10 Scorching Genre Movies for Summer's First Heat Wave
The official start of summer is a few weeks off, but try explaining the nuances of the seasonal calendar to that glowing ball of heat in the sky. With sticky, sweaty weather pulling into the station for the next several months, it’s time to fire up some similarly scorching streaming titles.
Sunshine
The year is 2057 (50 years after Sunshine hit theaters) and the sun is dying. As Earth threatens to collapse into a deep freeze, a group of astronauts (including Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Michelle Yeoh, Benedict Wong, Troy Garity, Cliff Curtis, and Shōgun’s Hiroyuki Shimozawa) hope to jump-start it with a specially engineered bomb. Things heat up, literally and plot-wise, as they approach their target and undertake an unexpected side mission, rescuing a thought-to-be-lost astronaut who’s spent way too much time too close to the sun. Rent or buy on Prime Video.
Firestarter
Of all the supernatural abilities to have, being able to ignite fire with a glare is up there with “most terrifying”—especially when that power is had by a young girl who’s still working on her self-control. Stream on Netflix.
Cujo
Like Firestarter, this 1983 release is another Stephen King adaptation that makes heat one of its horrors. (He also has quite a few stories that make you fear the cold, too.) Yes, the rabid dog is the primary antagonist, but the situation is made so much worse by the fact that the main characters have to take refuge in their car with all the windows rolled up. Being ripped apart by a massive canine is almost preferable to a slow, agonizing death by heat stroke. Stream on Max.
The Burning
Fast Times at Ridgemont High’s Brian Backer leads a cast of future famous faces (Holly Hunter, Jason Alexander, Fisher Stevens) in this classic 1981 slasher about a summer-camp caretaker who returns for revenge after being horribly burned in a prank gone wrong. Make-up legend Tom Savini did the special effects, which means they’re guaranteed to be gruesomely memorable. Stream free with ads on Tubi; stream on Prime Video.
Mad Max: Fury Road
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is still in theaters, but you can revisit what comes after with a special emphasis on the fact that one of the bad guy’s many sins is that he hoards water from the very, very desperately thirsty people who populate the Wasteland. Stream on Hulu.
Hereditary
Ari Aster’s 2018 debut imagines a family situation so fraught—decapitations, demon traditions, dollhouses—that when the one semi-normal member suddenly bursts into flames, you start to think spontaneous human combustion was maybe his best option. Stream on Max.
Predator 2
As an LAPD lieutenant caught up in what is clearly the weirdest case he’ll ever encounter, Danny Glover brings gravitas and gallons of sweat to this stupidly fun 1990 sequel set during a raging 1997 Los Angeles heatwave. Amid the grime of downtown, there’s a murder epidemic... and an invisible alien who leaves intricately awful crime scenes behind just might be to blame. Stream on Hulu.
The Hills Have Eyes
Wes Craven’s second feature is as distressing as it was back in 1977, following a suburban family (including Cujo’s Dee Wallace) who decide to take their RV on a shortcut through a stretch of rocky desert en route to Los Angeles. Imagine their surprise when they realize the area is home to a pack of opportunistic cannibals who are simply delighted about the intrusion. Rent or buy on Prime Video.
House of Wax
A few different versions of this tale exist—including the 2005 remake starring Paris Hilton—but the 1953 Vincent Price-starrer is the standout. It begins with a feud between turn-of-the-century wax-museum partners; one has artistic principles (Price’s sculptor character, naturally) while the other only sees dollar signs. A terrible fire breaks out and from there, a tale of revenge takes shape—involving bubbling vats of boiling-hot wax. Rent or buy on Prime Video.
The Core
Kind of an inverse Sunshine, this goofy 2003 sci-fi tale imagines that the Earth’s molten core has stopped spinning, a situation that requires a ragtag team of scientists and daredevils (Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Stanley Tucci, Delroy Lindo, Alfre Woodard, D.J. Qualls, Richard Jenkins, and more) to figure out how to save the planet ASAP. Drilling, lasers, nukes, a specially designed ship, a top-secret government project gone awry, some large-scale disaster scenes (RIP, Golden Gate Bridge), and literal “unobtainium” come together in this heat-seeking journey to the center of you-know-where. Rent or buy on Prime Video.
