Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of things I like about summer. The slow sunny vibes. Not having to deal with snow. The sense of vacation and rest and time spent outdoors and pools and parties. Plus strawberries (my favourite fruit).
One thing I cannot stand about summer? The heat! My gosh, the heat! If the temperature stays between 20 and 25 degrees that’s pretty perfect. Over that, especially when it’s humid out? It’s miserable and sweaty and hard to sleep in or work out in.
OK, rant over. Why am I bringing this up? Well, because as much as there’s lots to love about summer, there is, in my opinion, an even better season following it. Fall.
*happy sigh* Ah fall, my favourite. Cool breezes, beautiful colours, you can still spend time outside without melting or freezing, pumpkin spice everything, delicious food in general. And, what may be best of all, HALLOWEEN! Yes, I am a Halloween fangirl. Have been my entire life. Horror and creepy things in general are my jam, not anything too extreme though, fun scary (though your mileage may vary on that), and Halloween is when we celebrate all of it. And after a long year of snow and rain and heat, we Halloween Heads are ready to embrace it. But we have a few more weeks to go and summer can still be fun.
But did you know there’s a compromise? A way to soak in the summer sun and still feed that need for scary season? If you haven’t been properly introduced to Summerween yet allow me to be the first to do so.
Anyone who watched the series Gravity Falls, a hilarious and creepy animated show about a pair of twins spending their summer in a strange town, will already be familiar with the idea. The story goes that the creators of the series really wanted to do a Halloween episode but were a little stuck since the show is set in summer. So they came up with Summerween, claiming that in Gravity Falls they love Halloween so much they celebrate it twice a year. There’s a lot of the same Halloween beats, including costumes and trick or treating and candy and horror movie marathons, but with some subtle changes like Jack O’ Melons, which are Jack O’ Lanterns carved from watermelons.
Horror and Halloween fans have since embraced the concept. It’s perfect for anyone who can’t wait for Halloween but wants to enjoy summer too. Some celebrate it on a specific date, usually either June 21st based on a guesstimate from a quick calendar shot on Gravity Falls, or July 31st so the date matches October 31st. But some celebrate any time during summer and/or just soak it all in over the whole season (like me).
And as much as you may think that summer is not a horror season (which is part of the fun;, mashing up elements that don’t normally go together), Summerween is not unprecedented. Summer and horror have a long history together. All the way back to the very first summer blockbuster film Jaws, to summer camp slashers like Friday the 13th and Sleepaway Camp to more modern takes like Us and Midsommar, summer can be a surprisingly creepy time. From deep, dark woods to isolated camping and vacation areas to large bodies of deep, dark water that hold heaven only knows what, there are a lot of things to give you the chills even in broad daylight. Sometimes especially in broad daylight.
To help get you in the seasonal spirit I’ve whipped up a list of summer horror items to check out this Summerween.
We have movies, books, a graphic novel; just so much to choose from. Here are a few I’d recommend for this year.
Jaws is celebrating it’s 50th anniversary this summer. I finally got the chance to see it this year (I know, I know, what was the wait?). After giving it a watch I can see why it’s been such a cultural touchstone for the last half a century. It’s exceptionally well done, building suspense (thanks to a mechanical shark that didn’t work most of the time on set) and delivering big action scenes, all with likeable characters and beachy but terrifying vibes. Though I would call it a mix of horror and action/adventure instead of a straight horror film, it definitely delivers the scares (that opening scene, wow!) and turns beach days into something to dread.
If you’d like something family-friendly try It’s Summerween! by Tami Salzano. This is the only item I could find in our collection that specifically mentions Summerween in the title (the only other item I could find that mentions Summerween at all is right here and it’s also delightful). And yes, it’s a board book. Don’t let that detract from how fun and adorable it is. In this book we have jack-o-lanterns, jack-o-melons, pine-o-lanterns (pineapple jack-o-lanterns), monsters having picnics, skeletons having a dance party, witches and black cats floating in the ocean and so much more! You and the kids can count along and see what this new time of year is all about. We also have a Summerween list for kids and a summer horror list for teens, for all the younger people in your lives.
Horror fans have lots of ways to turn other holidays or seasons into something filled with fear and fun. Stay tuned in the coming months for posts that will introduce you to Creepmas and Valloween. For now, enjoy the rest of your summer, however you do it, and get ready for the fall-themed chills and thrills that will soon follow.