15 scariest summer horror movies of all-time

1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre(1974)

Directed by Tobe Hooper

When it comes to horror movies that use the summer heat to torture the characters and audience with its unbearable atmosphere and muggy weather, there’s really no film that does this with quite the rawness of Tobe Hooper’s horror masterpiece, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Here, more than anything else in the movie (including Leatherface himself), the main antagonist is the dreary summer weather that affected the cast and crew during filming and considering how this is a low-budget movie, resources were only so limited.

This made for a film experience that exploited the absolute worst parts of summer and paired them with a family of cannibals to create a simple, raw, and incredibly visceral horror film that refused to give the audience a sense of relief or a flashy aesthetic to make itself look more appealing. Make no mistake about it: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is an absolutely ugly movie, with a grainy cinematography to compliment the unbearable summer heat and killing spree that ensues.

It’s this ugliness that has made the movie stand the test of time 45 years later. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is an anti-summer movie in every way, despite its hot setting. There’s no beach parties in sight and no vacation homes to be found in the film. We just get a group of sweaty people being terrorized by a dainty-looking man in a strange mask wielding a bloody chainsaw. Nothing fancy about it, just pure raw horror in their faces.

This is a movie that makes an absolute farce of the summer, making the audience beg for a place with air-conditioning as a safe space from the terror that awaits them in Leatherface’s meat shop. It’s not the most enjoyable summer film, but it is arguably the most essential.

There you have it! Our look at the 15 scariest summer horror movies! Which summer horror movies do you consider the most terrifying and which summer horror movies were you surprised failed to make the cut?  Sound off below!