June is here, and Summer is creeping up like Pennywise in the sewer. Let’s make it a Final Girl Summer with a killer lineup of horror flicks perfect to dive into while you crack open a cold one and suck weiners down your gullet after a day of perfecting your tan. Think sunny skies, beachy vibes, shark fins, summer break chaos, and, of course, buckets of blood.
Hell, it might be sunny out, but Summer is always a scream.
Summer camp slashers
Summer horror isn’t summer horror without a classic camp setting. There’s something about the mix of mosquito bites, awkward campers, horny counselors, and creepy woods that makes the perfect setting for a blood-soaked marshmallow roast. Sure, there are plenty of camp slashers out there (with 1981’s The Burning being the most brutal), but the Friday the 13th franchise’s Jason Voorhees (and his mom) set the bar for turning kumbayas into carnage.
That said, 1983’s Sleepaway Camp might just be the most delightfully unhinged and criminally underrated summer camp slasher out there. Like the original Friday the 13th, it’s a classic whodunnit, where we see the killer’s POV as they creatively take out campers and staff—like unleashing a hornet’s nest on a bully mid-pinching a loaf or dumping an absurdly oversized pot of boiling water on a pedo chef.
Mix in some extremely dated (but in fairness, very ’80s) views on the LGBTQ+ community and one of the most extreme punch-out endings of all time, and you’ve got a cult classic that’s traumatized generations of fans. No surprise that the film’s star Felissa Rose is a convention darling and still popping up in horror movies today—she’s horror royalty, after all.
blood in the water
No summer horror movie list is complete without a few nautical nightmares. Whether it’s the Gillman sneaking a toe-tap from Julie Adams in 1954’s Creature from the Black Lagoon or the infamous great white shark turning moonlit swims into bite-sized snacks in 1975’s Jaws, these films resurface in our minds every time something brushes against us in murky lake water—or worse, while we’re braving the ocean.
Humanoids from the Deep (1980) feels like Creature from the Black Lagoon got doused in a H.P. Lovecraft fever dream and then took a wild detour through a grindhouse. Mutated fish, transformed into the titular humanoids through reckless ecological interference, wreak havoc on a small town’s salmon festival. The creatures, brought to life with wild “man in suit” action, mercilessly murder the men and rape the women. Naturally, the plucky townsfolk and a tough-as-nails biologist team up to send these slimy creeps back to the depths from which they came.
In true Roger Corman fashion, the production leans into its unapologetic sleaze, even bringing in a second director to amp up the outrageous forced borderline beastiality that the original director, Barbara Peeters, skipped over.
a more tame nautical nightmare
For a less porny (but still Roger Corman-produced) take on aquatic monsters, look no further than Joe Dante’s 1978 classic Piranha—a cheeky riff on Jaws that wears its inspiration on its sleeve. Case in point: early on, our plucky protagonist Maggie is introduced while playing a Jaws arcade game, openly tipping its hat to the blockbuster it’s blatantly ripping off.
It wears its clichés like a badge of honor, flaunting characters straight out of the “how-to-make-a-B-movie” handbook while leaning hard on Roger Corman’s signature cost-cutting magic. No, they didn’t spring for a Spielberg-grade animatronic shark, but who needs that when you’ve got chompy fish puppets and hilariously over-the-top munching sound effects?
This film is to animal attack horror what Wes Craven’s Scream (1996) was to slashers—a self-aware, cheeky wink at the genre, all while serving up plenty of bloody aquatic chaos. Bonus summer-themed horror hijinks: it also has a sub-plot at a summer camp…
That said, the gloriously over-the-top 2010 remake, Piranha 3D, takes a full-circle dive back to Humanoids from the Deep—packed to the gills with blood, guts, and an unapologetic abundance of gratuitous nudity.
Amusement Parks: Harbingers of Doom
Amusement parks: where you pay a small fortune to stand in endless lines, dodge screaming kids, question ride safety, and marinate in a stew of sweat and overpriced snacks—all under the blazing sun. It’s like Hell, but with roller coasters. Honestly, only a true masochist (or one of those Disney Adult weirdos) would willingly endure such chaos. And yet, that’s exactly why they make the perfect setting for a horror film.
Think about it: amusement parks, carnivals, and state fairs are basically Hollywood’s shorthand for “Summer is here… and someone is going to die.” In 1987’s The Lost Boys, Kiefer Sutherland’s gang of mullet-rocking vampires prowl for victims on the Santa Carla boardwalk, strutting around a carousel while the real-life Santa Cruz Giant Dipper roller coaster looms ominously in the background like a death-themed postcard. Tobe Hooper’s Funhouse (1981) spends nearly its entire runtime at a grimy state fair, complete with a deformed slasher rocking a Frankenstein mask. And let’s not forget the iconic roller coaster meltdown in Final Destination 3 (2006), which turned an entire generation of Millennials into thrill-ride skeptics—right up there with their fear of logging trucks.
That’s not part of the ride…
One stand-out summer horror flick with an amusement park as its setting is 1987’s Ghoulies II. Riding the coattails of small creature chaos sparked by Gremlins(1984) and Critters (1986), Ghoulies II cranks up the monster mayhem with a tighter budget and just a bit more bite.
In the film, the mischievous Ghoulies crash a carnival and set up shop in the funhouse aptly named “Satan’s Den.” At first, visitors think these creepy critters are just part of the spooky decor—until the body count starts piling up faster than carnival game losses. And because sequels love to go big or go home, the finale serves up a giant Ghoulie rampaging through the carnival in a gloriously absurd monster movie showdown.
That said, the crown jewel of Ghoulies II is that it finally delivers on the promise of the first film’s iconic VHS cover—yes, the frog ghoulie bursting out of a toilet to take a bite out of someone’s unsuspecting backside.
Absolute cinema.
killer vacations
Nothing says “Summer vibes” quite like piling into a car for a classic road trip or jetting off to some exotic paradise for a well-deserved escape. Still, most folks’ biggest fear is that of the unknown. Horror films love turning tourists into nightmare fodder, whether it’s horny frat bros being put through torture porn paces in Hostel (2007), reefer-smoking hippies meeting meat hooks, mallets and well, chainsaws in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), the upbeat nuclear family in the Us (2019) encountering their sinister doppelgängers at their summer home or pretentious, thesis-stealing academics becoming unwilling victims/converts to Nordic cults in Midsommar (2019). Who needs sunscreen when you’ve got existential dread?
Sometimes the best vacation spots are the ones no one talks about—just like this hidden horror gem. 2008’s The Ruins takes “off the beaten path” to a whole new level. Directed by Carter Smith and adapted by Scott B. Smith from his own novel, this movie proves that some places are best left undiscovered.
Two young American couples on vacation in Mexico befriend Mathias, a German tourist with a wild story about his missing brother who wandered off to explore a hidden Mayan ruin in the jungle. Naturally, curiosity (and a total disregard for red flags) gets the better of them, and they agree to tag along. But when they arrive at the remote ruin, they quickly discover this is no casual sightseeing trip…
Writer Smith flips the script with an unexpected twist—killer plants lurking in Mayan pyramids, while locals trap tourists as sacrifices to the bloodthirsty vines. What could’ve been a cheesy gorefest (and, okay, sometimes it is) turns into a surprisingly grim dive into bad decisions and young adults grappling with their own mortality.
Classic summer entertainment, right?
The post Chilling Summer Horror Flicks That Pair Perfectly With a Cold One appeared first on VICE.
