10 Horror Movies to Watch This Fourth of July: From Jaws to Cape Fear
A list of summer-set slashers, creature features, and B-movies
by Alex Kaan 4 July 2026
Columbia Pictures
To mark 250 years of America’s independence, we’re counting down five horror films to watch alongside the fireworks, from Southern Gothic psychological thrillers (Cape Fear) to 90s slashers (I Know What You Did Last Summer) and zombie comedies (The Return of the Living Dead).
Jaws
Universal
Credited as the first summer blockbuster, Steven Spielberg’s creature feature has terrified audiences for over half a century. Unfolding in the days around the Fourth of July, Jaws follows a quaint New England seaside town plagued by a series of vicious shark attacks.
Cape Fear
Universal
With a new version starring Javier Bardem and Amy Adams currently streaming, Martin Scorsese previously remade the 1962 Southern Gothic psychological thriller about a deranged villain’s revenge on an all-American family. Scorsese’s hyper-stylised 1991 horror casts Robert De Niro as the antagonist and features a tense Fourth of July parade.
Mars Attacks!
Warner Bros.
If you’re less in the mood to celebrate America and more interested in seeing its institutions vaporised by a horde of big-headed martians, then Mars Attacks!, Tim Burton’s cult 1996 B-movie with an all-star cast including everyone from Jack Nicholson to Sarah Jessica Parker, is the anti-Fourth-of-July genre film for you.
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Columbia Pictures
Rushed into production after the success of Scream, the second Kevin Williamson-penned 90s teen horror film is a superlative slasher with a psychological edge and irresistible seaside atmosphere, following four friends stalked by a hook-wielding killer one year after they cover up a deadly car accident on July 4th.
The Purge: Election Year
Universal
The third film in James DeMonaco’s bloody social horror series, about an alternate America where all crime is legalised for one night a year, features a horde of masked villains including a murderous George Washington and Lady Liberty.
Stranger Things 3
Netflix
If you’re looking for bingeable horror rather than a movie over the Fourth of July weekend, then Stranger Things 3, the Netflix series’ 80s summer blockbuster riff featuring body-snatching monsters, evil Russians, and a mall-set Independence Day showdown, is a more than fitting choice.
The Return of the Living Dead
Orion Pictures
Taking place over less than 24 hours from July 3rd to 4th, 1984, the cult horror comedy from Alien screenwriter Dan O’Bannon follows a ragtag team of a warehouse owner, his two employees, a mortician, and teenage punks as they navigate a zombie attack. The film is credited with introducing the concept of zombies eating brains, specifically.
Final Destination 3
New Line Cinema
Considered the best of the franchise by many fans, this 2006 threequel follows a group of high schoolers stalked by a score-settling Grim Reaper after they get off a rollercoaster that ultimately derails. While not strictly celebrating Independence Day, the movie’s climax at their town’s Tricentennial celebration has all the necessary fireworks for some July 4th horror viewing.
The Bay
Roadside Attractions
Presented as a leaked reveal of a government cover-up, Barry Levinson’s found-footage horror follows a charming seaside town whose Fourth of July celebrations are disrupted by a mysterious parasitic outbreak.
Uncle Sam
Solomon International Pictures
A cheesy Independence Day slasher, this 1996 politically conscious B-movie from Maniac Cop director William Lustig sees a resurrected Gulf War veteran don an Uncle Sam costume and embark on a 4th of July killing spree, dispatching anyone he deems unpatriotic.