Ever since it started with the release of Jaws in 1975, the summer movie season has primarily been associated with the mega movies studios have a lot of faith in. As time has worn on, this has remained true, with the studios’ biggest investments typically finding themselves releasing in May, June, or July. The summer movie season also always comes equipped with a few relatively high-profile horror movies. For instance, this year’s Final Destination Bloodlines. But there are also horror movies that fall outside the umbrella of an A-list IP. Those that have accrued an audience over time but could use a further bump.
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So, choices here were relegated to somewhat lesser seen horror movies (meaning none of the Friday the 13th, Halloween, or Hellraisers of the world) that are worth your time and were released the summer. That said, they had to be released in theaters within those months. Sorry, solid direct-to-video sequels like Tremors 2: Aftershocks (which was released in April, anyway) and inventive original DTV scarers like Trick ‘r Treat (which, again, wasn’t a summer release anyway).
1) The Burning
One of the major assets in the original Friday the 13th‘s corner was the makeup effects work by Tom Savini. He was invited back for Friday the 13th Part 2, but he had to say no. Why? The Burning, a film in which he strutted his makeup stuff via incredible brutal sequences…especially the raft massacre (pictured above).
The Burning was one of the first summer camp slashers to hit theaters after the success of Friday the 13th. It didn’t take off, but it has since become a cult classic. In fact, even critics have come to reevaluate it. It’s also a somewhat important film as it was the first movie to be produced by Bob and Harvey Weinstein and also served as the film debuts of Holly Hunter, Seinfeld‘s Jason Alexander, and Short Circuit‘s Fisher Stevens.
Stream The Burning on Prime Video.
2) Fright Night
One of the most thoroughly enjoyable vampire movies ever made, Tom Holland’s Fright Night is the exact type of film that only could have come from the ’80s. It’s about a vampire living next door to a nerdy teenager, after all.
Fright Night makes the absolute most of its premise. It knows how to build tension just as it knows how to play with the lore of vampire movies past. Better yet, it comes equipped with one of cinema history’s best bloodsuckers in Chris Sarandon’s Jerry Dandrige.
3) The Return of the Living Dead
It’s not as renowned as George A. Romero’s first three Living Dead movies, but The Return of the Living Dead is nonetheless important. Specifically, it’s the reason shows like South Park have had their zombies moan the word “Brains!” which hails from Return of the Living Dead, not Night of the Living Dead.
But that fun fact is just one asset in Return‘s corner. It also comes with an energetic pace, a quartet of highly entertaining lead performances, and an unexpected nihilistic ending. It’s a great under-the-radar discovery of a movie. And that’s what it is, even though it has led to a few sequels. It’s continued to fly under the radar, but even those who don’t find themselves to be horror aficionados should find something to like about it.
Stream The Return of the Living Dead for free with ads on Tubi.
4) Night of the Creeps
Fred Dekker’s extremely smart Night of the Creeps works on several fronts. It’s a horror movie, sure, but what it is even more so is a coming-of-age comedy. It’s like a John Hughes movie with zombies and the ability to age well.
It’s hard to describe Night of the Creeps because it’s intentionally all over the place. It goes to great lengths to replicate what worked about ’50s sci-fi horror movies while also standing on its own. Even with its references to horror stories of yesteryear, it feels entirely unique, even decades later.
5) The Blob
Like David Cronenberg’s The Fly and John Carpenter’s The Thing, Chuck Russell’s The Blob is one of the very few sci-fi horror sequels that is a night and day improvement over its predecessor. Unfortunately, of those three, The Fly was the only one that found an audience at the time of release with both The Thing and The Blob bombing at the box office. They also really only became appreciated for the fantastic films they are down the chronological line.
The difference between The Blob and those other two masterpieces is that they strayed far from the classic black and white movies that inspired them. Russell’s film, however, stays pretty close to what came before. However, instead of a decidedly PG tone, it’s very firmly in R-rated territory. When someone dies in this, they really die. Equally importantly, it’s one of those few films out there where truly no one is safe. That means kindhearted sheriffs, young men who are apparently the protagonist, and kids.
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6) Killer Klowns from Outer Space
If there were an Oscar for best movie title, Killer Klowns from Outer Space would have it in the bag. They’d never even have to give out the award again. And, with a title like that, one would expect the movie to be a forgettable slice of B-movie pie.
But it isn’t. There’s a reason it’s accumulated a substantial cult following over the years (including Ryan Gosling, who is producing a remake). The film, which was well reviewed even at the time, is clever and loaded with scares both inventive and goofy. It made for an impressive directorial debut by special effects artists the Chiodo Brothers, who seemed to think one movie was enough, because they’ve yet to direct another one since.
Stream Killer Klowns from Outer Space on Pluto TV.
7) Ghosts of Mars
For all intents and purposes, Ghosts of Mars is the last movie John Carpenter directed. Unlike the subsequent The Ward (the actual most recent movie he’s directed), it actually feels like it came from him. And suffice to say, it’s not one of his best.
But time has been fairly kind to this goofy action-horror flick. Like much of Carpenter’s other latter half filmography, its first act is better than the two that follow it, but it’s become clear that he wasn’t trying to make a straightforward horror movie. It’s a throwback actioner more than anything else, with a few effective spooky moments peppered throughout (not to mention an early performance by Jason Statham).
Stream Ghosts of Mars for free with ads on The Roku Channel.
8) Jeepers Creepers
If there’s an aughts horror movie that starts off really, really well then slowly declines in quality, it’s Jeepers Creepers. The less said about director Victor Salva the better, but with this 2001 movie he certainly showed that he could create an intriguing and intimidating horror villain.
Jeepers Creepers also benefits from terrific chemistry between leads Gina Philips and Justin Long. Furthermore, while it slows down considerably throughout the middle third, it comes equipped with a final shot that stands as one of the more shocking of its release decade.
Stream Jeepers Creepers for free with ads on The Roku Channel.
9) Hollow Man
Hollow Man was the movie that Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven had such a hard time making he left Hollywood. And, while it’s no RoboCop, Total Recall, Basic Instinct, or Starship Troopers, it does have the two elements that made those movies work so well.
One of them is sexuality, which Hollow Man uses to make its protagonist turned antagonist, Dr. Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon), suitably contemptable. Then there are the special effects, which were impressive at the time and still hold a certain (though considerably decreased) realistic-adjacent charm 25 years later. What people held against Hollow Man for the most part was the fact it outright devolves into a slasher in its third act. And, while the third act isn’t as strong as the first two, it’s arguably even more fun.
10) The Strangers
Like with The Conjuring five years later, The Strangers entered a crowded competitive market (facing competition from heavy hitters like Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) yet managed to prove profitable. Also like The Conjuring, this was as much due to post-release word of mouth as much as it was advertising-generated hype.
The Strangers is a rather subdued film, operating more as a tense thriller more than the body count stuffed slasher one might expect from a movie about people in masks with knives (though Glenn Howerton, AKA Dennis from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, does die in a fairly shocking manner). It kicked off a franchise, but it’s very questionable whether that should have been the case, as the first film is really the only one that has worked thus far.
