8 Onscreen Sisters That Give Sisterhood a Bad Name

August 4 is National Sisters Day, where everyone celebrates the person they know best, their best friend, their helpful hand, their sister. I, being an only child, have always wanted to have a sister or brother, but sometimes the movies I see really do make me doubt why I ever wanted one to begin with.

1. Cinderella

Let’s get the greatest example right off the bat: Cinderella. I mean, Cinderella’s step sisters (granted, they aren’t her real blood sisters, but they still are sisters) were the ones who physically and emotionally abused her. They semi-ruined her chances to fall in love and used her as slave labor, all while taking advantage of the fact that she lost her father. The same goes for other Cinderella spin offs, like A Cinderella Story and more.

2. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

A spectacular child star and a jealous, ignored sister. Nothing can go wrong, right? Wrong. Murders, car crashes, and anything in between gets in the way between the two sisters, which really can classify this film as a horror. With a rather suspenseful plot, Jane’s anger towards her sister Blanche is fueled by the chaos that surrounds the two. Jane even kills Blanche’s parakeet and serves it to her for dinner! Do I really need a sister this badly?

3. Sisters

This aptly titled 1973 thriller features a rather similar plot to What Happened to Baby Jane? but in a more mysterious and disturbing way. Dominique and Danielle are twin sisters celebrating their birthday when Dominique decides to stab Danielle’s boyfriend. Honestly, I believe this is one of those movies made just to be a movie, but it does have a rather thrilling ring to it. Trying my best not to spoil it to you, it has a very The Three Faces of Eve sound to it ... if you know what I mean.

4. A League of Their Own

What movie better depicts sister rivalry besides the sisters being on different teams? Sure, no murder or any violence is involved between the sisters, but there’s still some rivalry that goes deep into the plot. Again, the more-talented sister is in the limelight as the lesser talented sister has to follow orders and be drafted to the other team. (This is like Cinderella, you should have seen this one before). The most touching part is probably the ending, where the sister bond is truly visible, although the audience will never know the true motive of the character’s actions. (Again, you should have seen it before). 

5. Yours, Mine and Ours

Whichever version you see (yes, there is a 1968 version besides the Dennis Quaid one), you will definitely see some sibling rivalry there. Let’s just use the 2005 film where the different step sisters (and brothers) have to work together and set aside their differences to get their parents together. Ok, well it’s always on TV so you should have seen it, and if you decided not to waste two hours of your life, just know it’s one of those sappy “happy ending” stories. Of course the sisters reunite, but there is a bit of rivalry between there.

6. Cheaper By the Dozen (1 and 2)

The sibling rivalry is high when you have a house of 12 kids. While at first the sisters (specifically Hilary Duff’s and Alyson Stoner’s characters) have their differences, they always go the cliché way and get together to do something bigger for the family, whether it be find their brother who ran away or win a race.

7. Hocus Pocus

Three sisters. Three witches. Three sisters who are witches. Of course there’s going to be sibling rivalry among the three! Winifred is this ugly (but don’t tell her that) but intelligent witch who takes power over Mary, who is Winnie’s kiss ass, and Sarah, who is just stereotypically dumb. Although the three fight about nonsense, the movie is really entertaining, in either the corny jokes or the actually comedy.

8. The Parent Trap/It Takes Two

Sooner or later, there will be similarities (like that seven stories theory) between stories, and these two is just an example. Using the better known The Parent Trap, two twins who have never met before have a sibling rivalry, find out they’re related and try to get their parents back together. Ok, the rivalry lasts for a good half hour, but it’s the hi-jinks the kids get into which makes the film entertaining.