The Horror Summer Movie List

Who said the Halloween feeling needed to be kept to the fall? There is something especially scary with the summer. The fact that creepy and horrendous stuff can happen on a bright, sunny day, on the beach and in the hot air, scares more than dark nights. And let us not forget about the deep, deep sea were the light never shines.

Midsommar

Released: 2019

Director: Ari Aster

Starring: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, William Jackson Harper, Vilhelm Blomgren, Ellora Torchia, Archie Madekwe, Will Poulter

Love, love, love, love it! Although not as scary as the typical summer slasher films, this movie is just excellent in every aspect. It is hard to make the internal fright scary on the big screen, but when it’s done right, it is the most scary thing ever.

Synopsis: The grieving Dani have problems dealing with the death of her parents and sister, leaving Christian, the only one she feels close to. He has planned a trip to Sweden with his anthropologist friends for the summer and Dani tags along. And what they think is some drug loving, hippy Swedes has a much darker side to it, even during the midsommar period when the sun never sets.

I Know What You Did Last Summer

Released: 1997

Director: Jim Gillespie

Starring: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Freddie Prinze Jr., Johnny Galecki, Bridgette Wilson

This have been on antother list, but this movie is just the perfect example of the summer horror slasher movie flicks we used to get during the slow, hot, humid times. When school was out and you were too young to care about getting a job, caring about politics and the likes. Or am I the only one getting nostalgic about it? It also spun some crazy sequels and a…. well, a sidequel? I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998) and I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer. And rumours that Amazon is producing a series on the franchise have been spread on the web. Anyway, for a revisit to the urban legend inspired roller coaster of 90’s nostalgia, check it out.

Synopsis: On the Fourth of July 1996 a group of friends drive to the beach. While driving along a coastal byway, they accidentally hit a pedestrian. The group decides to dump the body in the water and never discuss what happened. But a year later something is attacking them, one by one, and they are soon forced to face their actions.

Us

Released: 2019

Director: Jordan Peele

Starring: Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker

Another instant classic from Jordan Peele, Us, takes a vacation at the beach and spins it into this crazy slasher, comedy, thriller, supernatural, apocalyptic roller coaster. All basking in the summer sun and hot nights by the beach.

Synopsis: In 1986, a young girl named Adelaide goes on vacation with her parents to Santa Cruz. At the boardwalk, she wanders off and enters a funhouse, where she encounters a doppelgänger of herself in the hall of mirrors. Years later she goes on a holiday with her husband and children. She is haunted by the memory, but it is seemingly just a normal summer vacation. That is until the family of doppelgangers turns up at their door in red clothing.

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Piranha

Released: Original released in 1978, but a franchise of movies have been released throughout the years.

Director: Joe Dante (1978)

Starring: Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Kevin McCarthy (The 1978)

What is it about the summer horror flicks that just seems to break all the rules. The lines are blurred, the clothes are off, and the blood is gushing. And why do we just love watching pretty and shallow people die horrendous deaths? With boobs and blood being equally important, this movie is truly for the hot days when your brain need to just rest.

Synopsis: The film tells the story of a river being infested by lethal, genetically altered piranha, threatening the lives of the local inhabitants and the visitors to a nearby summer resort. And really. That is the basic plot of the rest of the franchise as well. And boobs. So much boobs.

Jaws

Released: 1975

Director: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton

No list without the master summer horror flick. This is one of those movies that will always stand the test of time, and will appear on any horror summer list. Read also our Summer Horror Reading List.

Synopsis: In the film, a man-eating great white shark attacks beach goers at a summer resort town, killing them, and killing tourism. This is prompting police chief Martin Brody to hunt it with the help of a marine biologist and a professional shark hunter on his boat. But when on the water, they are no longer protected by the safe havens of dry land. They are in shark territory now.

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The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Released: 1974

Director: Tobe Hooper

Starring: Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, Gunnar Hansen

If you have seen this, like a thousand times, the summer is a good time to watch it another thousand times. If you still haven’t seen this horror classic, what are you waiting for? This is the summer to do so.

Synopsis: The film follows a group of friends who fall victim to a family of cannibals while on their way to visit an old homestead. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was banned in several countries, and numerous theaters stopped showing the film in response to complaints about its violence. It continues the story of Leatherface and his family with several sequels, prequels and remakes.

It Follows

Released: 2014

Director: David Robert Mitchell

Starring: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi

The premise of the movie is more dream like than summer like. But the movie upholds some of the great summer vibes of beaches, summer dresses, bored days and a backyard pool.

Synopsis: The film follows a teenage girl named Jay, who is pursued by a supernatural entity after a sexual encounter. Like a transmitted haunting, she can only rid herself of by giving it to someone else. And it seems like nothing is able to stop it completely.

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Tourist Trap

Released: 1979

Director: David Schmoeller

Starring: Chuck Connors, Jocelyn Jones, Jon Van Ness, Robin Sherwood, Tanya Roberts, Dawn Jeffory, Keith McDermott

A group of friends on the road, the desert wind and the heated sun that goes along with it. Compile it with a crazy killing tourist attraction and we got ourselves a horror summer flick.

Synopsis: The film follows a group of young people who stumble upon a roadside museum housing mannequins that wield supernatural powers.

Friday the 13th

Released: 1980

Director: Sean S. Cunningham

Starring: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Laurie Bartram, Mark Nelson, Jeannine Taylor, Robbi Morgan, Kevin Bacon

There is nothing new about making a franchise of successful slasher movies, but Friday the 13th really goes all inn. It is around twelve movies, it got its own TV series, its been written books and made video games. This is sort of like the

Synopsis: The franchise mainly focuses on the fictional character Jason Voorhees, who drowned as a boy at Camp Crystal Lake due to the negligence of the camp staff. Decades later, the lake is rumored to be “cursed” and is the setting for a series of mass murders.

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