With all the extra free time that comes along with the summer, killers often get sucked into their own outdoor activities as well.
Successful storylines of horror movies can take place in the most unlikely of surroundings. While many films stick close to a typical haunted house format or make ample use of well-known movie monsters, others transform what should be peaceful places into the stuff of nightmares. Enter the summer camp setting: the perfect dueling ground for murderers and masked fiends against unsuspecting collections of campers, who thought their only issue during the warmer months would be hitting a bulls-eye in archery. With all the extra free time that comes along with the summer, killers often get sucked into their own outdoor activities as well.
Summer camp slashers have expanded far beyond their glory days within the '70s and '80s, allowing for brand-new terrifying tales to come to the forefront of modern cinema. This also allows for horror fans to trace the development of this popular subgenre over time, letting the stories and tropes that we've come to expect break the mold and keep us guessing again and again. Let's count down the best horror movies involving summer camps, ranked.
Set against the backdrop of a musical theater intensive, Stage Fright is a breath of fresh air within the horror genre as a comedic slasher musical. Camilla lived in the shadow of her superstar mother's tragic death during a performance, until she gets the chance to star in another version of the same show. Surrounded by other young performers desperate to make it big in showbiz, Camilla finds herself up against the masked Opera Ghost as her fellow campers start getting killed. But the show must go on – even on an extremely bloody opening evening with a captive audience. Straying from the typical outdoor camp setup, this movie is a hidden gem with a flair for the creative and a creepy atmosphere.
The new slasher from Peacock, They/Them, is more than just a clever title. Within the confines of a conversion camp, LGBTQ+ campers find themselves fighting for their lives in more ways than one. Sticking together through the countless blows to their psyches, the group soon sees bodies start to drop, with abusive employees as the unlucky victims. Many viewers felt like the film had more potential than proper execution within what seemed like the perfect setup for a successful story. Either way, the film does shed light on a very real threat to the lives and livelihoods of queer youth.
Related: Best LGBTQ+ Horror Movies, Ranked
Madman is an excellent entry into the world of summer camp horror, literally bringing a legend to life. Around a campfire, off-duty camp leaders tell tall tales of Madman Marz, a man who took an axe to his family and eluded being hanged by townspeople. He's been said to shadow the surrounding areas ever since, emerging after his name is spoken. When the friends go their separate ways for the night, Madman Marz soon swings his axe into their real lives as he emerges from the ether of their imaginations. Making use of the trope of careless camp leadership leading to untimely deaths, famously set by Friday the 13th, it's no wonder this film has found a bit of a cult following.
The Burning offers a brief exploration of body horror within a typical summer camp setting, given the unfortunate appearance of the antagonist. The victim of an underhanded prank gone awry, Cropsy was a janitor until the actions of unsavory teens left him disfigured with severe burns throughout his body. Years after the accident, he makes it his mission to exact his revenge on other summer camps. With the idea of the antagonist borrowed from the urban legend of Cropsey, originally stemming from New York, the story transforms horrifying hearsay into a very real threat for campers throughout the area. A Slant Magazine review of The Burning remembers the movie as "a grim but comfortably anonymous entry from the salad days of the slasher craze of the early ‘80s."
The second film in the Fear Street series, Fear Street Part Two: 1978 continues the saga of Sunnyvale and Shadyside in the midst of '70s slasher heaven – the serenity of summer camp, of course. Deena, Sam, and Josh consult C. Berman after Sam's possession progresses and learn the harrowing history of the place from a source who was much closer to the action than they realize. In 1978, Camp Nightwing runs amok with chaos as campers dodge the dealings of axe murderers who were once familiar faces within the camp. As the sophomore installment in the celebrated trilogy from the mind of R. L. Stine, this movie continues the time-traveling nature of the series and bridges the gap between the stories of Sarah Fier.
Related: Why Fear Street is One of the Best Trilogies of the Past 30 Years
In Cheerleader Camp, the popular Alison deeply dreads an upcoming cheer competition after she's continually plagued by horrific dreams that foreshadow disaster. Soon after her team's arrival, the rivalry kicks off with a series of increasingly graphic events, including mysterious murders and the presentation of an explicit tape. With an initial title of Bloody Pom Poms, Cheerleader Camp culminates in a shocking performance that viewers can't look away from – both from the stands of the competition and from the audience's viewpoint.
Of course, a list of horror films set at summer camp wouldn't be complete without the controversial Sleepaway Camp. Angela enters Camp Arawak alongside her cousin Ricky after an unspeakable tragedy that claimed the lives of her immediate family. Naturally, familiar horrors follow her as she witnesses a string of accidental deaths that befall her fellow campers. The jaw-dropping reveal of the person behind it all is one of the most stunning final scenes within the film world, not just the horror genre. A review from Bloody Disgusting by Alice Collins, a transgender writer, called the film "steeped in queerness," yet "there’s also a lot of transphobia within the picture," which rings true given the gotcha moment of the story's climax.
Finally, the very first Friday the 13th is a time-honored example of a summer camp slasher done right. As perhaps the most classic entry on this list, the film's legacy keeps the scares coming with a fan-favorite series of sequels and remakes. Against proper judgment, teen counselors meet their unfortunate fates as they try to get Camp Crystal Lake up and running again, despite the horrors that lurk (quite literally) beneath the surface. Mixing together a foreboding feeling in an isolated area, a memorable masked killer, and a double entendre of a final reveal, this movie really set the stage for success, inspiring future films to follow its formula.
Anna Dorl is a writer and journalist from Virginia. She's excited to put her minor in Film Studies to good use.