Here are Cinephile Corner’s 10 recommendations for movies like Summer of 84:
MaXXXine
MaXXXine has a handful of worthwhile moments, but the movie ultimately ricochets between two different sides of Ti West’s mind: the throwback B-movie auteur with a great taste for kills and the heady screenwriter with something to say about the industry he works in. It’s unfortunate that MaXXXine doesn’t strike that balance often, and it’s easy to tell when he’s switching from one gear to the next. Mia Goth reprises her scream queen role as the titular film star.
Scream 5
Scream 5 resurrects a franchise gone for far too long. Although not a perfect transition into the modern age, the newest Scream movie offers plenty of fun and camp that gels with the common core of this franchise’s ideas.
Barbarian
Zach Cregger‘s Barbarian is still refreshing and thrilling, and it’s easily one of my favorite theater experiences of 2022. Films try over and over again to use the schlocky marketing bit of audiences screaming in theaters only to be disappointing in actual terror when places in front of you – but Barbarian is genuinely jaw-dropping.
Five Nights at Freddy’s
The Five Nights at Freddy’s movie adaptation succumbs to the pitfalls of a poorly executed narrative, sidelining its potentially terrifying animatronic characters in favor of a tepid and uninspiring trauma story. Josh Hutcherson gives a commendable performance, but there’s not enough support around him to make this movie work.
Halloween
John Carpenter’s Halloween is one of those films that is so baked into horror DNA that it can be hard to look at it with fresh eyes, but even almost 50 years later it still works like gangbusters. You can trace nearly every slasher you love back to what Carpenter did here. The masked, wordless killer in Michael Myers. The suburban setting that looks safe until it is not. The calmly unraveling psychiatrist in Donald Pleasence’s Dr. Loomis. The smart, alert, deeply sympathetic final girl in Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode. All of that starts here, and very few of the imitators matched its patience, its clarity, or its eerie sense of watching something evil drift slowly toward you from across the street.
Weapons
Weapons opens with one of the most chilling hooks you’ll hear in any movie this year: at exactly 2:17 a.m., every child from Mrs. Gandy’s class woke up, walked downstairs, opened the front door, stepped into the dark… and never came back. It’s the kind of premise that immediately grabs you, the kind of logline that sells itself in a trailer and sticks in your head for days. Writer-director Zach Cregger, who burst onto the horror scene with 2022’s Barbarian, proves once again that he knows how to start a story with an irresistible, terrifying question.
I Saw the TV Glow
I Saw the TV Glow is one of the best movies of 2024, showcasing exactly what independent filmmaking can be when handled by the right people. A24 adds another riveting drama by a fascinating young auteur to their trophy case, and Jane Schoenbrun announces themselves as an important and singular filmmaker to look out for moving forward.
Talk to Me
Talk to Me is the latest elevated horror movie from A24, a studio that’s completely redefined and reimagined the state of the genre, introducing new ideas and themes into it over the past decade. Talk to Me attempts to do the same, pitting trauma and coping mechanisms with demonic forces to a scary degree.
Cobweb
Cobweb might be accused of adhering to some familiar horror tropes, but its commitment to its genre roots is what makes it stand out. The movie surpasses expectations with its tight narrative, commendable performances, and a commitment to delivering unadulterated horror.
The Strangers: Chapter 1
The Strangers: Chapter 1 is not all bad. I just really like these dirty, grimy home invasion thrillers and wish this experimented more with new scares and ideas. Perhaps it’ll age well with the releases of its subsequent chapters, but for right now, I’m rather lukewarm on the setup.
READ MORE: Summer of 84 (2018)
