It’s been said that the world is divided into two types of people: Those who went to overnight summer camp as kids, and those who are incomplete. Ask a “camp kid” about their camp experiences sometime, and you will (most of the time) be treated to a long, halcyon barrage of pleasant memories about friendship, togetherness, breaking rules, sexual awakening, and ropes courses. There is something ineffably satisfying about the camp experience that non-camp people will never fully grasp.
Unless, that is, your camp experience was awful and difficult and awkward and painful and terrible. There are also those kids who got to go to summer camp, but met with nothing but hardship and adversity. They were teased, targeted, and picked on by other kids. They found the outdoors to be dirty and sweaty and gross. They found physical activities like hiking and swimming to be unpleasant.
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There is an entire genre of films devoted entirely to summer camp, a genre that saw its heyday in the 1980s, but extends into history. And within that genre, filmmakers have been careful to cover the ambivalence described above. If you loved camp, there are plenty of films that celebrate the experience. If you hated camp, there are movie summer camps populated by some of the most persistent serial killers in movie history.
Either way, the films can be great. Crave has seen plenty of summer camp films, and we have come up with the following list of excellent movies to watch while you pack and while your mom painstakingly sews little nametag on the inside of each pair of underpants you own.
The 10 Best Summer Camp Movies Ever
Top Image: Paramount
Witney Seibold is a contributor to the CraveOnline Film Channel, and the co-host of The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon. He also contributes to Legion of Leia and to Blumhouse. You can follow him on “The Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
The 10 Best Summer Camp Movies Ever
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The Parent Trap (1961)
It's Hayley Mills and Hayley Mills! This 1961 live-action Disney classic teams up two long lost twin sisters to act as matchmakers for their divorced parents. Shenanigans, naturally, ensue.
Image: Disney
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Bless the Beasts and Children (1971)
In this relatively obscure 1970s up-with-youth flick, a group of six overnight-camping teenagers - outcasts all - find themselves trying to save a herd of bison from hunters.
Image: Columbia
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Meatballs (1979)
Perhaps the primary exemplar for all summer camp movies, this 1979 Ivan Reitman comedy follows a slovenly Bill Murray in his attempts to guide a young camper toward romance and confidence. There is belching.
Image: Paramount
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Little Darlings (1980)
No adolescent straight boy was able to see Little Darlings and not develop a crush on the teenage Tatum O'Neal and/or Kristy McNichol, who play girls competing to lose their viriginities at summer camp.
Image: Paramount
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Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
Easily the best of the Friday the 13th series, and the first to feature Jason as the killer, Part 2 follows the summer camp counselors and focuses on the iconic campfire story elements of the film series.
Image: Paramount
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Sleepaway Camp (1983)
In the wake of Friday the 13th, a long series of camp-set slashers started, and the best of the lot was this wild, sexually ambiguous tale of young kids trying to survive both camp and a serial killer.
Image: United Film Distribution Company
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Addams Family Values (1993)
In the hit sequel to The Addams Family, we find the young (and evil) Wednesday Addams trying to fit in - and ultimately destroying - a bland summer camp. And here's the thing: we're with her all the way.
Image: Paramount
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Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
Most of the cast of MTV's The State gathered to make this broad slapstick spoof of films like Meatballs. It matches the objects of its satire, and then some.
Image: USA Films
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Jesus Camp (2006)
In this fascinating documentary, outsiders are allowed a glimpse into summer camps for Evangelical Christian children, where they are aggressively instructed in the finer points of proselytizing.
Image: Magnolia Films
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Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
Wes Anderson hit his stride with his 2012 film about two 12-year-olds who flee the adult world and use their summer camp skills to live in the woods, where their romance will be pure and beautiful and quirky.
Image: Focus Features
