Movies Horror Movies
Static Media
ByBJ Colangelo/
The summer horror movie subgenre spoils us all with an embarrassment of riches, but this also means that whenever people come up with a list of recommendations, the same players make an appearance again and again. At this point, you shouldn't need an online list to tell you that "Jaws" is the ultimate July 4th viewing experience. And considering that "Midsommar," "Summer of '84," and "I Know What You Did Last Summer" have the season in the title of the movie, these are also no-brainer suggestions for summer horror movies. Summer is also the season for summer camp movies, so "Sleepaway Camp," the entire "Friday the 13th" franchise, parodies like "The Final Girls," homages like "Fear Street: 1978," and the entire roster of Cabin in the Woods horror movies ("Evil Dead," "The Cabin in the Woods," etc.) are all easy picks.
Then there are the countless folk horror films in the vein of "The Wicker Man" that all scream "summer," aquatic horror movies like "Open Water" and hot summer night stories like "The Lost Boys" or "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre." So, instead of highlighting all of the most obvious summer scare flicks, this list is to shout out five of the best movies that you might not have thought of, but are just as good as the ones that always dominate the conversation.
In fact, a few of these might be connected to some of these no-brainer honorable mentions...
Psycho Beach Party
Strand Releasing
There's nothing more "summer" than a teen beach movie, and "Psycho Beach Party" is the mind-melting teen beach movie satire horror fans deserve. Based on the off-Broadway play of the same name from Charles Busch (who also wrote the screenplay), "Psycho Beach Party" is set in 1962 Malibu and pays homage to the psychodramas of the 1950s, beach movies like "Gidget" and "Beach Party" of the 1960s, and the slasher craze of the 1970s and '80s.Lauren Ambrose stars as Florence "Chicklet" Forrest, a tomboy surfer girl who just wants to fit in with the surfer boys at the beach, and who may or may not have multiple personality disorder. It wouldn't be so bad except there are a series of mysterious murders plaguing Malibu, and Chicklet starts to worry that one of her alter identities is killing people without her knowledge. How is she going to make friends when they all keep dying?!
Certainly more comedy than horror, "Psycho Beach Party" is a criminally underseen flick with a wildly impressive cast including Thomas Gibson, Nicholas Brendon, and a very early performance from Amy Adams. Thanks to the ability to recreate "Gidget"-style surf scenes with the rear project, the film does what the play could never dream of and perfectly captures the heart of beach movies, while keeping its tongue planted firmly in cheek. Busch even appears in the drag role of Captain Monica Stark, a character he created specifically for the film. It's a horror-comedy birthed from the school of John Waters and Sandra Dee, and it's a must-watch summer movie.
Southbound
The Orchard
Why have one summer horror movie when you can have five? The horror anthology "Southbound" is connected by a long road in the middle of the desert, with every character boasting the subtle sheen of sweat that happens after being hit by the sun through a car window on a road trip. The filmmaking collective known as Radio Silence ("Ready or Not," "Abigail," "Scream V, VII") is behind the opening and closing segments "The Way Out" and "The Way In," while "V/H/S/" producer and director Roxanne Benjamin ("There's Something Wrong With the Children," Body at Brighton Rock," "Creepshow") made her (partial) feature-directing debut with the segment "Siren." David Bruckner ("The Ritual," "The Night House," "Hellraiser") helmed the emotionally destructive segment "The Accident," and Patrick Horvath brings it all home with "Jailbreak."
What makes "Southbound" special is that this is one of the few horror anthologies that truly doesn't have a weak entry. Knowing how many of the filmmakers have gone on to make genuinely beloved horror features makes it a great watch for any horror fans looking to see some of the earliest creative endeavors of their favorite directors. There's a fluidity of each segment that connects it all, not unlike "Trick 'r Treat." Despite the multiple directors steering each segment, there's no tonal whiplash between the stories. Each story plays beautifully into the hand of the unknown terrors lurking around the dusty trail, whether it be supernatural, Satanic, or horrifically human.
Us
Universal Pictures
"The Lost Boys" was namechecked as one of the obvious summer choices, and that's because the true summer horror watch filmed on the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is Jordan Peele's "Us." The haunting psychological horror flick features Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, and Tim Heidecker as the parents of two vacationing families who are attacked by their own doppelgängers — versions of themselves called the Tethered who have been living underground and mirroring all of their experiences in twisted, alternate ways. The summer setting adds a layer of unease because there's a juxtaposition between the Tethered's reign of terror and the sunny, beachy vibes of the families' vacations.
Horror films frequently pull from the fear of the Other, poking at our anxieties regarding things, people, and circ*mstances that we don't fully understand. But in "Us," the Other is us. Instead of creating some fantastical boogeyman, Peele forces the fear inward. The Tethered are an extension of our worst attributes and impulses, the nightmarish and underground evils within us all that stay hidden beneath sunny dispositions. Are the Tethered any less "real" than those privileged enough to exist above ground? Peele refuses to provide clear-cut answers, giving viewers plenty to ponder after the credits have rolled.
Tremors
Universal Pictures
Blue-collar horror movies are tragically few and far between, but when you have a film as great as "Tremors" to hang your sweaty, dusty baseball cap on, embracing quality over quantity ain't so bad. Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward star as Valentine "Val" McKee and Earl Bassett, two best buds and handymen who become unlikely heroes after they discover gigantic subterranean monster worms (later named Graboids) are terrorizing their tiny Nevada town, Perfection. With the exception of one killer scene of a car being consumed by the sand below, "Tremors" takes place exclusively in the daylight, which only adds to the summer vibes.
There's so much to love about "Tremors" — a film that also introduced the horror genre's greatest "final girl," gun-obsessed survivalist Burt Gummer (played by Michael Gross) — but its sunny, sandy setting makes it the perfect watch on a hot day. You can't beat practical monster effects and hunks with southern accents in light-wash denim. I'm sorry, you just can't. Summer movies aren't relegated to the beach, and "Tremors" is proof positive of that.
Lake Mungo
After Dark Films
July and August are the winter months in Australia, but given the setting and constant showcase of people swimming in lakes and pools throughout "Lake Mungo," this deeply unnerving ghost story is a stark reminder for those of us celebrating summer in the Northern Hemisphere that horror is not reserved for the spooky season. We've talked a lot on /Film about "Lake Mungo,"Joel Anderson's 2008 Australian psychological horror film (presented like a documentary) about the Palmer family mourning the death by drowning of their daughter Alice. In the wake of Alice's passing, the family starts to experience hauntings throughout the house. Once they put up cameras trying to capture an apparition, they're horrified to discover unexplained images that look an awful lot like Alice.
The family desperately tries to figure out why Alice's spirit would still be hanging around after all this time, and the more they try to investigate what happened in the lead-up to her drowning, the more they realize how little they actually knew about her interior life. "Lake Mungo" isn't filled with jump scares, but is instead a bone-chilling ghost story with an atmosphere that will emotionally choke you out. "I feel like something bad has happened," Alice says in a recording. "It hasn't reached me yet but it's on its way."
"Lake Mungo" is the kind of film that will attach itself to your psyche and make you question every lingering sound in your home. It will also make you nervous about walking alone on the beach at night for the rest of your life.
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