 10 Best Bullying Movies of All Time

Mean Creek (2004) offers us an interesting take on the issue of bullying. In the film, we’ll find no fixed roles. The bully and the victim often exchange roles throughout the film’s story.

Instead of just demonizing the bully and gaining sympathy for the bullied, it sought to explore the dynamics of being in a group and its consequences on an individual’s decisions. It also started a discussion on moral values and attempted to let the audience inside what goes on in the mind of a ‘bully’.

All these unfold within the film’s plot about a victim’s plan to take revenge against his bully.

A German film production, Young Torless (1966) revolves around the violent bullying of a boy in an Austrian military academy. The film is told from the point of view of another student, the titular Torless, who lacks empathy or loyalty for either side making him an uninvolved observer in the barbaric and sadistic events that are unfolding in front of him.

The film sought to examine the role that emotions play in the act of bullying and the process through which violence is perpetrated with impunity in social settings.

Moonlight (2016) is not your usual romantic drama film. Black, broke and gay, we follow Chiron through the many phases of his life as he tries to grapple with his growing masculinity. With just those descriptions alone, you can probably already imagine the amount of bullying he experiences throughout his life.

Good thing the film shows a more positive outlook about life than the previous one, as we see Chiron grow in a community which accepts him.

Back to regular morbid programming. Bully (2001) is a film by Larry Clark which tells the story of the real-life murder of a teenage boy, Bobby Kent, in 1993 at the hands of his own friends. Sounds awful, right? But it goes deeper than that.

While this initial information would make us side with Bobby, later information would reveal that he is ‘the true bully’ in this story. We later on learn about the year-long abuse (sexual, physical and emotional) he put his own friends through which led them to murder him.

In Ben X (2007), we meet teenager Ben, a boy with Asperger syndrome and is bullied at school. He tries to escape his sordid reality through an online role-playing game where he meets a fellow player, Scarlite. After growing closer, they decide to meet in real life and developed a friendship with Scarlite helping Ben find confidence in himself once again.

Together they hatch a plan to finally expose Ben’s bullies so that he can finally find peace. They succeed and the film ends on a positive note.

The Mighty (1998) is another movie about bullying showing us a positive outlook. Here we see an intelligent but handicapped teenage boy befriend a fellow social outcast in the form of Max, a kind but overweight boy. They soon develop a friendship where they protect each other from their bullies.

The film is based on Rodman Philbrick’s book Freak The Mighty and stars Sharon Stone, Kieran Culkin and Elden Henson in the lead roles.

Another adaptation of a book, Lord of the Flies (1990), presents a story of youth cruelty and the negative effects of peer pressure.

In the film, we see a group of 24 students of a military school find themselves on a deserted island after their plane crashed right smash onto the Pacific Ocean. Left alone with only one adult, who is injured and in a state of delirium, we see them try to organize themselves for survival. While succeeding at first, their social order soon becomes a site to intense bullying among the teens.

Based on Stephen King’s debut novel of the same name, Carrie (1976) has become one of the most iconic horror movies ever and one of the best films about bullying.

Here we see teenage Carrie White, a mousy, shy girl, who’s struggling to fit in at school due to her very strict and religious upbringing. After a traumatic experience with her first menstruation, she discovers that she has telekinetic powers.

With the help of a kind and motherly gym teacher and a popular boy who asks her out to prom, it seems that Carrie is bound to succeed in entering normal society. Unfortunately, things don’t end well for her… and her classmates.

Carrie unleashes her powers to kill everyone in her school after she was humiliated on stage in one of the most popular horror movie scenes ever.

Not to be confused with another film of the same name on this list, Bully (2011) is a documentary film seeking to talk about the problem of bullying through the examination of five cases.

The film shows some pretty heartbreaking stories particularly that of the suicide of Ty Smalley, 11, and Tyler Long, 17, who were both victims of bullying.

In this Estonian film, we follow the story of Joseph, a young boy who is bullied by his entire class through horrifying acts of public humiliation and physical violence. His load becomes a little lighter when of his classmates, Kaspar, decides to go against the class and defends Joosep. Unfortunately, this only led to Kaspar’s own social ostracization.

The film is notable for effectively conveying the brutality of bullying and inciting anger from the audience through its raw portrayal of the issue.

Which of these movies about bullying appealed to you the most? Tell us your answers in the comments below!