Way back when we thought quarantine was only going to last a month or two — thanks, state and federal government for rising to the challenge! — everyone thought it was hilarious that time had lost all meaning. The Internet rode that nihilistic wave by celebrating limited edition, virus-themed holidays, and I compiled this list of summery horror movies to promote my personal favorite: Quarantine-O-Ween!
- It Follows
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This gauzy teenage haze of a horror film is a chilling delight, but trust me: the summer vibe is there. Nothing says July like lounging by the pool and evading sexually transmitted demons! (Yes, you read that right.)
- Tremors
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While it may just seem like a horrible rip-off of Dune, I can assure you all that it’s both way shorter and WAY more entertaining. Enjoy a 1990s Kevin Bacon in a cowboy hat trying to figure out why there are space worms living in sandy Nevada.
- Verónica
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Okay, full disclosure: This movie is so scary that my friends and I had to watch the whole first season of Nailed It! when we finished. Not only is it based on a true story, but a legally documented paranormal case? Count me in! Follow in my simp-for-horror-movies footsteps and succumb to this scarring experience. Nothing says summer like a séance!
- Fright Night (2011)
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This is genuinely one of the funniest teen movies ever made, and not just for all of its 2011 pop culture punch-lines. The sheer irony of a vampire living in perpetually-lit Las Vegas is fantastic (…as is the way said vampire looks in muscle tops).
- It (2017)
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If only yelling “It’s summer!” absolved these poor kids from fighting a painfully-sexualized demon clown.
- Poltergeist (1982)
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While this is always an absolute ESSENTIAL near-Halloween watch, the 1982 horror classic seems to be set in a summertime state of suburbia.
- Lights Out
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Is this partially a “summer movie” because I fondly remember dragging my friends to see it in theaters in the summer of 2016? Yes. Does it also have a scary shadow ghost who hates the sun and all light? Watch and find out.
Listen: I have mad respect for Quaran-Christmas, but Quarantine-O-Ween forever has my heart. Join me in my spooky scary summer! Besides, by the looks of it, we’ll be stuck in our COVID-19 hellscape until time actually comes to an end — that’s a BIG yikes.