Top 10 Genre Flicks to See in Summer 2017!

Last Updated on August 3, 2021

Who’s ready for the summertime? Sure we’re technically still well ensconced in the spring, but as far as the worldwide movie slate is concerned, you know what’s up, the summer starts earlier and earlier each year. So much so that the calendar has shifted to encompass a roster of movies released between May and August. And as you can tell, May is upon us.

So here’s the deal. We’re kicking off our annual summer genre preview, which we’ll run in two parts over the next couple of weeks. The first Top 10, seen below, will highlight the bigger, more higher profile studio genre joints. Next time out, we’ll focus solely on the smaller indie flicks that look just as intriguing. Got it? Good! Peep our Top 10 Genre (Studio) Flicks to See in Summer 2017!

#1. ALIEN: COVENANT (MAY 19TH)

Real shite, anyone up in here NOT have Ridley Scott’s ALIEN: COVENANT as the unwavering #1 movie to see this summer? You, get the f*ck out…your AITH badge is revoked, buddy! Okay, apologies for the outburst, but come on, when Demian Bichir is your 10th acting lead, you know you’re in great performative hands. Throw in the mastery of Ridley Scott, the promise of having the ever-loving piss scared out of you, and the much welcomed return of the slobbering Xenomorph and we’ve got ourselves a baleful bash of interplanetary terror! Re-titled COVENANT from PARADISE LOST, this sequel to PROMETHEUS is also the second leg in the pre-ALIEN trilogy.

#2. OKJA (JUNE 28TH)

It’s safe to say Netflix has become an undoubted power player in the movie industry, so when the game-changing company shells out $50 million for Bong Joon-Ho (THE HOST, SNOWPIERCER) to make a smart and artful monster movie, OKJA instantly shoots toward the top of our must-see summer slate. I mean, Tilda Swinton in platinum blond locks and metal-mouth braces? What’s not to love?! Jake Gyllenhaal, Lily Collins, Paul Dano, Steven Yuen and Giancarlo Esposito also star in a tale of a young girl named Mija (An Seo Hyun) who will stop at nothing to protect her best friend, a giant animal named OKJA, from a powerful corporation looking to kidnap the beast.

#3. THE DARK TOWER (AUGUST 4TH)

With 8 dense volumes of material to thoroughly plumb, Stephen King’s THE DARK TOWER would seem to fit far better as a long-form TV series (Westworld, anyone), but since Idris Elba headlines as The Gunslinger Roland Deschain, the long-gestating film version still deserves an anticipatory top-spot around here! Matthew McConaughey costars as The Man in Black for Danish director Nikolaj Arcel (A ROYAL AFFAIR) in what’s recently revealed to be a sequel of sorts, with the action said to take place prior to the stories in the book series. Katheryn Winnick, Abby Lee, Jackie Earle Haley and Fran Kranz also star in the flick.

#4. THE BEGUILED (JUNE 30TH)

Oh poor Colin Farrell. This Lestat lookalike gets left for dead, only to be nursed, revived and lusted after by a harem of Southern Gothic harlots in Sofia Coppola’s hot and humid re-imagining of THE BEGUILED. We should all be so f*cking lucky! I realize this, at first blush, might appear unworthy of AITH, but anyone who’s seen the Clint Eastwood original knows how nasty and gnarly shite gets in the end. Besides, peep this fiery cast. Nicole Kidman is still fine as f*ck and vastly underrated as an actor, Elle Fanning is a true beaut, Kirsten Dunst has been a damn good actor since actually appearing opposite Lestat in 1994. Beguiling indeed!

#5. IT (SEPTEMBER 8TH)

If the record-breaking trailer viewership is any indication, the newly fashioned update of Stephen King’s IT is poised to shatter all kinds of box-office records when it drops this September. Yeah yeah, we know summer movies tend to span from May to August, but come on, we’re only talking a week later. Bill Skarsgard has the unenviable task of playing Pennywise the sewer dwelling clown-faced madman, doing so under the direction of MAMA’s Andres Muschietti. And of course, in a brilliant bit of timing, the 27 year return of IT as stated in the pages of the King is coming to fruition on the big-screen just in time!

#6. THE MUMMY (JUNE 9TH)

What do you say, can Tommy Cruise pull a massive box-office draw with Universal’s THE MUMMY, his first bona fide horror movie since INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE? Time will certainly tell, but whatever happens, we admire his willingness to try and the studio’s big-game-name target to achieve it. Remember, Russell Crowe also stars in the flick as Dr. Henry Jekyll, which, scripted by Jon Spaihts and Chris McQuarrie, finds an ancient princess’ desiccated remains suddenly awoken in her crypt beneath the hellish desert sands. With her (Sofia Boutella) comes a curse of unspeakable evil only Cruise and Crowe can quell!

#7. AMITYVILLE: THE AWAKENING (JUNE 30TH)

Because of the credit and currency writer/director Franck Khalfoun has banked over the years from working with Alexandre Aja, not to mention his overlooked Christmastime chiller P2, we’re more than intrigued to see how he envisions his take on AMITYVILLE: THE AWAKENING, even if it is rated PG-13. Jennifer Jason Leigh plays single mother of three – Belle (Bella Thorne) and two younger twins – whose new abode is wracked with all kinds of supernatural phenomena. When Belle’s comatose little brother begins inexplicably healing, mama Joan’s hidden secrets come to light.

#8. WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES (JULY 14TH)

One newfangled studio franchise that has been a pleasant qualitative surprise is that of THE PLANET OF THE APES, which looks to continue its global success with the addition of WOPA – WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES – this July. DOPA director Matt Reeves (CLOVERFIELD, LET ME IN) returns to continue the embattled story of Caesar, who now must escalate the level of violence when pitted against an unforgiving colonel (Woody Harrelson) and his army of humans. Judy Greer returns the heat, with Andy Serkis reprising the simian leader and newly added Steve Zahn bringing some surefire levity.

#9. DEATH NOTE (AUGUST 25TH)

Not that a one of you gives a damn, but one of the very first films I was assigned to professionally review a decade or so ago was the original DEATH NOTE. I say that because it’s one of the few times I had little to no expectation, having not been familiar with the graphic novel on which it’s based, yet came away utterly floored by its wonderful imagination and heartfelt characters. All this to further say we can’t wait to see what escalating horror head Adam Wingard does with the material in the live-action redo out this August. Nat Wolff plays Light, Willem Dafoe plays Ryuk, with solid international support coming from Masi Oka, Shea Whigham, Lakeith Stanfeld, Margaret Qualley and Paul McGillion. Take note!

#10. 47 METERS DOWN (JUNE 16TH)

Ah yeah, it isn’t officially summer until a gormless killer shark comes a swimming, and thanks to TWC taking over 47 METERS DOWN (once known as IN THE DEEP), that’s precisely what we have washing into theaters June 16th. Mandy Moore and Claire Holt costar as two sisters vacationing in Mexico, who opt to submerge themselves in shark tank deep in the Pacific. As the tagline suggests, there’s no help above, no hope below! Weirdly, another such flick called CAGE DIVE is due later in the year, but still awaits a release date. The real question though is this, can 47 METERS BELOW be this year’s THE SHALLOWS?