Plan a cozy day indoors and watch a few of these Summerween movies and tv shows for kids and adults of all ages.
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Summer doesn’t have to be all sand and sun. If you’re craving a cozy day indoors, now is the perfect time for a semi-scary movie marathon. Turn down the air conditioner and make some snacks.
Below I put together a list of some really fun movies that have Halloween vibes, but in the summer. They’re a little scary, but not too much. There’s a little bit of dark fantasy, some magic, and overall kids having fun during a slightly unsupervised summer adventure.
To make it even more cozy, I recommend checking your local library to borrow the movies. No commercials is really a treat that streaming has all but made us forget.
What is summerween?
Summerween is the celebration of Halloween in the summer. The idea originated in an episode of Gravity Falls (season 1, episode 12). The town hosts a second Halloween in the summer with trick-or-treating and carving jack o’lantern watermelons on June 22.
Tweens and teens who have watched the show will love having a Summerween party or just celebrating all things spooky and fun in the summer. Whether you’re a Gravity Falls fan or not, there’s something so cozy about watching a bunch of Halloween movies in the middle of summer when it’s too hot to be outside.
Summerween vibes
I wanted to picked movies that have the same lighthearted mood as Gravity Falls. It’s fun for kids, but also entertaining for adults. If you’re looking for the same short cartoon format, look for Halloween episodes of your favorite Saturday morning cartoons, like Phineas and Ferb or Fairly Odd Parents.
A few cartoons that are just kind of spooky in general:
- Over the Garden Wall
- Beetlejuice (the animated series)
- The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy
- Danny Phantom
- Invader Zim
- Ahhh! Real Monsters
- Tales from the Cryptkeeper (the animated series)
Now on to the movie list!
Halloween movies for summer
I’ve organized this list by ratings. Overall, I wanted to keep the vibes not-really-scary, but that’s pretty subjective, and you know your family best. When in doubt, watch it yourself before or check a detailed rating site with spoilers like IMDB.
1. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
2005 | Rated G | 1 hr 25 min
This claymation film, based on the shorts, follows a British man and his dog as they start a pest control business. When they attempt to stop a rabbit from terrorizing the town gardens, zany things happen.
2. Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare
2010 | Not Rated | 1 hr 12 min
This is an animated film, similar to the tv series. The gang heads to a summer camp to be counselors, only to find it’s been shut down due to a ghost legend. As they investigate, more camp legends appear.
3. Goosebumps
2015 | Rated PG | 1 hr 43 min
A boy moves to a new town and meets his neighbor, the daughter of author RL Stine (played by Jack Black). When they accidentally unleash the monsters from his books, they must work to get them back in.
4. ParaNorman
2012 | Rated PG 1 hr 32 min
A boy who can talk to ghosts (including his late family members) inherits his family’s responsibility of protecting the town from a witch’s curse. When zombies are unleashed, he must overcome his fear and stop them.
5. Hotel Transylvania 3
2018 | Rated PG | 1 hr 37 minutes
The third film in an animated series about a family of vampires. Count Dracula and his family go on a monster-friendly cruise, only to discover it’s been taken over by his nemesis, Van Helsing.
6. Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken
2023 | Rated PG | 1 hr 31 min
A teen girl learns that she’s descended from a legendary sea monster and is destined to inherit the throne from her grandma. Ruby is shy, but befriends a new girl who is a mermaid. Together they work to embrace who they are and end their families’ ocean rivalry.
7. James and the Giant Peach
1996 | PG | 1 hr 19 min
Based on the book by Roald Dahl, this Tim Burton film is a mix of live action and stop motion. Orphan boy James befriends a group of bugs who travel inside a peach to New York City. There they spend the summer going on wild adventures.
8. Return to Oz
1985 | Rated PG | 1 hr 53 min
This is a live-action dark fantasy that fits with other iconic 80s films of the same genre. I haven’t watched it in many years, but I remember it being quite spooky. Dorothy is called back to Oz (and must escape a sanitarium) to save the kingdom from an evil king. There she teams up with a new cast of characters including Jack Pumpkinhead.
9. Jaws
1975 | Rated PG | 2 hrs 4 min
This iconic horror movie is mostly suspense and the music ramps up the tension. When a town’s July 4th beach celebration is interrupted by a giant shark, 3 men team up to hunt it down.
10. Addams Family Values
1993 | Rated PG-13 | 1 hr 34 min
This is the second film in the 90s live-action series and has the overall dark humor the franchise is known for. Morticia and Gomez are adjusting to a new baby. Uncle Fester falls for a serial killer who immediately starts trying to off him for his fortune. And Wednesday and Pugsley are off to summer camp, where they are at odds with the other kids.
11. Tremors
1990 | Rated PG-13 | 1 hr 36 min
In a small desert town, Kevin Bacon must rescue a group of survivors from giant worm-like monsters with fangs that swim under the sand.
12. Monster Summer
2024 | Rated PG-13 | 1 hr 37 min
A group of kids on bikes are ready for a summer of fun until something weird happens in their small town. Noah wants to write for his town newspaper. When kids suddenly start getting attacked by something that leaves them acting strange, he believes a new guest at his mom’s B&B is a witch. Noah teams up with a retired police detective (Mel Gibson) to investigate and convince his friends, mom, and neighbors to take him seriously.
13. Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead
1991 | Rated PG-13 | 1 hr 42 min
When their mom goes out of town, 5 siblings are left with an older (and mean) babysitter. She promptly dies, leaving them to run wild.
Need more ideas? See all the Summerween posts. And if you found this post helpful, be sure to pin it for later or share it with your friends!
What’s next? Try these other fun and creative ideas on One Mama’s Daily Drama:
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