7 Chilling Winter Horror Films to Beat the Summer Heat

Does anyone else feel like they’re melting right now? Now, personally, I’m a Texan and I’ll take the heat over the cold just about any day of the week, but even my thoughts turn to cooler weather when I get into my car and the temperature reads 108*.

With the baking heat of summer, it’s definitely time for a respite of sorts, and this morning my thoughts turned to chilling winter horror films filled with snow and howling winds and all the things that go with them.

Fortunately, there are a lot out there, and here are seven of my favorites to help you think cool thoughts.

#1 30 Days of Night

Click HERE to find out where to watch!

Josh Hartnett (Halloween H20), Melissa George (Mullholland Drive), and Danny Huston (American Horror Story) lead this film by director David Slade (Hard Candy) about an Alaskan town preparing for their annual extended period of darkness. This year is different, however. A gang of violent, bloodthirsty vampires has set their sights on the small town and as the sun sinks low in the sky, the slaughter begins.

This is a gripping, often terrifying and transgressive vampire film and you can practically feel the cold radiating from your screen as you watch.

#2 Misery

Click HERE to find out where to watch!

Poor Paul Sheldon (James Caan). It’s bad enough that he crashed his car in the middle of a blizzard, but then he’s rescued by his number one fan. Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) isn’t just a fan, however. She’s obsessed with his work and him, and she’ll do anything to keep Paul, now that she’s got him right where she wants him.

There’s a reason this movie has stood the test of time. The acting and writing is brilliant as is the source novel by Stephen King. Bates won a much-deserved Oscar for her work in the film. And of course, there’s that hobbling scene…

#3 The Thing

Click HERE to find out where to watch!

If we’re talking winter horror films, John Carpenter’s remake of The Thing from Another World was ill-received when it was first released but has become one of those classic films that became a defining point in genre history.

Set in the frozen wasteland of Antarctica, the film focuses on an outpost of men who find themselves in fight for their lives when they discover a shapeshifting alien able to take on the form of any life form that it consumes.

#4 Frozen

Click HERE to find out where to watch!

No, not the one with the singing snowman…

Adam Green (Hatchet) wrote and directed this chilling tale of a three people stranded on a chairlift high above the ground as a ski resort closes down for the night and the temperature steadily drops to dangerous lows.

This slow burn thriller stars Emma Bell (The Walking Dead), Shawn Ashmore (X-Men), and Kevin Zegers (Dawn of the Dead), and it’s definitely one that will turn you thoughts to cooler temperatures, and also hungry wolves.

#5 Krampus

Click HERE to find out where to watch!

Toni Collette (Hereditary) and Adam Scott (Little Evil) lead a brilliant cast in this Christmas-set horror film about a dysfunctional family who finds themselves in a battle for their lives against the biggest baddest anti-Santa in the world as Krampus descends upon their home.

The howling winds and blinding snows become a character all their own in this one. It’s a delightfully demented horror-comedy that is worth multiple viewings, especially on hot July afternoons.

#6 Dead Snow

Click HERE to find out where to watch!

College students on a ski trip versus Nazi zombies. That’s it. There’s really not much else to say except that it’s co-written and directed by Tommy Wirkola who also wrote and directed Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. It’s the kind of film that you either love or hate. Check it out and see which side you’re on!

#7 The Shining

Click HERE to find out where to watch!

Set in the scenic Overlook Hotel based on the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, the film focuses on Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) who takes a job as an off-season caretaker for the sprawling hotel and brings along his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and their son Danny (Danny Lloyd). What they don’t know is that the hotel is seriously haunted and their psychically gifted son is exactly what it craves.

It’s perhaps one of the most well-known winter horror films on this list, and for good reason.

Bonus: Let the Right One In

Click HERE to find out where to watch!

A lonely boy named Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) befriend what he believes to be the girl next door. Eli (Lina Leandersson) is much more than she appears to be, however, and she soon becomes a friend, companion, and an avenging angel for the boy.

*[This article is from our archives and is updated and reposted]