Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Ah, summer. A time for rest, relaxation, and umbrella-garnished drinks. Oh yeah! And killer sharks, hook-wielding murderers, and zombie beavers, of course. Here at Decider, we’re obsessed with horror movies, but there’s something about the summer — about the bloody disruption of the serene — that intensifies the terror, making it one of our favorite spooky time of the year. So when you’ve put out the bonfire for the evening, pop on one of these scary summertime classics if you’re feeling brave enough and get ready to sleep with one eye open. Here are ten to get you started, ranked from campy slashers to honest-to-goodness spine-tinglers.
'Zombeavers' (2014)
MADE US FEAR: Dam dwellers, animatronics, frat boys.
Instead of having a masked-murderer stalk his group of sex-crazed, dim-witted twenty-somethings, director Jordan Rubin featured the most unlikely of villains in his filmmaking debut: zombie beavers. After a chemical spill flows downstream at a Virginia nature preservation, undead beavers are out for blood and will stop at nothing until everyone is dead or a new member of their dam clan. [Where to stream Zombeavers]
'I Know What You Did Last Summer' (1997)
MADE US FEAR: Fishermen, hooks, beauty pageants.
Featuring a legendary cast of Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., and Ryan Phillippe, I Know What You Did Last Summer was the perfect blend of revenge slasher trope meets horny teens getting into trouble. [Where to stream I Know What You Did Last Summer]
'Wrong Turn' (2003)
MADE US FEAR: Road signs, cannibalistic mutants.
A hiking trip takes a turn for the terrifying in this (wholly underrated) cabin-in-the-woods trip gone awry. After accidentally crashing their cars on an abandoned West Virginia road, two couples struggle to survive against a group of inbred mutant cannibals who simply won’t die. [Where to stream Wrong Turn]
'The Hills Have Eyes' (2006)
MADE US FEAR: More mutants, gas stations in the desert, short cuts.
While Wes Craven’s original is the superior of the franchise, Alexandre Aja’s remake of the 1977 classic will definitely have you reconsidering your next road family road trip. Or, if you’re brave enough to go through with it, just make sure not to take any short cuts through a bunch of mutant-infested backroads. [Where to stream The Hills Have Eyes]
'Zodiac' (2007)
MADE US FEAR: Mail, taxis, daylight, John Carrol Lynch.
Nothing kicks off the Fourth of July with a handful of stabbings, followed by penning a few terrifying letters to the press, and stalking reporters until their lives are utterly destroyed. The cold case of the (never caught!) Zodiac Killer is dusted off and revisited in David Fincher’s slow-burn crime thriller that ended up becoming one of the most unsettling horror films of the aughts. [Where to stream Zodiac]
'It Follows' (2014)
MADE US FEAR: Casual car sex, anyone that dares to walk behind us.
After a seemingly harmless one-night-stand with a handsome stranger, Jay (Maika Monroe) is fatally cursed by a phantom entity referred to as “It,” unless she sexually passes it on to another. David Robert Mitchell’s inventive twist on the supernatural unknown has quickly garnered his film hefty buzz since its March release. [Where to stream It Follows]
'Sleepaway Camp' (1983)
MADE US FEAR: Cabins, sleepovers, shy kids.
In the ’80s heyday of slasher films, Robert Hiltzik’s Sleepaway Camp was considered to have the most shocking ending twist of them all. When painfully shy, potentially dangerous Angela is sent away to camp in hopes she’ll come out of her shell after her family is suddenly killed, no one is safe. [Where to stream Sleepaway Camp]
'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (1974)
MADE US FEAR: Power tools, road trips, the Lone Star State.
The first slasher of its kind, Tobe Hooper’s perennial power tool terror hunt introduced masked killers who committed crimes “based on true events” into mainstream horror. Not only that, but he did so on a modest budget of roughly $300,000, making The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Leatherface independent box office hits. [Where to stream The Texas Chainsaw Massacre]
'Friday the 13th' (1980)
MADE US FEAR: Masks, Mrs. Voorhees.
Sean S. Cunningham’s horror staple follows a group of teens tasked with reopening the abandoned camp at Crystal Lake, only to be stalked and slashed by Jason and his infamous hockey mask. Before a slew of unnecessary sequels (did Jason really need to take Manhattan?), the original cult classic will go down in history as the ultimate teen horror flick. [Where to stream Friday the 13th]
'Jaws' (1975)
MADE US FEAR: The beach, the ocean, skinny-dipping, and all underwater life.
Forty years later and we still second-guess dipping our toes in the deep blue sea thanks to Steven Spielberg’s horror masterpiece that cleared beaches back in 1975. Jaws didn’t just scare us, however; it also raised the bar for inventive directorial ventures (really, what would it be like without Bruce’s point of view?) and reiterated how a brilliant score can take a great horror movie and turn it into a classic, thanks to the inimitable John Williams.[Where to stream Jaws]
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