Summerween 2024: It’s a good year to be a horror fan
With summer right around the corner, Halloween lovers can get ready to countdown to October with summer horror media.
Summer is the time of year many look forward to because of the warm sunny weather, outdoor festivals and a long break from school. However, Halloween lovers find themselves excited for the summer season, not for of those reasons, but because after summer comes fall, which leads to Halloween. Summer has become Halloween eve for us spooky season lovers, known as Summerween. And this year summer is jammed packed with horror throughout different media to keep us horror fans entertained until October.
Movies
This Summerween brings a large variety of horror movies from reboots, to continuing series and to brand new ones. From jump scare-inducing ones to body horror, and fear of the unknown. Lastly, action packed ones to psychological thrillers. There is a bit of everything for everyone this coming summer.
Immediately kicking off this Summerween, horror fans will be seeing the continuation of a modern horror series that has won the love of horror fans: “A Quiet Place.” Following the footsteps of its predecessors, “A Quiet Place: Day One” promises to be an anxiety driven movie. However, unlike its predecessors, it is the prologue of the series which will show fans how the invasion of “Death Angels” began, and the chaos is racketed before humanity figured out that the key to survival is to stay quiet. This movie promises to have fans fall off the edge of their seats. It is set in New York City, dialing up the survival difficulty for characters. This movie will be coming out in theatres June 28.
Horror fans will also be able to see the reboot of 1994 cult classic action-horror movie “The Crow,” based on the graphic novel by the same name, coming out August 23 in all theatres. This movie is full of bloody fights and body horror moments with a splash of urban goth aesthetic to it, truly embodying the theme of bloody vengeance through death.
As for new horror movies, one that has caught my attention has to be “Longlegs” due to how similar it is to the iconic and beloved horror movie “The Silence of the Lambs.” “Longlegs” is about an FBI agent trying to solve a serial killer case. As she goes down the rabbit hole she discovers disturbing things and personal connections. So far, the trailer promises artistic shots that will probably make this movie become social media’s new aesthetically pleasing film like “Love Witch,” “Scream” and other horror movies. This movie is due to come out July 12.
Another one is “Trap” by M. Night Shyamalan. This time it is the murderer that is trapped and hunted down by the government while being at a concert with his daughter. He is prevented from acting out to avoid getting caught by the law and his daughter, making it a tense phycological thriller to see if the main character breaks or not. As a nerd for physiological horror this is the one I’m the most excited for.
Video games
Not only are spooky lovers being gifted a horror-jampacked summer, but we are also being gifted many horror games! Here are ones that gamers have been talking about.
Similar to the movies, the summer video games will be seeing a game based on another media source, 1988’s “Killer Klowns From Outer Space,” coming out on June 4. So if you have Coulrophobia this is a game you might want to avoid, or maybe play since your character can defend themself from the clowns, unlike in other video games like “Slenderman” where you’re forced to run and hide to survive.
Speaking of games like “Slenderman,” The Chinese Room game developing company provides a twist into the genre in their new game “Still Wakes the Deep” coming out June 18. The game places players alone in a slowly falling apart oil rig during a heavy storm. However, not only do players need to survive the storm in a damaged oil rig, but also an unknown deity that lurks within the corridors.
However, out of all the horror and thriller games that are coming out, one of the biggest ones is celebrating its 10-year anniversary in August: “Five Nights at Freddy’s” (FNAF). Although creator Scott Cawthon has gifted fans many things like the long awaited FNAF movie, announcing the second movie will be released in December 2025, and announcing a new installment to the games franchise called “Into the Ball Pit,” fans can’t help but wonder what will come out during the big celebration. Especially now that Youtuber MatPat seems to be working alongside Cawthon as teased in MatPat’s retirement video. It is possible we’ll see the continuation to the story of the VR installment “Security Breach,” new book series or maybe a simple release date to “Into the Ball Pit.” But without a doubt, horror fans are excited to see what comes out in August.
Whether you’re a lover of Halloween or not, this summer will be one full of thrills for all who look for them. What Summerween activity are looking forward to or plan on doing? How scary is it?
Featured image illustrated by Cole Martin.
