Film

Assassination Nation

Name: Assassination Nation
Genre: Thriller, Horror, Comedy
Released: 2018
Cast: Odessa Young, Hari Nef, ABRA, Suki Waterhouse, Anika Noni Rose

Techno-thriller
Relentless

A fever-dream thriller about four high school girls caught in a town's descent into chaos when a hacker exposes everyone's secrets. Visually audacious, violently satirical, and genuinely unsettling—it's a rage-scream wrapped in pink neon about how quickly civility collapses and who gets blamed when it does.

TMDb rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like satire that goes for the jugular, with a sharp, pop-saturated visual style and a willingness to be loud, angry and very funny about how fast a community turns on itself.

Skip it if you want a story that stays with one character's emotional arc, since this is a crowded, restless ride that throws tone, style and set pieces at you rather than settling into quiet moments.

What it asks of you: It runs about 108 minutes at a hyperactive clip, and it wants you alert and willing to be jolted, switching between sharp comedy and genuinely brutal violence without much warning.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Heathers1989

The spiritual ancestor of dark high school satire. Cruel, funny, and utterly uninterested in making its teenagers sympathetic or safe. It understands that teenage life can be genuinely grotesque.

But The satire is broader and camper than Assassination Nation—less a scream, more a sneer. Some moments feel dated in tone rather than timeless.

Thoroughbreds2018

Two wealthy Connecticut girls and their unsettling friendship, told with surgical precision and dread. Like Assassination Nation, it's about privilege, performance, and the violence beneath surfaces.

But Slower, colder, and far less visually baroque. If you want spectacle, this is icy restraint instead.

The Purge2013

Society breaks when rules are suspended. The core idea—what happens when civilization's veneer cracks?—is identical, just played straight as horror instead of satirical melodrama.

But The sequels got smarter, but the original is a fairly straightforward home-invasion thriller. Less thematically ambitious than you might hope.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Assassination Nation

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Nocturne2019

Both are high-concept vengeance fantasies about girls whose fury mirrors the town's/institution's own toxicity. Both use visual excess to communicate psychological fracture.

A jealous pianist steals her rival's sheet music and begins a descent into hysteria. It's a paranoia-thriller about the violence of ambition dressed in Gothic atmosphere and surreal setpieces—same rage, different costume.

But Elegantly controlled rather than explosive. Demands patience and will feel slow if you're after visceral catharsis.

Eighth Grade2018

Bo Burnham's excavation of social media's grip on adolescent life—the same cultural anxiety as Assassination Nation, but documented with documentary-like empathy rather than stylised horror.

But Quieter and more observational. No cathartic violence or satire—it's genuinely anxious rather than rage-filled, which some might find depressing rather than clarifying.

Carrie1976

The original teenage bloodbath: a girl at the centre of violence she didn't cause, destroyed by her town's cruelty. DePalma's visual grammar influenced every high school horror film that followed.

But Made in '76, it reads differently now. The final prom sequence is brilliant, but the film around it is more soap opera than provocation.

Jennifer's Body2009

A possessed girl weaponizes her sexuality and appeal; a sharp-edged dark comedy about desire, betrayal, and girls turning a town's toxicity back on it. It understands the assignment.

But Tonally all over the place—part comedy, part horror, part teen drama. If you need emotional consistency, this fractures intentionally.

American Beauty1999

A small town unravels as we learn everyone's secret desires and darkness. The scaffolding is there: privilege, hypocrisy, violence, and visually ambitious direction.

But Aged poorly in places. Its sermonising can feel heavy-handed, and it's far more interested in adult men's fantasies than teenage girls' reality.

Unfriended2014

Digital-native horror entirely on screens; documents social media's capacity for cruelty and how quickly a community turns on you. Low budget but genuinely disorienting.

But The gimmick—everything on screens—can feel grating over 82 minutes. Less visually accomplished than Assassination Nation's command of color and movement.

The White Lotus2021

Both are satirical horror about apparently decent people becoming monstrous when their secrets are exposed. Both see violence as inevitable conclusion to suppressed rage and hypocrisy.

An anthology series where beautiful surfaces hide rot. Mike White's savage comedy-horror about privilege, entitlement, and casual brutality—the same microscopic examination of how quickly civility vanishes, but over six hours with room to breathe.

But Television, not film. Sprawling and indulgent in places, with an ensemble cast rather than a tight four-girl core. Takes time to build dread rather than exploding it.

Spring Breakers2013

Both are formally bold, neon-soaked provocations about girls at the centre of chaos, and both are more interested in aesthetic intoxication than linear narrative comfort.

Harmony Korine's lurid fever-dream about girls, hedonism, crime, and metamorphosis. Visually baroque to the point of intoxication, it's fascinated by what happens when young women stop following the script.

But You either surrender to the style or it drives you mad. No one walks out neutral. Some will call it exploitative or incoherent rather than transgressive.