The Top 9 Streaming Recommendations for Netflix’s “Killer Summer”
Netflix has gathered its horror content into a single hub. These are the best movies and shows to pick from their collection.
Netflix recently added a section titled “Have a Killer Summer.” It’s basically a collection of a bunch of the movies and shows they’re currently streaming, divided into various categories. The tagline for the promotion is this:
Kick off the sand and conjure a spooky summer ritual to summon your favorite scary movies and shows.
Netflix’s “Have a Killer Summer”
Each category within the “Killer Summer” section is themed, so I thought I’d take a look at how they’re curating their own content by examining the categories and giving a recommendation for what to watch first within each list.
I will say, I’m a little surprised that Netflix didn’t go bigger with new horror uploads this month if they were planning on doing a promotion like this. Their horror/thriller additions in July aren’t bad, there just aren’t very many of them. But anyway, let’s get to the recommendations. Each section below is titled with the category as it’s seen within Netflix’s “Have a Killer Summer” section.
Bone-Chilling Thrills Colder than the AC
I’m not exactly sure what they mean with this category. The movies and shows listed within it are quite varied. There are slashers, zombies, ghosts, AI horror, and pretty much everything across the spectrum of what Netflix offers. My pick in this section is Ziam. There are better movies in the category (like Jaws, Barbarian, Talk to Me, Us, etc.), but I bet lots of people haven’t seen Ziam yet. It’s a zombie movie about a Muay Thai fighter battling his way up through a multi-story building to save his girlfriend. I wrote about it the other day, and I ended up liking it as a fun action-horror diversion.
Teen Dreams Turn into Nightmares
This category is for teen horror, or movies and shows with teens in prominent roles (which isn’t always the same as “teen horror”). There are also a few anime shows in here. This is a very good section, and I’d recommend the majority of its titles. For this list though, I’m recommending All of Us Are Dead. I know many people have seen this South Korean high-school zombie series already, but it’s been so long since its release that it deserves a re-watch. I think season two is still another year away, but now’s as good a time as any to revisit this fun series.
Freak Out with Your Phobias
This category is self-explanatory. It’s full of movies and shows focusing on things that many of people have phobias about. Sharks, airplanes, clowns, hospitals, shipping containers floating in the open sea. Those sorts of things. From here, I recommend His House. It’s a movie about refugees from South Sudan who are placed in a rundown house in England. As they struggle with coming to terms with their new home, they’re also haunted by their past.
Kick Off a Backyard Creature Feature
This is another clearly-defined category. It’s all about monster movies. The selection isn’t as deep as other categories, but the choice here would be easy even if there were many more titles to choose from. For a creature feature, I recommend Godzilla Minus One. Netflix is streaming both the color and black & white version, so go with Godzilla Minus One Minus Color.
Cream of the Horror Crop
I’m guessing this category includes a few of the most popular horror movies and shows on Netflix. Series like Midnight Mass, Yellowjackets, and Black Mirror are in this category, but my recommendation is Marianne. This French series is about a horror author who travels back to her hometown and discovers that an evil presence from her novels is real. Marianne might be the scariest show streaming on Netflix.
Witch, Please
This category highlights witches. I’ll be honest; I haven’t seen everything in this category. But from what I have seen, The Witcher is my favorite of the bunch. I’m not sure how much I’m going to enjoy the next season, but the first three seasons are great. Especially the first.
You’ll Die from Laughter in this Heat
Horror comedies make up this category. Netflix picked some good ones like The Dead Don’t Die (2019), Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead (the movie and the anime series), and The Babysitter (2017). But my recommendation is easy: Dead Talents Society (2024). It was released on Netflix earlier this year, and it is currently my number two favorite horror movie of the year. It’s about a ghost who has to get good at haunting people, otherwise she’s at risk of disappearing forever. It’s a fantastic movie that is funny and heartfelt, and more people need to see it.
Keep Summer Scary, Ditch the Gore
This category is about horror movies and shows with limited amounts of blood. It’s predominantly ghostly horror, but there are monsters and tech-horror too. I’m going to go classic with this pick. Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963) is my recommendation in this category. It’s leaving Netflix on July 31st, so if you want to watch it you don’t have much time left.
Ice-Cold Killers, True Crime Chillers
This category is true crime, both documentaries and narrative films/shows based on true-crime cases. My recommendation is Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer. The 3-episode documentary series is about an amateur investigation that began as a hunt for someone who posted videos of animal cruelty. The series was very well received, winning a Primetime Emmy in 2020 for Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Program.
