It's Summer Camp Slasher Season, Baby!

Ah, the summer camp slasher. School’s out, the sun is shining, raging teen hormones fill the air - and there's a serial killer afoot. THAT'S WHAT SUMMER'S ALL ABOUT FOLKS. With the release of Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma fast approaching, I wanted to share some notable summer camp slashers with you. Because what better way to celebrate Summerween than with teens getting slaughtered, eh?

Friday the 13th (1980)

I know - florals for Spring/Friday the 13th in a slasher list - groundbreaking. Widely considered the first summer camp slasher movie, Friday the 13th without a doubt codified the subgenre we all now know and love. After the success of Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th producer and director Sean Cunningham put out an ad in Variety in 1979 to sell the film while it was still being written - describing it to funders as ‘the most terrifying film ever made!’ It went on to become the first independent slasher film to be acquired by a major motion picture studio, and upon release, the fifteenth highest-grossing film of 1980. Since then, it has birthed 12 films (including a cross-over with pal Freddy K), 2 TV series (including 1 upcoming), novels, comic books and video games. But more than being one of horror’s most enduring and successful horror franchises, Jason and his ma firmed up rules that now define the subgenre, and inspired a wave of summer camp slashers that became a staple of 1980's horror.

The Burning (1981)

The Burning was actually already in pre-production before Friday the 13th was released, but no studio would agree to finance it until after the latter’s success. It was the first feature film written and produced by Miramax - the production company founded by the Weinstein brothers. Whilst I am fully aware of the need to watch a film through the lens of the time it was released, I personally find it hard to form a positive opinion of The Burning given that the rife sexual harassment features more than the killer. But personal feelings aside, it is regardless a foundational entry in the summer camp slasher category. The film was inspired by the Staten Island urban legend of the ‘Cropsey’ maniac, which has since been explored in 2009 documentary of the same name, after the legend took a very real and very dark true crime turn.

Sleepaway Camp (1983)

The first entry in the Sleepaway Camp film series, it follows cousins Angela and Ricky as they visit Camp Arawak, where campers and staff begin dying in increasingly violent ways. Since its release in 1983, it has garnered a cult following and spawned a five-film series, which can majorly be attributed to the twist ending that is somewhat legendary in horror. What may seem like a standard 80’s slasher reaches a conclusion that left a major mark on the genre. Top tip for enjoying the twist: don’t play a drinking game for your first time watch, as rules like drink every time ‘someone dies’ or ‘someone wears a shirt 3 sizes too small’ mean you probably won’t make it to the final 30 minutes - or you won’t remember making it anyway. I wasted the good surprise on drunk me :( 

The Final Girls (2015)

A meta horror-comedy that is both a tribute to the summer camp slasher and an exploration of grief - oh yes, she is layered. It follows Max as she mourns the death of her Mother, a scream queen best known for starring in the 1980s hit ‘Camp Bloodbath.’ When Max and her friends attend a special screening on the anniversary of her Mother’s death, they find themselves transported through the screen and into the film itself. To survive Camp Bloodbath, they need to use their knowledge of horror tropes to fight the masked killer and make their way back home. Given what makes a summer camp slasher is so solidly defined, this is a super fun spin that leans into those entrenched rules and stays true to the subgenre, while standing out in its own right.

American Horror Story: 1984 (2019)

The ninth season of the horror anthology series, it follows 5 friends escaping LA to work as counselors at Camp Redwood, where they are terrorised by asylum patient Mr Jingles, among others. It celebrates the classic summer camp slasher tropes, with an added sprinkling of the supernatural, so it’s a bad day to be an ambiguously aged hot person with loose morals. The result is a super fun, extra-camp AHS season that, with the benefit of hindsight, leans heavily into the best part of 80’s slashers - clichés, long socks and tiny shorts - and leaves the more sketchy elements in the past. 

Fear Street Part Two: 1978 (2021)

The second installment in the Fear Street Trilogy, based on R.L Stine’s book series of the same name. Set in the Summer of 1978, it follows a group of teens visiting Camp Nightwing, where a fellow camper goes on a killing spree connected to the dark past of Shadyside town. It forms part of the overarching narrative told by the 3 movies, but each is set in a different time period and pays homage to a different horror subgenre. Anything Father Goosebumps is attached to I will defend to the death, but love for R.L Stine aside, Fear Street: 1978 is a clear love letter to the summer camp slasher, and one of the best modern entries to the subgenre.

What’s your favourite summer camp slasher? Are you sick of reading the words summer camp slasher??? Lucky for you, the list is over - and hopefully it has given you some summer camp slasher (lol) inspiration to keep you going until the release of Jane Schoenbrun’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma on 21/08/2026. While not a textbook summer camp slasher (last one), it is rooted in the conventions and mythology of the subgenre, with a dreamy meta-horror, arthouse twist - and I for one can't WAIT. Catch ya at the movies - and don't forget the tiny shorts.