Summerween Films to Sink Your Fangs Into
Words: Hatti Rex
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“We’ll have Halloween on Christmas,” a wise philosopher once said, yet nobody foresaw the spooky Autumnal holiday entering the Summer months?! What the hell.
According to Google Trends, searches for the Summerween hit a high point in June, with results for Summerween decor up 130%. It’s become so popular that Asda released a collection based on it, if anyone’s in the market for a Summerween bedsheet with a repeated print of cherry skulls? Think Jack-o-Lanters made from watermelons, haunted tiki, 80’s Summer camp with a sinister edge. Triangle of Sadness is probably terrifying if you’re rich. Jaws could ruin your holiday. A mix of sweat, blood and soil from a visit to Jurassic Park. Anything can be Summerween if you can tenuously make the connection but ditch the trick-or-treating (...it’s giving beg).
For alt queens and those of the gothic persuasion, Halloween is a year-round feeling carried morosely within the heart. But thanks to Disney animated show, Gravity Falls, of all things Summerween has become official. In an episode titled “Summerween”, there’s a town where the characters love Halloween so much that they celebrate it twice a year. The Summer edition falls on June 22nd, which has obviously passed in 2026 but let’s allow for creative leniency.
Comparatively, Autumn feels more cozy than Summer and anyone who lived through the recent UK heatwaves will know that heat exhaustion can be evil. Dehydration and sleep deprivation can send you west on a regular workday, let alone if you’re fighting for your life. A haunted house with plenty of hiding places has nothing on an open desert, where a tank top offers significantly less protection than a rollneck. The world is collectively experiencing the sunbed scene from Final Destination whilst global warming slowly cooking us all to death. Not to be morbid. Perhaps a themed party to lighten the mood?
Whilst there are plenty of Summerween film lists making the rounds, in no particular order below are my favourites - enjoy this Summerween watchlist whether you observe or not.
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
Feels like an obvious choice but potentially the best one. Imagine if your GC accidentally runs a dude over, kills him and pushes his body into the sea only for some freak with a hook hand to find out. It’s a proper 90’s slasher palava. Even the 2025 edition is alright for a remake.
The beach that makes you old? More like: the film that makes you scared! Vacation blended with sheer horror makes the perfect viewing for Summerween, and the fact it’s primarily set in daytime makes it easier to watch if your windows are causing glare. Picture getting up early for a sunbed, slathering yourself in SPF, towel at the ready and then the beach makes you fucking old, bro. Rapid aging brings you closer to death by the second, there’s no escape.
Here’s another vacation situation gone awry. Struggling writer Alexander Skarsgard is lured from his isolated island resort by Mia Goth’s seductive mystery and unsettling hyena-like laugh. Spoiler alert: he accidentally kills someone, creating a big honking dilemma which inevitably ruins the hedonistic holiday vibes. Disaster continues when local law has a zero tolerance policy for criminal activity, so he is forced to pay the price either with his own life or by watching himself die over and over again. Really puts you off talking to strangers on holibobs.
Four words: Wednesday. Addams. Summer. Camp.
Wow, this trailer is actually dogshit? To me it’s genuinely one of the best zombie films of the 21st century, based on the George A. Romero banger of the same name. It’s what springs to mind when the zombie apocalypse hypothetical question is mentioned because these people have it sussed living inside the roof of a shopping mall. They’ve got shelter and ample supplies but the concept of trying to survive a breakout when it’s hot outside is enough to make you sweat.
Set on the boardwalk of the Santa Carla beach front, the residents are experiencing a vampire infestation. New-to-the-area brothers Michael and Sam find themselves instantly involved. Whilst one gets closer to the undead clan in a bid to chirpse a hot girl that he meets at a beach part, the other joins the local comic book nerds to try to end the problem for good. Sexy leather jacket vampires, a rocking soundtrack and worms for dinner: I’m rallying for Lost Boys Summer.
Jeepers Creepers, where’d you get those peepers? I wish the question was never asked, this film has one of the freakiest villains I’ve ever seen. You’re driving along a desolate highway with your sibling when a gigantic menace in a hat dumping a body from out the back of a beaten up truck, who then tries to run you off the road. Do you go back to see if there’s any other victims? Or sack it off? The original is an underrated, campy gem but delve into the sequels at your peril.
We started out this list with one Sarah-Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. classic so it makes sense to end on another. Not only was this film likely responsible for worldwide bisexual awakenings but Spooky Island feels like a genuinely fun island resort minus the demonic possession problem that the Scooby gang has to solve. I’ve been thinking about Dead Mike’s tiki bar with the skull head cocktails for years, one for the road?
And if you’re still thirsty for more: try Midsommar for the neverending sun, either version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes or even House of Wax purely for the melting factor. There’s endless options. A binge-watch of True Blood also hits. Whatever the itinerary is tonight: sleep tight, don’t let the mosquitos bite.
Or the vampires.
Or anything else.
Eek!
