We’re officially out of winter and into spring, a time of flowers, allergies, and weird weather patterns. Add “horror movies” to that list—including tales that embrace seasonal pastimes and traditions, as well as nature’s fierce power. Here are eight to get you ready for renewal… or perhaps running for your life.
Annihilation (2018)
Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Civil War, 28 Years Later) directed and wrote this adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer’s award-winning sci-fi horror novel. It stars Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez, Oscar Isaac, and Benedict Wong as people variously affected by an alien phenomenon that turns a Florida wildlife preserve into something even more otherworldly and freaky. Your backyard garden may sprout some strange plants and lure odd animals occasionally, but it’ll never be as terrifying as the mutations lurking in “the Shimmer.”
April Fool’s Day (1986)
This classic ’80s slasher gathers a group of preppy college kids for a weekend retreat on a private island—where it’s all debaucherous fun and games until they start getting killed off, one by one. Or do they? Check the calendar, kids! Friday the 13th Part 2‘s Amy Steel proves her scream queen bona fides in a cast that also includes Valley Girl‘s Deborah Foreman.
Critters 2: The Main Course (1988)
If you’re looking for just the right creature feature to set the tone for Easter, this sequel directed by Mick Garris (Sleepwalkers) and co-written by Garris and David Twohy (The Chronicles of Riddick) is a solid, if splattery, choice. The people of Grover’s Bend are gearing up for the town’s annual egg hunt, blissfully unaware they’re not out from under the alien invasion that bedeviled the first film… especially since the tiny monsters left a pile of deceptively festive eggs behind, just waiting to hatch.
Future Foundation star Terrence Mann plays one of the alien bounty hunters sent to deal with the problem; future Orville star Scott Grimes returns from the first Critters to play a reluctantly heroic teen once again. And, yes, a guy dressed as the Easter bunny meets a gruesomely delightful end.
The Fog (1980)
John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis are better-known for their associations with a certain spooky holiday in the fall. However, horror fans will also recall that Antonio Bay, where The Fog takes place, was founded on April 21, 1880—and its centennial is a big event, especially for a ghostly group of shipwreck victims ready to unleash 100 years of pent-up vengeance against the descendants of the town’s founders.
The Happening (2008)
The Happening is no one’s favorite M. Night Shyamalan movie, but it’s still one of the more brutal eco-horror movies in recent memory. Fed up with the destructive ways of humankind, Earth’s plant life starts emitting a toxin that makes people urgently wish to die by suicide. It’s a scary idea on multiple levels and will make you side-eye even that seemingly harmless Monstera hanging out in your living room.
Nightmare Beach (1989)
The alternate title for this gleeful exploitation film directed by Umberto Lenzi—beloved by Italian horror connoisseurs for his contributions to the cannibal genre, including The Man From Deep River and Make Them Die Slowly—is “Welcome to Spring Break.” However, you’ll need more than SPF 50 and a high alcohol tolerance to survive this wild vacation, in which an evil motorcycle gang leader who died in the electric chair seemingly returns to cause more murderous mayhem. John Saxon plays the slippery local police chief, adding an extra sprinkle of B-movie cred to the proceedings.
Piranha 3D (2010)
More spring break mayhem awaits in this goofy yet extremely gory entry from Alexandre Aja (Crawl, The Hills Have Eyes remake), in which an earthquake opens a fissure beneath an Arizona lake, allowing a school of prehistoric piranhas to enter a body of water that’s already bracing for an invasion of drunken college kids.
Jerry O’Connell, riffing shamelessly on the sleazebag behind Girls Gone Wild, gets the movie’s most memorable line (“They took my penis!”), but the movie is propelled throughout by silly energy and a surprisingly robust cast, including Elisabeth Shue, Christopher Lloyd, Adam Scott, Ving Rhames, and Richard Dreyfuss (doing, of course, a Jaws homage).
The Wicker Man (1973)
The ultimate folk horror movie is also the ultimate May Day movie. The Wicker Man begins at the very end of April as an uptight cop from the mainland arrives on an isolated island, intent on finding a child who’s been reported missing. What he instead discovers, of course, is a community of hostile pagans who find his bumbling highly amusing—and have some specific reasons for wanting him to stick around.
Honorable mention: Midsommar (2019)
While Midsommar takes place closer to summer than spring, it’s still worth mentioning here—especially considering its memorable maypole scene and its crowning of the saddest May Queen that ever wore a dress made entirely of flowers.
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