Top 10 Jenna Ortega Moments Ranked from Easy Viewing to You in Danger, Girl!

In 2023’s “Finestkind,” half brothers Charlie and Tom find themselves in need of a lot of money to unseize their dad’s fishing boat from authorities. Charlie hits it off with Jenna Ortega’s Mabel, a dealer who tries to help by getting them involved in a lucrative substance-smuggling job for local crime boss Pete Weeks. After the crew is ambushed and robbed, Tom immediately believes Mabel to be behind the attack. Later, Weeks tells them that Mabel had nothing to do with it because he “questioned” her himself. We don’t see Weeks assault Mabel on screen but we do witness the awful aftermath, which is enough to make our stomachs drop.

Netflix’s 2020 follow-up to their well-received horror film “The Babysitter,” sees Jenna Ortega portraying a new student named Phoebe Atwell. At the lake, she and Cole Johnson work together to evade the cult members, who Cole’s best friend Melanie has just been revealed to be part of. Melanie captures Phoebe to lure Cole for sacrificing, and he comes to her rescue, offering to take her place. Ultimately, though, it’s Bee who saves them both. Phoebe proved early on that she was too much of a badass to ever be in any real danger but her encounter with the drifter did have us worried for a minute.

On Netflix’s “You,” Joe Goldberg is usually the one everyone should worry about. But for Ortega’s season-two character, Ellie Alves, Joe turns out to be her savior. The young aspiring filmmaker tries to get a foot in the door by screening her short film for a stand-up comedian named Henderson. Her sister Delilah had her own traumatic experience with him, so when Ellie visits Henderson’s house alone, we know nothing good can come of it. A stealthy Joe sees him slip something into her drink when she’s not looking. In turn, he gives Henderson a stronger dose and also becomes Joe’s next victim. Thankfully, Ellie wakes up and leaves unharmed. Had Joe not been there, however… we know what likely would have happened.

In 2022’s twisted horror comedy “American Carnage,” Governor Harper Finn orders all undocumented immigrants and their children to be arrested and detained separately. Ortega plays Camila Montes, one of the many youths chosen to work at a nursing home in exchange for their parents’ freedom. As if this imposed community service wasn’t messed up enough, she and her friends uncover an even darker conspiracy. Essentially operating as a slaughterhouse, the facility’s elderly patients are actually tenderized young detainees. After Camila discovers something she shouldn’t, she’s taken and injected with the same stuff, and it rapidly ages half of her face. The “Get Out”-like scenario is as disgusting as it is terrifying. Luckily, she manages to free herself and others but is still left disfigured and most certainly traumatized.

As the title character in her show, Wednesday Addams has significant plot armor. The audience knows she won’t die, so any uneasy situation loses some of its scare factor. However, when a resurrected Joseph Crackstone straight-up stabs Wednesday in the season-one finale, we were shocked, to say the least. Her ghostly ancestor, Goody Addams, is able to heal her, only for her to face Crackstone again and promptly take an arrow to the shoulder. The ever-resilient Wednesday keeps it pushing, though. She makes it look like it's just another… Wednesday.

Tara Carpenter recuperates in the hospital after miraculously surviving a Ghostface attack. But, as “Scream” fans know, the relentless masked killer would come back to finish the job. Her injuries more than slow her down and, thanks to Ortega’s amazing performance, we can truly feel her pain as she desperately tries to get away. With Sam and Dewey on the way, we know she will likely survive but some real damage is not out of the question. Tara makes it out alive again but this is far from her last near-fatal encounter.

Jenna Ortega has a very brief but memorable appearance at the beginning of “Studio 666,” the 2022 horror comedy starring the Foo Fighters. Ortega’s Skye Willow is the drummer for the 1990s heavy metal rock band Dream Widow. But the only time we see this character, she’s crawling away from someone trying to kill her, who we later find out is the band’s demon-possessed frontman. As she tries to save herself, she sees the remains of a bandmate, and we just know she’s about to meet the same fate. Skye is already injured and unable to run away, so we know the chances of her making it out alive are non-existent. It’s definitely one of Ortega’s most hopeless horror scenarios.

If there’s one scene in “Scream VI” that proved the new slasher behind the mask wasn’t playing around, it’s the bodega scene. After almost being attacked by Ghostface, Sam and Tara run inside for help. While customers and the bodega owner try to protect them, Ghostface doesn’t hesitate to kill anyone standing in the way. All bets are off when the weapon of choice switches from the signature knife to a shotgun. Of course, we don’t expect Tara to be dispatched this early in the movie. But, during this intense scene, all we were thinking about was how this vicious Ghostface is genuinely terrifying.

In Ti West’s “X,” Jenna Ortega plays the quiet and reserved Lorraine Day, who finds herself on a trip to a secluded farm in Texas to assist her boyfriend RJ as he shoots an adult film. But what began as an uncomfortable situation for Lorraine swiftly became a nightmare. While roaming the property looking for RJ, she runs into the owner, Howard, who convinces her to find a flashlight…in the basement…alone. Believing his “helpless old man” act, the wary but too-trusting Lorraine ventures into the dark cellar and, as we feared, gets locked in. She stumbles upon a grisly scene and appropriately lets out an award-worthy, blood-curdling scream. Lorraine finally escapes with the help of Maxine but, just as soon as we’re starting to feel hopeful, she’s killed.

To say the opening scene of 1996’s “Scream” is iconic would be an understatement. Drew Barrymore’s Casey Becker answers the phone, plays the anonymous caller’s movie guessing game, and dies horribly. For 2022’s “Scream,” the fifth installment in the franchise, Jenna Ortega stepped into the role of Tara Carpenter, Ghostface’s first victim. With her friend’s life on the line, the caller forces Tara to answer questions about in-universe “Stab” movies. As always, Ortega’s authentic performance makes the fear and physical pain feel real. But, unlike the scream queens before her, Tara survives the brutal attack, completely subverting our expectations. Little did we know she would be our final girl, one who even made it to the sequel.

Which scary Jenna Ortega moment had you on the edge of your seat? Let us know in the comments below.