If your idea of a relaxing summer involves a body count, you’re in the right place. We just spent an entire episode going through our personal Summerween picks: ten movies, six books, and four TV shows that hit that specific sweet spot of hot weather and dread.
Some of these are throwbacks from our own childhoods, others are brand new releases, and a couple barely have anything to do with summer on paper but earned their spot anyway. Here’s the full rundown, sorted by category so you can pick your poison.
What Even Is Summerween?
We’ll admit it, until recently, we didn’t know where the word “Summerween” came from. Turns out it traces back to Gravity Falls, the animated Disney Channel series that ran from 2012 to 2016, which had an episode literally titled “Summerween.” Since then, the idea has taken on a life online: halfway through the year means halfway to Halloween, so why not mix some horror into your summer plans?
We wanted in on that, but skipped the obvious picks. You already know Jaws, the Friday the 13th sequels, Sleepaway Camp, and every Jason movie under the sun. Go watch those, they’re great, but here we’re digging into stuff with that same hot, sweaty, unhinged energy without being the first thing that pops up when you search “summer horror.”
Not Sure What to Watch?
Answer 4 questions, get curated horror movies to watch.
Movies
The Final Girls (2015)
Meaghan opened with a pick she feels gets overlooked too often. The Final Girls follows a group of friends who get pulled inside Camp Bloodbath, the cult 1986 slasher that made the main character’s late mother famous, and have to survive its events from the inside.
It’s a horror comedy through and through, leaning hard into summer camp slasher tropes while poking fun at every one of them. The cast helps too: Taissa Farmiga, Nina Dobrev, and Adam DeVine all show up, and nobody is taking it too seriously.
It’s just silly enough and doesn’t take itself too seriously.
As Meaghan put it.
The Vast of Night (2019)
Arthur went back to 2019 for this one, a rare Amazon Studios release that actually delivers. Set in 1950s New Mexico, it follows two young switchboard operators and radio DJs who pick up a mysterious frequency from an unknown source, and things spiral into full UFO territory.
It’s loosely based on the Kecksburg UFO incident and the Foss Lake disappearances, leaning more sci-fi than straight horror, which is Arthur’s wheelhouse. It’s a slow burn, much of it told in long unbroken tracking shots, with a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 84 on Metacritic. We still think it’s underrated.
The Lost Boys (1987)
Meaghan called this one “perfect summer film” energy, full stop. Set on a pier in coastal California, The Lost Boys is packed with teenagers running wild, vampires lurking in the shadows, and a cast that radiates loose, sun-baked chaos throughout.
Director Joel Schumacher loaded it with practical effects and instantly iconic performances, and underneath the slasher comedy, it’s also a strange, fun riff on Peter Pan. It doubles as a great Pride Month watch, too, since Schumacher was a queer director, and that sensibility runs through the film even though it was never marketed that way.
Pitfall (2025)
Arthur picked a movie that hit theaters on May 29. Pitfall is a survival horror slasher directed by James Kondelik, and we interviewed Kondelik and producer Wai Sun Cheng a few episodes back for the behind-the-scenes details.
The story follows two couples and a friend on a hike that goes wrong when one of them falls into a spiked pit and realizes it wasn’t an accident. The cast is great: Richard Harmon, MMA legend Randy Couture, Mike Flanagan regular Alexandra Essoe, and Marshall Williams. The effects team has worked on films like Godzilla and Final Destination Bloodlines.
Joy Ride (2001)
Meaghan went back to 2001 for this road trip thriller, and the vibes still fit. Joy Ride stars Steve Zahn, Paul Walker, and Leelee Sobieski as a group driving cross country for the summer who make the mistake of pranking a trucker over the CB radio.
The trucker, who calls himself “Rusty Nail,” starts hunting them down while looking for someone named “Candy Cane.” It’s windows down, sketchy roadside motels, and constant sweaty tension.
It’s a throwback for us, we were teenagers when we first saw it.
Meaghan said.
Dangerous Animals (2025)
Arthur wanted something water-related without going the obvious Jaws route, and Dangerous Animals fit perfectly.
Directed by Sean Byrne (The Loved Ones, The Devil’s Candy), it follows a fisherman who drugs tourists, takes them out to sea, and feeds them to sharks on camera. Jai Courtney plays the killer, and what makes him so unsettling is that there’s no real motive; he just enjoys it. The film holds an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes, a slightly stingier 65 on Metacritic, and a strong write-up from Roger Ebert, too.
Scooby-Doo (2002)
Meaghan’s next pick is pure comfort food: the live-action Scooby-Doo from 2002. It’s set on an island theme park with a heavy Aztec-inspired theme, giving it that built-in summer vacation feel, and it’s the movie that made Matthew Lillard the definitive Shaggy for an entire generation.
These are the characters for me, a hundred percent forever.
Meaghan said. It’s also a great way to ease someone into horror without going too dark.
Influencers (2025)
Arthur closed out his movie picks with Influencers, the sequel to 2022’s Influencer, which premiered at Fantasia International Film Festival last year. The film follows CW, played by Cassandra Naud, a killer who takes over the lives and online identities of influencers using stolen footage and AI.
The story moves between France and Thailand, hitting that multi-location summer travel feel Arthur was after, and the ending goes off the rails in the best way. It’s sitting at a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, with strong reviews from Dread Central, Bloody Disgusting, and Variety.
The Gift (2000)
Meaghan’s pick here is a deeper cut: The Gift from 2000, starring Cate Blanchett as a psychic in a small Southern town who starts having visions tied to a missing young woman played by Katie Holmes.
Keanu Reeves plays the abusive husband of one of Annie’s clients, and it’s nothing like the roles people usually associate with him; he’s genuinely scary in it. Meaghan admitted she had to watch it more than once as a kid to catch everything going on underneath.
The Ruins (2008)
To close out the movies, Meaghan picked The Ruins, based on the novel of the same name by Scott Smith. The film follows a group of friends on a trip to Mexico who climb a pyramid and discover the threat isn’t a curse so much as the environment itself.
Things get visceral fast once the group realizes they can’t get back down. Meaghan mentioned the book pushes things even further, so if the movie leaves you wanting more, that’s worth picking up, too.
Books
Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley
Meaghan’s first book pick lands in the “wellness retreat but everything is wrong” subgenre that’s been popping up a lot lately. The story follows a woman recovering from the loss of her fiancé a year earlier, who gets talked into a remote retreat in Joshua Tree, California: no cell service, no real way out, and a staff that’s more than a little off.
From there, it becomes part slasher, part whodunit, with people getting picked off one by one. Meaghan called the pacing strong and the reveal satisfying.
You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron
This one sits squarely in summer camp slasher territory, but with a meta twist. It follows about twenty employees running a full-contact terror experience at a fake summer camp, where guests pay to be “stalked” by a fictional killer.
When real people start disappearing during the final weekend, the line between performance and reality gets thin fast. Meaghan called it a quick, breezy read with that Friday the 13th-inspired setup, while still feeling fresh.
The Last Astronaut by David Wellington
Arthur only had one book on his list, and he made it count. The Last Astronaut is set in deep space, following the last astronaut sent to investigate a massive alien ship that’s entered our solar system.
Arthur argues that it’s the perfect summer read precisely because of that contrast; the book is cold, claustrophobic, and full of gooey, crunchy horror that will give you genuine chills on a hot day. If you’ve read Wellington’s other sci-fi horror, this delivers the same dread, and then some.
I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones
Meaghan’s next pick is set during the summer of 1989 in a small Texas town, following two friends who get swept up in a string of killings that make them infamous in their community.
Stephen Graham Jones, an indigenous author known for centering indigenous characters, uses the slasher framework to dig into how people get labeled and how news cycles latch onto certain stories. Meaghan hasn’t gotten to his most recent novel, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, yet, but says this one stands on its own as a layered, summer-set slasher.
Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan
Another small town, Texas, pick, but this time with vampires. The story follows three generations of women in one family who run the local funeral home and, as part of the family business, deal with the occasional body that doesn’t stay dead.
Meaghan listened to the audiobook, which she says is even better thanks to the cast’s thick Southern accents, and described the tone as lighthearted with some genuinely serious stakes underneath. It’s tongue-in-cheek from the title down.
Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare
Meaghan’s last book pick is also a movie, but the book series is the real draw here. It follows a girl who moves to a small town and learns about Frendo, the old corn syrup factory’s mascot turned local legend, right before Frendo starts actually killing teenagers around town.
Meaghan has only read the first book so far, but says two more are out already, with a fourth reportedly on the way this year. The film adaptation is also a solid gateway horror watch.
TV Shows
Widow’s Bay
Arthur’s pick here came together on the spot, and the timing turned out perfect. Widow’s Bay is the new Apple TV horror comedy about a cursed New England island town, starring Hamish Linklater as the island’s centuries-old founder.
The show has a dry, layered, almost Stephen King adjacent feel without being based on any specific King story, balancing real tension with some of the funniest writing either of us has seen on TV recently. The finale was airing the following week, and the show had just been renewed for a second season that same day. “Literally news from today,” Arthur said.
Midnight Mass
Meaghan’s first TV pick pairs naturally with Widow’s Bay, since both share Hamish Linklater and that small, isolated island setting.
Midnight Mass follows a tight-knit island community that unravels after a charismatic new priest arrives, descending into vampire horror with real emotional weight. Meaghan pointed out both shows lean into that “something’s wrong with this island” feeling, just from different angles.
Eerie, Indiana
This one’s a deep cut throwback for anyone who grew up in the early 90s. Eerie, Indiana ran on NBC from 1991 to 1993 and follows a kid named Marshall Teller who discovers his new hometown is, in the show’s words, the center of weirdness for the entire universe.
It also stars Omri Katz, who horror fans will recognize as Max from Hocus Pocus. Meaghan watched it through reruns as a kid, and it shaped a lot of her early taste for spooky storytelling.
True Blood
To close things out, Meaghan picked True Blood, possibly the most obvious “summer vampire show” on this whole list, which is exactly why it works.
Set in Louisiana, the show leans all the way into a sun-soaked, southern gothic atmosphere, with a cast that stays strong even as the story lines get increasingly bizarre in later seasons.
Everybody’s always hot, everybody has a southern accent, it’s great.
That is basically the whole review, and we mean that as a compliment.
That’s a bunch of picks across movies, books, and TV, more than enough to get you through the hottest part of the year without falling back on the same five slashers everyone already knows about. Pick whichever one matches your mood (or your air conditioning situation), and if you’ve got a Summerween favorite we missed, drop it in the comments so we can check it out too.