With summer almost here and a new Fear Street coming to Netflix in late May, we've grown nostalgic for some of the older teen slasher movies. Sure, there are plenty of classics like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, but what about the lesser-known hits from the early 2000s and even the 1980s?
The "summerween" season always puts me in the mood to watch a slasher movie and you really can't go wrong with any of the films we've included on the list below, along with places you can watch them if they're easily available online.
House of Wax (2005)
Best known as the movie where Paris Hilton gets killed with a metal pole through her head, House of Wax has garnered something of a cult following in the decades since its release. It features a lot of actors who were quite famous with teenagers in the early 2000s, like Supernatural star Jared Padalecki, One Tree Hill's Chad Michael Murray, and Hilton.
I think part of the charm of this movie is the era when it came out was steeped in tabloid and celebrity culture. Hilton was a big draw at the time and there were a lot of rumors about things that allegedly happened behind-the-scenes. But despite all of that, House of Wax holds up as a solid remake (of the 1953 film) and an entertaining 2000s slasher that was very much a product of its time. The scene where Wade is encased in hot wax is forever imprinted in my brain.
On digital and demand
The Final Girls (2015)
Not to be confused with Abigail Breslin's Final Girl, which was also released in 2015, The Final Girls is a delightful horror-comedy with a meta twist. Malin Ã…kerman plays a former scream queen who dies in a tragic accident. Years later, her daughter, Max (Taissa Farmiga) is invited to a screening of her mom's most famous movie, a 1986 slasher called Camp Bloodbath.
At the screening, Max and her friends are somehow transported into the world of Camp Bloodbath and must survive a deadly killer with some assistance from Max's mother and the other characters from the film. The Final Girls definitely started a trend as there have been several meta time-traveling slasher movies since it came out, including Totally Killer, Time Cut, and Happy Death Day.
Streaming on Roku
Cherry Falls (2000)
Despite not having a theatrical release and instead going straight to the USA Network, Cherry Falls has managed to find a decent fandom primarily due to starring beloved actress Brittany Murphy, who tragically passed away in 2009.
A menacing serial killer terrorizes the residents of a small town in Virginia while seeking teenage victims who are still virgins, regardless of gender. When the sheriff's own daughter (Murphy) is targeted as a possible victim, the cop becomes determined to stop the killer no matter what.
Freaky (2020)
Kathryn Newton has more than secured her crown as a modern-day scream queen between movies like this one, Lisa Frankenstein, Abigail, Paranormal Activity 4, and the upcoming Ready or Not: Here I Come. In Freaky, she co-stars with Vince Vaughn in a twisted yet hilarious take on the typical body-swapping story as seen in films like Disney's Freaky Friday.
Instead of a mom and daughter switching lives, a teenage girl is swapped into a male serial killer's body, leading to the "Blissfield Butcher" getting all new killing grounds in a high school while poor young Millie tries to find a way back to her body before the Butcher murders all of her friends.
Streaming on Amazon
Cheerleader Camp (1988)
If you're in search of a silly, cheesy '80s slasher then look no further than Cheerleader Camp. As you might have guessed by the film's title, it's kind of like the superior version of Bring It On: Cheer or Die, as the kills are more brutal and the ending twist winds up being quite dark.
It's not the best slasher, but it is a great deal of fun and features many classic slasher movie tropes (for better or worse). The downside is that it's not easy to find a copy of this movie anymore, but you might be able to find a physical version.