Editor’s note: this list was originally published in July 2023. It has since been updated with new entries. How far does the dial have to move to take a holiday from festive to fucked up? At least since the events of “Jaws” hit Amity Island , Fourth of July celebrations have served as frightful fodder for satirists , who have used the summer holiday as an opportunity to lambast the all-too-obvious dark side to our country’s blood-spattered stars and stripes.
The best Fourth of July horror movies make use of both their seasonal setting and thorny subject matter. There’s something innately disturbing about taking a day that should be celebratory and re-packaging it in that twisted carnival aesthetic — dripping with oversaturated reds, whites, and blues. And exploring the birth of a country currently tearing itself in two (just look at the Supreme Court last week ) bestows an embarrassment of thematic riches onto the writers and directors willing to stew in its spirit.
Fourth of July horror movies have become a genre category in their own right because they offer opportunities to criticize the U.S. as it currently is, while simultaneously reflecting on the untold darkness of our history.
Not to mention, fireworks and crowds spell menacing horror movie magic. Toss in a zombified Uncle Sam, and you’ve got a slasher worth lighting sparklers. Roland Emmerich sicced aliens on the world in the aptly titled “Independence Day,” a sci-fi disaster movie starring Will Smi.
