30 Most Exciting Movies to Watch This Summer
Welcome to The Best Summer Ever , your guide to making the most of the sunny season. Whether your idea of the perfect summer is one of epic adventure or a blissful effort to do as little as possible, we’ve got you covered. Because the best summers don’t just happen—they have to be made to happen.
Records are made to be broken, of course, so it’s perhaps no surprise that the summer of 2023 was the hottest on record globally (or at least in the last 2,000 years). And you probably won’t be surprised to learn that 2024 has topped that (just a little, but still). 2025 already had one of the hottest springs on record in the continental United States, and there are high expectations that the coming summer will be at least the second-hottest ever recorded . Hooray?
In that spirit, it might be time to get out of the heat for a couple of hours (if you’re lucky enough to have air conditioning that runs all the time) and watch a movie or two. It’s often said that hot drinks can cool you down on hot days, so it stands to reason (I suppose?) that a hot, sweaty movie set in a sweltering climate might be just the ticket. If not, bookmark this and come back when it gets cold—these movies might warm you up as easily as they cool you down.
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Location: Brooklyn, New York.
The heat in Spike Lee’s masterpiece Do the Right Thing isn’t just a fluke: It’s the trigger for an explosion, the factor that causes simmering racial tensions in a Brooklyn neighborhood (mostly between black residents and the Italian-American owners of a local pizza shop) to boil over one particularly muggy summer day. Cinematographer Ernest Dickerson created a color scheme for the film that emphasizes reds and oranges, while the film as a whole includes a memorable montage involving an open fire hydrant and an even more memorable moment involving Mookie (Spike Lee), Tina (Rosie Perez), and some rapidly melting ice cubes. You can stream Do the Right Thing on Netflix or rent it on Prime Video .
Love Lies Bleeds (2024)
Setting: New Mexico, 1989.
Muscular, fierce, and uncompromising , Love Lies and Bleeds star Kristen Stewart plays small-town gym manager Lou; she’s the daughter of a local crime boss (Ed Harris) who has a sister (Jena Malone) who suffers abuse at the hands of her deadbeat husband (Dave Franco). All of this is quietly tolerated until bodybuilder Jackie (Katie O’Brien) comes to town. She’s pumped up and ready for action, falling hard for Lou before the two get caught up in an act of violence that sends everything spiraling toward a truly wild final act. You can practically smell the dirt and sweat here, and while the film clearly isn’t set in the summer ( it was filmed in the dead of summer in New Mexico), it’s as summery out West as you can get. You can stream Love Lies and Bleeds on Max or rent it on Prime Video .
Stray Dog (1949)
Setting: Tokyo during a heat wave.
This essential noir from Akira Kurosawa finds Toshiro Mifune as Murakami, a rookie homicide detective who loses his gun on his first day. The hunt for the gun (in many ways a precursor to our modern police procedurals) leads him deep into Tokyo’s criminal underworld, as well as into a reluctant partnership with veteran detective Sato (Takashi Shimura). There’s a real heat wave in Tokyo, but the film is also drenched in post-war horror—the sweat that drenches our protagonists in this daytime noir has as much to do with the unreasonably high temperatures as it does with the sense of a society approaching its breaking point. You can stream Stray Dog on The Criterion Channel .
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Setting: North Central Florida.
Based on the true story of ex-con Donn Pierce, Cool Hand Luke tells the story of Luke, a Korean veteran sentenced to two years in prison for relatively minor drunken pranks. With brutal camp guards and merciless fellow inmates (led by George Kennedy’s Dragline Slidell), the film features nearly two full hours of hard labor in the blazing Florida sun. The film’s most memorable heat-related moment, however, concerns the heat indirectly: Luke impresses his fellow inmates by winning a bet that he can eat 50 hard-boiled eggs in one hour. You can rent Cool Hand Luke on Prime Video .
Predator (1987)
Setting: An unnamed tropical forest in South America.
Shot mostly in Mexico, Predator features a group of beefy action stars (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura, etc.) battling an invisible hunter deep in some tropical forest. You know it’s hot because of the glistening biceps, and you can assume it gets even hotter as the film goes on, as Arnold’s clothes shed pieces throughout the film until it gets so hot that by the film’s final act, there’s nothing left on him but a thin layer of dirt. You can stream Predator on Hulu or rent it on Prime Video .
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
The setting is the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range in northwestern Mexico.
The sweat, dirt, and slush of John Huston’s film aren’t just scenery: They’re like a glimpse into the soul of Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart), one of American cinema’s most believably greedy characters. Dobbs and a small group head into the mountains to hunt for treasure, only to find themselves turning on each other in a dark spiral of greed. At least it’s dry heat. You can rent The Treasure of the Sierra Madre on Prime Video .
Rear Window (1954)
Setting: Third floor apartment in Greenwich Village with a view
It’s a hot day in Greenwich Village, and the neighbors are struggling to stay cool. Not so much for Jeff Jefferies, a photojournalist recovering from a broken leg who’s more interested in watching the antics of his (often scantily clad) neighbors than his incredibly hot girlfriend, Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly). As the weather heats up, so do tempers and passions — unsurprisingly, given that we’re in a Hitchcock movie — and a murder occurs, which a largely helpless Jefferies witnesses; he’s forced to rely on his resourceful girlfriend and a sassy nurse (played by the great Thelma Ritter) to figure out what really happened, and hope the killer doesn’t notice the guy with the binoculars across the yard. You can rent Rear Window on Prime Video .
In the Heights (2021)
Setting: Washington Heights, New York.
A phenomenal, wildly underrated musical that follows several members of the largely Dominican-American community (at least in the film) in Washington Heights during a summer construction project on the hottest day of the year. The film’s central number, “Carnaval del Barrio,” brings together most of the film’s characters and features Daniela (Daphne Rubin-Vega) encouraging her community to celebrate rather than mope. After all, she sings, “Since when are Latinos afraid of the heat?” You can rent In the Heights on Prime Video .
Beautiful Work (1999)
Place of action: Republic of Djibouti.
Claire Denis’s gorgeous, hypnotic poem follows the men of the French Foreign Legion in Djibouti, where a triangle of obsession and hatred develops between Adjudant-Chief Galou (Denis Lavant), new recruit Gilles Saintan (Grégoire Colin), and the commandant they both admire. Emotions run high in the summer heat of the Horn of Africa. You can stream Beau Travail on Max and The Criterion Channel, or rent it on Prime Video .
Body Heat (1981)
Setting: South Florida.
One of the cornerstones of the entire erotic thriller genre, Lawrence Kasdan’s appropriately titled Body Heat made an instant superstar out of Kathleen Turner, who plays neo-noir femme fatale Mattie Walker. She ropes in tiny lawyer Ned Racine (William Hurt) into a plot to kill her wealthy husband by making him think, quite naturally, that it was his idea. Between the sunny landscape and the various intertwined bodies, everyone is sweating pretty much the entire time. You can stream Body Heat on The Criterion Channel or rent it on Prime Video.
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Setting: Maycomb, Alabama.
The fictional Maycomb, Alabama, was based on Harper Lee’s real-life hometown of Monroeville in that state, where summer temperatures could reach somewhere around 90 degrees (of course, this was before climate change really took hold). It was also an era when white men of all walks of life — like Gregory Peck’s Atticus Finch — wore three-piece suits as a matter of course. The film doesn’t go that far visually, but the sweltering heat of a town consumed by its own racial violence makes you feel like Atticus, Tom Robinson, and everyone else in that stuffy courtroom are going to be sweating through their trial and everything they’re wearing. You can rent To Kill a Mockingbird on Prime Video .
The Contenders (2024)
Furnishings: Various tennis courts over the years; also beds
Luca Guadagnino ( Call Me by Your Name ) gave us a sexy bisexual romantic tennis drama from 2024, and we’re all better for it. Zendaya plays a former professional tennis player turned coach who gets caught in a love triangle with her champion husband (Mike Feist) and her loser boyfriend (Josh O’Connor). The chemistry between the three is impressive, with jealousy, rivalry, passion, and obsession all on display — and it’s not just the intense tennis matches that make everyone sweat. You can stream Challengers on MGM+ and Prime Video .
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Setting: The fictional town of Newt, Muerto County, Texas.
Horror can run cool, as in John Carpenter’s arctic The Thing , but it often runs hot. In Tobe Hooper’s unintentional franchise opener, a group of five young travelers run out of gas in the most unlikely of places: But who knew Leatherface lived there? The heat of a Texas summer is palpable here, heightening the general sleaziness of a filthy house full of insects attracted to rotting flesh. And while it’s less gratuitous here than in later slashers, it also allows our protagonists, especially the women, to flee the killer while wearing slightly less than they might otherwise. You can stream The Texas Chainsaw Massacre on Peacock and Prime Video.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
Setting : Mississippi Delta
It’s hard to watch almost any Tennessee Williams play or adaptation without finding yourself craving a perfectly made mint julep or a giant glass of sweet iced tea. The poster for this Maggie Pollitt classic features Elizabeth Taylor sprawled on a bed in a pose that’s metaphorically hot, sure, but with actual flames rising from her in a thematic, if not entirely necessary, artistic flourish. The film, largely concerned with Maggie’s turbulent marriage to Paul Newman’s Brick, often finds its cast glistening in the summer heat, its setting a crumbling plantation house. You can rent Cat on a Hot Tin Roof on Prime Video.
A Time to Kill (1996)
Location : Canton, Mississippi
Earlier legal dramas (like To Kill a Mockingbird ) might have implied heat, but this John Grisham adaptation takes it a step further. Revolving around the defense of a black father (Samuel L. Jackson) who murdered white men who attacked his daughter, the film shows that almost everyone is sweating all the time. It’s probably not just the heat. You can grab A Time to Kill on Prime Video.
The Sorcerer (1977)
Setting : The fictional village of Porvenir, somewhere in South America.
In this unfairly forgotten William Friedkin film, Roy Scheider plays one of four men from different parts of the world (he’s American) who find themselves in Porvenir, a fictional and remote village somewhere in South America. You see, some men are needed to transport old and poorly stored dynamite 218 miles in a ramshackle car. Did you know that nitroglycerin literally sweats? That’s something these guys quickly learn. Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1953 film The Wages of Fear gets its suspense from a similar setup. You can rent The Sorcerer on Prime Video.
And Your Mother Too (2001)
Setting : Traveling by road through southern Mexico to Chiapas.
In Alfonso Cuarón’s seminal coming-of-age film, a pair of teens (Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal) embark on a road trip with an older woman (Maribel Verdú) who is facing major upheavals in her life. Jealousy, expectations, and sexual tension (both expected and unexpected) threaten the relationship between the three as they head to a heavenly and isolated beach with high emotional stakes. What begins as a trip to the beach becomes something much more meaningful. You can stream Y tu mamá también on Netflix and Hulu , or rent it on Prime Video .
Call Me by Your Name (2017)
Place of action : Northern Italy.
In the summer of 1983 in northern Italy, archaeologist Elio Perlman’s (Timothée Chalamet) father invites graduate student Oliver (Armie Hammer) to stay with his family for the summer. While everything seems great at first, it’s not long before the sweating really starts. You can rent Call Me by Your Name on Prime Video.
Dune (2021)
The setting is the desert planet Arrakis.
You won’t find much sweat in Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel — they can’t waste water, you see. Timothée Chalamet plays Paul Atreides, heir to the duchy of the desert planet Arrakis (rich in spice, extremely poor in water) at a time when rival factions and the native Fremen have other ideas. You can stream Dune on Max or rent it on Prime Video.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)
Location : Jaipur, India.
Here, one of those great casts (Judi Dench, Celia Imrie, Bill Nighy, Ronald Pickup, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, and Penelope Wilton) heads to sunny Jaipur, India, to check into the hotel of the title — one that has seen better days, despite the hype. Luckily, the manager (Dev Patel) is genuinely keen to make the place a home for the British guests, all of whom have suffered from dramatically reduced circumstances. Fortunately, they all discover that Jaipur and their new community have much more to offer than the desperate retirement plan they were previously considering. You can stream The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel on Hulu or rent it on Prime Video.
Cruise (1980)
Setting : New York’s leather scene, circa 1980.
With no plot, in the style of the best Italian gialli, William Friedkin and company have crafted this sweaty, horny, and wildly provocative thriller, with some help from a leather-clad Al Pacino. He plays Detective Steve Burns, who his bosses say is perfect for going undercover in the gay clubs of 1980s New York City. Over the course of a very hot summer, a serial killer targets gay men in leather settings — depicting a pretty extreme subculture that has angered gays and straights alike. I understand where they’re coming from, but it’s all very stylish and a little campy, more suited to a psychedelic detective story than a statement. And the scenes of sweaty, pissing men (barely clothed when they’re not covered in leather) will make you feel the summer heat. You can stream Cruising on Prime .
The Burning (1981)
Setting : Summer camp in upstate New York.
This cult classic has seen something of a renaissance in recent years, rediscovered both for its spectacularly gruesome take on the Cropsey urban legend… and for the cinematic debuts of Jason Alexander, Fisher Stevens, and Holly Hunter. It’s summer camp horror par excellence, with a slew of horny teenagers in the hot summer sun being killed in some particularly harrowing ways. What sets the film apart are some solid performances, clever direction, and gory effects from the great Tom Savini. You can stream The Burning on Prime .
12 Angry Men (1957)
Setting : A jury room in New York City.
Over the course of approximately 90 minutes, 12 jurors deliberate on whether to convict or acquit a teenager accused of murder. The stifling, oppressive heat of the small jury room on an exceptionally hot summer day adds to the dramatic stakes: the uncomfortable climate turns the room into a pressure cooker in which emotions and nerves run high. You can stream 12 Angry Men on Tubi and MGM+, or rent it on Prime Video.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Setting : The near future, experiencing a shortage of water and gasoline.
Any of the Mad Max films set in a blasted post-apocalyptic wasteland would work here, but this 2015 film, which gave us Charlie Theron’s Furiosa, is arguably the best of the bunch. Nonstop action in the desert, with heroes and villains battling over incredibly scarce resources, with more personal stakes for Furiosa. You can rent Mad Max: Fury Road on Prime Video.
Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
Setting : New Orleans, 1937.
This wacky Southern Gothic mystery (based on the Tennessee Williams play) follows a young man, the son of the memorable Violet Venable, who died mysteriously while on vacation in Spain. While Violet was happy to be his sidekick, helping him meet other guys for sexual encounters, she’s less interested in the world finding out exactly how he died and, in that vein, is perfectly happy to lobotomize her niece (Elizabeth Taylor) just to make sure. The film’s focus shifts from a New Orleans mental hospital to an estate filled with (literal) hothouse flowers to the (fictional) Spanish island of Cabeza de Lobo during a particularly hot summer. You can rent Suddenly, Last Summer on Prime Video .
How Stella Regained Her Former Popularity (1998)
Location: Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Successful middle-aged stockbroker Stella (Angela Bassett) throws caution to the wind when she heads to Montego Bay, Jamaica. And when she spots Winston Shakespeare (Taye Diggs) on her first day there, it occurs to her that the island’s appeal goes beyond its natural beauty. The people here don’t sweat much, even in the Jamaican heat, but they do sparkle — and watching pretty people frolic in the sun isn’t the worst way to spend two hours, especially when the cast is this talented. You can rent How Stella Came Back to Life on Prime Video .
Anaconda (1997)
Setting : Somewhere in the Amazon
A brilliantly entertaining mix of action and horror, Anaconda knows exactly what kind of movie it is, and delivers everything you could want from a movie about a giant snake stalking J.Lo, Ice Cube, and Jon Voight across South America. Lopez plays a documentary filmmaker looking to make a film about a lost indigenous tribe in the Amazon when she and her crew run into hunter Paul Cerone (Voight), who convinces them he can lead them to the tribe — it turns out he’s only hunting the biggest game of his life: a 25-foot green anaconda. One that doesn’t really want to be found. With the efficiency of cinema’s best serial killers, the snake begins killing off members of our sweaty, nosy crew. You can stream Anaconda on Tubi and Hulu , or rent it on Prime Video .
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Setting: Sparta, Mississippi.
When Philadelphia detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) finds himself trapped in Sparta, Mississippi, after sundown, his life is in danger — at least until the local sheriff (Rod Steiger) realizes he needs Mr. Tibbs’ help to solve a murder. Another film that combines Southern heat with bigotry and racial tension. You can stream In the Heat of the Night on Kanopy and Prime Video.
Island of Fire (2022)
Setting: see title
A queer, modern take on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice , Fire Island also takes aim at the overabundance of fat/female/Asian stereotypes in the gay community. Social commentary aside, it’s a funny, smart romantic comedy with a great cast that includes Joel Kim Booster (as Lizzie Bennett — he also wrote the screenplay), Bowen Yang, Conrad Ricamora, and Margaret Cho as a group of friends who head to the titular island every summer — but this summer turns out to be more dramatic (and romantic) than most. A good summer beach movie, whether you’ve got abs or are more of a shirt-in-the-pool kind of guy. You can stream Fire Island on Hulu .
Eve’s Bay (1997)
Setting: Somewhere in the Louisiana Bayou.
Eve’s Bayou , the debut feature from director Kasi Lemmons, conjures a world of Southern Gothic mystery and magic that never loses sight of the emotional realities of its protagonists. Jurnee Smollett plays the title character, who begins the film with the story of the day she killed her father at age 10—the film explores her story with a Rashomon -style understanding of the fickleness of memory. You can stream Eve’s Bayou on Peacock .