Real horror fans know that scary movies aren’t solely reserved for fall.
Whether it be the Friday the 13th films taking place at Camp Crystal Lake, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre being filmed in the heat of East Texas or a mysterious killer with a hook for a hand chasing around a bunch of kids in I Know What You Did Last Summer, horror films have often turned to warmer months for their go-to setting over the years.
Although October and Halloween remain the primary time of year for studios to release their scariest flicks, slashers and psychological thrillers have become more prominent summer blockbusters as well. 2024 is shaping up to be one of the best summerween years yet, serving up reboots, continuing franchises and brand new ones.
Kicking off June’s jump scares is A Quiet Place: Day One, the third installment of the A Quiet Place films and a prequel that takes viewers along for the day the world went silent. Following in July is another trilogy, MaXXXine, which will feature the return of Mia Goth as this generation’s favorite scream queen. There’s also the reimagining of The Crow starring Bill Skarsgård and the brand new psychological thriller Blink Twice, written and directed by Zoë Kravitz.
“As a filmmaker, what’s cool about horror is you’re not really as confined as you are in other genres,” MaXXXine director Ti West told Men’s Health in 2022 about crafting the X trilogy. “Like, if you’re making a straight drama, or a romantic comedy, without the concept of the romantic comedy being really crazy, you have to stick somewhat in reality. And if you go too far outside of the visual norms, it will bump the story and be weird. Whereas in horror, you really can do anything. It’s like a borderline experimental film genre. So, you can have a plot that motors along and all that, but you can get as as realistic or as unrealistic as you want.”
It’s a great year to be a horror fan. Keep scrolling for the best 2024 Summerween movies:
‘A Quiet Place: Day One’
Release Date: Friday, June 28
Starring: Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Djimon Hounsou, Alex Wolff, Eliane Umuhire
Directed by: Michael Sarnoski
Synopsis: Serving as a spinoff and prequel to the first two Quiet Place films, Day One takes audiences back to the first day the world went quiet, following Sam (Nyong’o) and Eric (Quinn) as they team up in an attempt to escape the city — and stay alive.
‘A Sacrifice’
Release Date: Friday, June 28
Starring: Sadie Sink, Eric Bana, Sylvia Hoeks
Directed by: Jordan Scott
Synopsis: Based on Nicholas Hogg’s 2015 novel Tokyo, the film follows American social psychologist Ben Monroe (Bana) as he investigates a local cult in Berlin that is linked to a disturbing event, while his daughter becomes drawn into the world of a mysterious boy.
‘MaXXXine’
Release Date: Friday, July 3
Starring: Mia Goth, Halsey, Elizabeth Debicki, Lily Collins
Directed by: Ti West
Synopsis: In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx (Goth) finally gets her big break. However, as a mysterious killer stalks — yes, that Night Stalker — the starlets of Los Angeles, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past in this horror flick, the third installment of the X franchise.
‘Longlegs’
Release Date: Friday, July 12
Starring: Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage
Directed by: Oz Perkins
Synopsis: In pursuit of a serial killer (Cage), an FBI agent (Monroe) uncovers a series of occult clues that she must solve to end his terrifying killing spree.
‘Trap’
Release Date: Friday, August 2
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Hayley Mills, Alison Pill, Ariel Donoghue
Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Synopsis: A father (Hartnett) and teen daughter attend a pop concert, where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.
‘Alien Romulus’
Release Date: Friday, August 16
Starring: Cailee Spaeny, Isabela Merced, Archie Renaux, David Jonnson
Directed by: Federico Álvarez
Synopsis: The eighth installment in the Alien franchise, Romulus follows a group of young space colonizers who, while scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.
‘The Crow’
Release Date: Friday, August 23
Starring: Bill Skarsgård, FKA Twigs, Danny Huston, Isabella Wei
Directed by: Rupert Sanders
Synopsis: A reimagining of the original 1994 film, The Crow follows soulmates Eric (Skarsgård) and Shelly (Twigs) as they are brutally murdered after the demons of her dark past catch up with them. Given the chance to save his true love by sacrificing himself, Eric returns to seek bloody revenge against the killers, traversing the worlds of the living and the dead to put the wrong things right.
‘Blink Twice’
Release Date: Friday, August 23
Starring: Channing Tatum, Haley Joel Osment, Christian Slater, Geena Davis, Adria Arjona, Kyle MacLachlan, Alia Shawkat, Naomi Ackie
Directed by: Zoë Kravitz
Synopsis: When tech billionaire Slater King (Tatum) meets cocktail waitress Frida (Ackie) at his fundraising gala, sparks fly. He invites her to join him and his friends on a dream vacation on his private island. It’s paradise. Wild nights blend into sun soaked days and everyone’s having a great time. No one wants this trip to end, but as strange things start to happen, Frida begins to question her reality. There is something wrong with this place. She’ll have to uncover the truth if she wants to make it out of this party alive.
Bonus: ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’
Release Date: Friday, September 6
Starring: Michael Keaton, Jenna Ortega, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Justin Theroux, Willem Dafoe
Directed by: Tim Burton
Synopsis: After an unexpected family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice (Keaton), Lydia’s (Ryder) life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid (Ortega), discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic and the portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened. With trouble brewing in both realms, it’s only a matter of time until someone says Beetlejuice’s name three times and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem.
