The 5 Best Summer Camp Movies, From Fun Romps To Spooky Slashers

It’s summer and nostalgia is in full bloom for this 30-something-year-old.

I love being an adult and having adult money, but sometimes I miss the good old days where I didn’t have anything to worry about except swimming in a lake, laying in the sun, and some good old fashioned archery at a summer camp. As I clock in and clock out of my work day, I can’t help but be a little miffed that I miss out on so much sunshine during the day. To rectify this, I naturally drown myself in nostalgic movies. If you’re anything like me, keep reading this to find my five favorite summer camp movies that will give you all the good feelings that you feel like you’re missing out on.

The Parent Trap (1998)

I still eat Oreos and peanut butter to this day because of The Parent Trap. There are two versions of this film, but the 1998 version starring Lindsay Lohan is what I grew up with and love. The Parent Trap is all about getting to know yourself and bringing everyone together with love. The movie is about a set of twins who are complete and total strangers until they end up at the same summer camp together. The two hate each other at first, then eventually decide they must team up and switch places to get their parents back together. Only some of the film takes place at a summer camp, but it’s the perfect good vibe type of film I am always looking for.

Wet Hot American Summer (2001)

Wet Hot American Summer is a hilarious compilation film that pokes fun at almost all summer camp movies. With a cast like Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, and Janeane Garofalo, the movie is destined to be a hilarious hit. The movie is set on the last day of summer camp in 1981 and follows all the camp counselors as they try to get their last yayas out before they have to return to their real world outside of the wooden cabin walls. The satirical film will make you laugh out loud with every encounter.

Addams Family Values (1993)

Addams Family Values doesn’t entirely take place at summer camp, but the most defining scene from the film does. It’s when Wednesday Addams stars in a summer camp play about Thanksgiving and decides it’s her time to shine. As head of the Native Americans in the play, she delivers a beautiful monologue about the terrible Pilgrims and in turn, ends up roasting the camp counselors over a spit. Its menacing and hilarious and it’s the most Wednesday that Wednesday Addams has ever been.

But I’m A Cheerleader (1999)

But I’m A Cheerleader is an LGBTQ+ masterpiece covered in bubblegum pink and tongue-in-cheek puns and innuendos. Natasha Lyonne stars as Megan, a cheerleader who finds herself struggling to be attracted to her perfect quarterback boyfriend. Instead, she wants to frolic with the other cheerleaders and beautiful women of the world. Her parents send her off to a gay reformation camp where she is surrounded by other queer kids whose parents don’t want them to be gay. The whole film is hilarious and insane, but the ending is amazing and so are all of the visuals throughout. 

Friday The 13th (1980)

Okay, so maybe not quite the good vibes feelings that I mentioned earlier, but I can’t leave Friday The 13th off of the list. Friday The 13th is the epitome of summer camp films, even though it consists of the murder and downfall of all the camp counselors. Camp Crystal Lake is terrorized by a killer in Friday The 13th, and each camp counselor is picked off one by one in a revenge plot because a kid died in the lake while the camp counselors were too busy canoodling to notice. So, if you can stomach a little murder, Friday The 13th should be on your summer camp list.