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Summer Movie Binge | The Top 10 Summer Horror Flicks To Watch

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It is currently July 2023, which means we are deep in summer, and what better to enjoy a hot, summer day than binging some summer horror films?  If you are having trouble deciding which summer-themed horror flicks to consume for your entertainment, then let me help you decide which films you should watch.  I have listed the following ten films that should be watched in the summertime.

10. Piranha (1978)

Piranha is a film that will make anyone that loves going into the water during a beach trip think twice. Having flesh-eating piranhas attack those in the water sounds like a scary enough reason for me to stay out of the water at all costs. The synopsis reads, “When flesh-eating piranhas are accidentally released into a summer resort’s rivers, the guests become their next meal.”  The film stars Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies-Urich, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn, Dick Miller, Belinda Balaski, and Barbara Steele.

9. Cabin in the Woods (2011)

Cabin in the Woods is the 2011 remake of the original 1998 film. I, for one, am not much of a remake person, but this film was pretty decent and sets the tone of summer horror. The synopsis reads, “Five friends go for a break at a remote cabin, where they get more than they bargained for, discovering the truth behind the cabin in the woods.” The film stars Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Fran Kranz, Anna Hutchison, Amy Acker, Jesse Williams, and Henry Jenkins.

8. Jeepers Creepers (2001)

Jeepers Creepers is a simple horror film that takes an unexpected left turn fast. Starting during summer break and heading home, playing the license plate game, ends in disaster when a creature that needs to eat human body parts for 28 days and returns every 28 years during the summer is certainly a reason to keep people indoors all summer long. The synopsis reads as “A brother and sister driving home through isolated countryside for spring break encounter a flesh-eating creature which is in the midst of its ritualistic eating spree.” The film stars Justin Long, Gina Philips, Jonathan Breck, Patricia Belcher, Eileen Brennan, and Brandon Smith.

7. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

I Know What You Did Last Summer is a slasher film that has a sliver of mystery to it.  Taking place during the Fourth of July weekend, a group assumes they killed a man and end up being slaughtered by a mysterious hook-handed fisherman.  The synopsis reads as “Four young friends bound by a tragic accident are reunited when they find themselves being stalked by a hook-wielding maniac in their small seaside town.”  It stars Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Anne Heche, Ryan Phillippe, Muse Watson, and Johnny Galecki.

6. Midsommar (2019)

Midsommar turns a wholesome midsummer festival into a crazy, violent attack from cultists. This type of film is what keeps people away from festivals, and this film does its job well. The synopsis reads, “A couple travels to Northern Europe to visit a rural hometown’s fabled Swedish mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.”  The film stars Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Vilhelm Blomgren, William Jackson Harper, and Archie Madekwe.

5. Sleepaway Camp (1983)

Sleepaway Camp is a film that starts with a tragedy and then heads into a summer camp setting with some massive amounts of bullying and blood and gore, that climaxes into an ending that no one saw coming. The synopsis reads, “Angela Baker, a shy, traumatized young girl, is sent to summer camp with her cousin. Shortly after her arrival, anyone with sinister or less than honorable intentions toward her gets their comeuppance.”  The film stars Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten, Karen Fields, Christopher Collet, Mike Kellin, Katherine Kamhi, and Paul Deangelo.

4. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the most famous horror movie franchises known to man with Leatherface being in most people’s top five slashers. A cannibalistic family during a humid and hot Texas summer, this film does not fail to deliver the scares and the kills. The synopsis reads as “Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.”  The film stars Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal, Allen Danziger, Teri McMinn, William Vail, Paul Partain, Jim Seidow, Gunnar Hansen, and John Dugan.

3. The Burning (1981)

The Burning is a film where an irresponsible man gets burned and ends up taking his aggression and anger out on campers. This film has amazing special effects from Tom Savini after he turned down Friday the 13th Part II. The synopsis reads, “A former summer camp caretaker, horribly burned from a prank gone wrong, lurks around an upstate New York summer camp bent on killing the teenagers responsible for his disfigurement.” The film stars Brian Matthews, Leah Ayres, Jason Alexander, Brian Backer, Larry Joshua, and Ned Eisenberg.

2. Jaws (1975)

Jaws is a creature feature-esque film where a man eating shark terrorizes a beach during the Fourth of July.  The synopsis reads as, “When a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Cape Cod, it’s up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.”  It stars Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton, and Jeffrey Kramer.

1. Friday the 13th Franchise (1980-2009)

Friday the 13th is one of the most, if not, the most popular horror franchise in the world. Everyone knows who Jason Voorhees is. In the first film, Mrs. Voorhees is killing camp counselors to avenge the death of her son, Jason, who drowned in Crystal Lake as a boy at summer camp. Turns out, Jason never really drowned and he is alive and well. Witnessing his mother’s death, kills survivor Alice Hardy in the sequel and five years later, dispatches a group of new counselors. In the third film, he claims his iconic hockey mask and kills more teenagers, as he does in the fourth film, as well.

In the fifth film, he is dead and buried, but a copycat killer uses Jason’s persona to carry out more gruesome murders at a halfway house. He’s resurrected in the sixth film where he unleashes his rage on more camp counselors at the former Camp Crystal Lake now known as Camp Forest Green. In the seventh film, he’s resurrected from being chained at the bottom of the lake by a teenage girl with telekinetic powers and then kills a bunch of teens that are having a surprise birthday party at the camp. In the eighth film, he does his specialty killing on a boat heading to New York City and then unleashing his wrath on the city citizens themselves.

In the ninth film, he becomes mythical and his body swaps around the camp’s area, whereas he goes to space in the tenth film killing students in the future. He then battles Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street in the crossover film Freddy vs. Jason, while killing teenagers to make Freddy strong again through the power of fear.

A remake then happens in 2009 where Jason Voorhees is the sole killer avenging his mother’s death on a group of counselors and then a few weeks later, killing trespassers set to party on his grounds. This franchise has a lot going on and the continuity isn’t always there, but if you need a movie night to binge some films, all twelve films in the Friday the 13th franchise is the way to go.

The films star some pretty big names, such as Betsy Palmer, Corey Feldman, Kevin Bacon, Robert Englund, Arlen Escarpeta, Amanda Righetti, Thom Matthews, Shavar Ross, Terry Kiser, Susan Blu, Kevin Spirtas, Jared Padalecki, and Danielle Panabaker.

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Born in the cold month of December, Scotty grew up as a horror fan. With his first horror film ever seen being "Friday the 13th Part 7: The New Blood," Scotty immediately fell in love with horror. Having written six books, the most recent being "The Ultimate Halloween Movie Experience," published by BearManor Media, and being represented by Universal Talent Bookings and 3iBooks Literary Agency, Scotty is excited to bring his horror expertise to GoreCulture to entertain the audience with his vast knowledge of the "spooky things!"

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