The 15 Best Summer Camp Movies Of All Time, Ranked

Summer camp was an essential part of growing up for millions of American youths. Even if they couldn't pronounce their multi-syllabic, semi-Indigenous-sounding names, parents appreciated the camp's ample opportunities for their kids to learn new skills (while they get empty house for the summer). Meanwhile, kids got something so much greater: the sweet if fleeting taste of freedom. Before kids went to college, or even got their driver's permit, summer camp afforded young people the opportunity to experience a tiny bit of independence ... and mosquito bites. So many mosquito bites. 

Alas, like so many cherished emblems from days gone by, summer camp is on the downswing, due to a host of all-too-familiar problems: too few spots, too much money. But hey, even if summer camps go the way of the dodo, summer camp movies have planted their flags in our collective imaginations. Whether you went to camp every summer, or know camps only from movies, everyone can appreciate the summer camp experience enshrined in cinema. There are many to choose from, but here's list of the best summer camp movies right here.

Does going to a make-believe summer camp run by Doc Brown from "Back To The Future" sound like the greatest thing ever? Well, that doesn't exist, but thankfully, you can watch Disney's "Camp Nowhere." Morris (Jonathan Jackson) is bored to tears going to computer camp every year, so he and his buddies concoct a plan: create a pretend summer camp that's a veritable kid's paradise without any adult supervision and bribe a man-child (Christopher Lloyd) to pose as a counselor. Sounds great ... until their parents plan a visit and a local cop ("Back to the Future" co-star Tom F. Wilson) gets suspicious.

"Camp Nowhere" falls short of the promise of its premise, as at it feels like a made-for-TV Disney Channel movie that the Mouse House sent to theaters, which they probably regretted once the meager $10 million haul came in. Still, "Camp Nowhere" makes my list because Lloyd elevates almost anything he is in, while the kid-friendly comedy hits its target of appealing to the 90s-era kids who watched it growing up, even if doesn't totally hold up now that we're "adults."

No, this isn't the 1992 erotic thriller starring a young Drew Barrymore as a wild child who seduces her best friend's dad. Not sure what list that belongs on, but it isn't this one. This "Poison Ivy" is the 1985 made-for-TV movie about the misadventures of Dennis, a camp counselor at a New England boys summer camp, played by a post-"Family Ties," pre-"Back To The Future" Michael J. Fox. Baxter's carefree camp counselor life is complicated by his dimwitted boss, Big Irv, and the arrival of assistant nurse Rhonda (Nancy McKeon), who Dennis falls for, even though she's engaged to another guy. 

"Poison Ivy" is a paint-by-numbers summer camp movie, but if you're reading this list, you're probably cool with that, as it hits all the right notes. Fox displays the insouciant, leading-man charm that pole vaulted him to the A-list just a few months later with "Back To The Future" and "Teen Wolf." Released on February 10 on NBC, "Poison Ivy" would be eclipsed by the highest-grossing movie of 1985, so this underseen flick is worth a watch, especially for Fox fans.

In 1974, Tatum O'Neal became the youngest performer to ever win an Oscar for her role in "Paper Moon." Six years later, she starred in one of the top summer camp movies ever, "Little Darlings." So I'd say that's a pretty good career by most measures. O'Neal stars as Ferris, a wealthy but naive teenager who meets the streetwise poor kid Angel (Kristy McNichol) at a summer camp. Initially butting heads, the two decide to dedicate their summer camp experience to a friendly competition of who can lose her virginity first. Or as the subtitle bluntly puts it: "The heat is on: Whoever loses her virginity first — wins!" 

So it's basically "American Pie," but with girls at a summer camp. The 1980 coming-of-age film's reach exceeds its grasp, as it wants to be both a serious commentary about teenagers feeling pressured into sexual activity and an accessible summer camp dramedy. That it succeeds more at the latter than the former shouldn't be a surprise, but "Little Darlings" warrants its place mainly due to the nuanced, mature performances of its two leads.

Summer camp movies tend to take place in the US of A, but "Indian Summer" takes the action up north to Ontario, Canada to tell the story of Unca Lou (Alan Arkin), who brings a group of former campers back for a 20-year reunion. Now well into adulthood, Unca Lou's former campers each confront a host of "grownup problems," which their old mentor helps them navigate just like he helped them during childhood. 

Writer/Director Mike Binder is hit or miss, with high-highs ("The Upside of Anger," "Reign Over Me"), and low-lows ("Blankman," "The Sex Monster"). "Indian Summer," his second feature, belongs more in the former category, if only because it cleverly combines the "reunion movie" and "summer camp movie" into a clever concept that sounds appealing. After all, what grownup wouldn't want to leave their real-world woes behind for the chance to revisit summer camp? The fact it also boasts that terrific cast, including the Diane Lane, Kevin Pollak, Elizabeth Perkins, and the late-great Bill Paxton, leaves us wanting this "Indian Summer" to stay with us after its 90-minute runtime.

Summer camp movies and horror movies go together like mustard and hot dogs (or ketchup and hot dogs if you're a barbarian). So that's where the 2015 horror-comedy hybrid, "The Final Girls," takes us, parodying the horror-movie trope of the lone female who survives the onslaught of the serial murderer, killer alien, whatever. In "The Final Girls," Max (Taissa Farmiga), finds herself inside the world of "Camp Bloodbath," a B-horror movie set at a summer camp that her late mother (Malin Åkerman) starred in 20 years earlier. Now Max and her pals must use their knowledge of the "Camp Bloodbath" movies, and horror movies in general, to survive the ordeal. 

The setup of "horror movie where people know they're in a horror movie" may seem a bit familiar if you've seen the "Scream" series, but "The Final Girls" does lean more into comedy, and it takes full advantage of its summer camp surroundings, and since it's set inside a movie, it gets even more meta than "Scream." Like any good horror-comedy, the movie's knives are stabbed deep into wounds, while its tongue is planted firmly its cheek.

"Sleepaway Camp" is an oddity. On the one hand, it's undeniably one of the best summer camp movies ever. On the other hand, it's so brazenly bizarre I can't recommend it to everyone (or heck, even most people). But for the select few who can handle its frank freakishness, "Sleepaway Camp" is undoubtedly a wild watch. Released in the aftermath of "Friday The 13th," the 1983 film follows the familiar premise of a mysterious killer who brutally slashes and gashes campers. 

But "Sleepaway Camp" is no cynical, copy-and-paste ripoff, but a gloriously grotesque, gender-examining gorefest that features a final reveal that would sound insane describing, but the movie totally earns. Beautiful disaster ...or grand garbage? Maybe both? "Sleepaway Camp" is less a movie and more a Rorschach test for your appetite for wonderful weirdness, which sadly can't be said for its entire five-film franchise. I love it, but you may hate, and we'd both be right. The fact it's also on a list with Disney movies just goes to show the surprising diversity of summer camp cinema.

You know a genre has made it when it can be parodied. But "Wet Hot American Summer" isn't a spoof in the "Not Another Teen Movie" sense. Rather, it's a movie that both celebrates and satirizes the well-worn tropes of the summer camp movie, which even by then (2001) were well established. "Wet Hot American Summer" follows a group of counselors at Camp Firewood (shot at a real camp that helped the cast bond) on the last day of camp during the, well, wet and hot summer of 1981. 

Setting the movie on the last day gives the movie a sense of comedic urgency, as the campers and counselors are compelled to complete their unfinished business before the summer season concludes. "Wet Hot American Summer" bombed hard at the box office, but it has since gained a cult following, not least because the cast is stacked: David Hyde Pierce and Janeane Garofalo are joined by the "before-they-were-famous" troupe of Elizabeth Banks, Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper and many members of "The State" sketch comedy group. "Wet Hot American Summer" set out to parody the summer camp movie, and so doing became an essential summer camp movie itself.

Placing "Ernest Goes To Camp" this high may be controversial, depending on your appetite for Ernest movies. Personally, I love Ernest P. Worrell, and believe his first cinematic outing after several hundred TV commercials belongs in the canon of great summer camp movies. As with every other "Ernest" movie, what you see is what you get: it's Ernest going to camp. Specifically, Ernest is the camp handyman who gets to finally achieve his dream of becoming a guidance counselor to a group of juvenile delinquents, who team up to take down a strip mining company from tearing down the camp. 

The late-great Jim Varney's lovable loser Ernest is an acquired taste, particularly if you didn't grow up watching his movies. Many may find him irritating, but there's no denying Varney's penchant for slapstick comedy, as he manages to translate the character's schtick as well to the big screen as he did on the small screen slinging ads for soda, cars, dairy products, and, well, almost everything. "Ernest Goes To Camp" is his first and best outing, particularly if you enjoy the pure bliss of feeling like a kid again. Know what I mean?

Ben Stiller's bank account appreciates it when he plays "nice guys," like Greg Focker in the "Meet The Parents" movies. But let's be honest, the dude is never more funny than when playing a bad guy. Thus, his performance as fitness fanatic Tony Perkis in 1995's "Heavyweights" was a warmup for his role as White Goodman in "Dodgeball" less than a decade later. Perkis is a health nut who would no doubt be a self-glorifying influencer today, and in "Heavyweights" has purchased a camp that helps overweight boys lose weight from a kindly couple (played by Stiller's parents Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara) and turned it into a meat-grinder. 

Gerry (Aaron Schwartz) is one of the boys seeking to shed a few pounds over his summer vacation, but now finds himself leading a ragtag group of guys to take on Perkis. Stiller carries "Heavyweights" on his scene-stealing shoulders, elevating what could have been a made-for-TV Disney Channel effort into a hilarious and heartfelt summer camp comedy that understood fat characters better in 1995 than Hollywood does today.

"Bill Murray movie" may conjure many different meanings to different viewers. Are we talking the snarky smart-assery of "Ghostbusters" in 1984? The sweet-and-sour snideness of "Groundhog Day" over and over again? Maybe its the buffoonish-ness of "Caddyshack" or the quirkiness of his roles in Wes Anderson and Jim Jarmusch movies. I certainly hope you don't think of the "Garfield" movies, though. Well, to a certain subset of Bill Murray fans, the comic genius established his cinematic essence in his very first starring role, 1979's "Meatballs."

Murray plays Tripper, the immature head counselor for a budget-friendly summer camp called Camp Northstar. During the summer, Tripper falls in love, befriends a shy and lonely kid, and inspires his campers and fellow counselors to take on their much-better funded rival camp in the annual Olympiad games. Based on that description alone, you probably know exactly what this movie is. And guess what? You'd be right. "Meatballs" could have been called "Bill Murray Goes To Camp," but that premise alone warrants its inclusion. Perhaps the best recommendation I can give "Meatballs" is that Murray's Tripper is definitely the counselor we all would have loved to have at summer camp.

Quirky and eccentric outcasts band together to take on the clueless "cool guys" could easily describe 97.6% of summer camp movies. So it's refreshing when a movie like "Theater Camp" comes along that takes this all-too-familiar premise and throws some razzle-dazzle on it. When a clueless tech-bro son threatens to tear down his father's rundown theater camp in Upstate New York, lifelong best friends and drama instructors Amos (Ben Platt) and Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon) join forces with the oddball staff to save it. Naturally, the way they do that is by staging a musical to raise money. 

While "Theater Camp" will entertain anybody who went to summer camp (or who just really likes summer camp movies), it's especially entertaining for theater kids of any age who grew up on the stage. Besides playing Rebecca-Diane, Gordon also co-directed "Theater Camp" with Nick Lieberman, and you can sense the directing duo's deep affection for this world and the people within in. Even if you have seen many movies like "Theater Camp," its infectious charm and playful mockumentary style makes it a standout among summer camp movies.

"Addams Family Values" is really three movies in one. The first is about Gomez (Raul Julia) and Morticia (Angelica Huston) celebrating the arrival of their mustachioed baby boy, Pubert. The second is about Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd) falling in love with the family nanny Debbie (Joan Cusack), who unfortunately turns out to be a serial-killing psycho who stalks wealthy men as her prey. Finally, the third movie finds the kids Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and Pugsley (Jimmy Workman) being sent to summer camp. 

Regarding the non-summer camp scenes, I'll just say Julia, Huston, and Lloyd remain perfect in their parts, while Cusack makes a hilarious addition to the mayhem. But the summer camp scenes steal the show. The Addams children find themselves as fish-out-of-water next to their snobby and overly perky peers at Camp Chippewa. Ricci is particularly the standout in her scenes, ably delivering a dead-on deadpan at just 13 years of age in a way that even experienced actors rarely master. While earning far less than its 1991 predecessor, "Addams Family Values" is the better movie, especially when it brings its character's signature macabre camp to summer camp.

Both the 1961 original "The Parent Trap" and its 1998 sequel belong on this list, but I can't pick one over the other, so they're both tied for third place. In both films, identical twin girls are separated at birth by their divorced parents, with one girl going with her mother and the other with her father. Years later, the preteen girls become reunited by happenstance at summer camp, and concoct a scheme to bring their parents back together by swapping places. 

Granted, we have to acknowledge the girls' parents are some of the worst in movie history. But if you can get past the parents separating, abandoning, and lying to their twin daughters, both versions of "The Parent Trap" still manage to be sweet family movies. Hayley Mills plays the twins in the original, and proves why she was one of her era's top child stars, particularly in her "duet" with herself in the track "Let's Get Together." Lindsay Lohan doesn't sing but she does shine in her breakout role, making "The Parent Trap" feel sentimental without becoming saccharine. Your "Parent Trap" preference may depend on your era, but both are great.

What "Friday The 13th" borrowed from John Carpenter's "Halloween," it made up for in bringing the slasher pic to the summer camp. Even if you haven't seen the 1980 original, the setup should be familiar: Years after a young Jason Vorhees seemingly drowns at Camp Crystal Lake, a mysterious and merciless killer begins brutally murdering the amorous camp counselors. By now you probably know the killer wasn't Jason, but his mother (Betsy Palmer), though Jason's reanimated corpse does show up at the end, and he ultimately became the hockey masked face of the franchise. 

Given the "Friday the 13th" franchise eventually sent Jason to hell ("Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday"), space ("Jason X"), and into battle against Freddy Krueger ("Freddy vs. Jason"), its remarkable how comparatively grounded the first film is. Sure, it does expect us to believe a little old lady could clandestinely carry out a series of grisly murders, but that's tame by genre standards — and part of the fun. "Friday the 13th" set the standard, both for its franchise, and for horror summer camp movies as well. Thanks to "Friday The 13th," the summer camp is now second only to the suburban house as the ideal setting for a slasher pic.

Wes Anderson's quirky, distinct style has never been more fully realized than in the cinematic childlike embrace of "Moonrise Kingdom." Perhaps that's inevitable, as despite Anderson being beloved by "mature cinephiles" (and yes, film snobs), his best work feels takes a child's view of the world: silly, contrived, weird, colorful, but also whimsical and wonderful. Those characteristics certainly describe "Moonrise Kingdom," his 2012 coming-of-age comedy about pre-teen orphan Sam (Jared Gilman), who escapes his Boy Scout summer camp to run away with Suzy (Kara Hayward) into the woods of the fictional New England town of New Penzance. 

Unbeknownst to the young lovebirds, a violent storm is approaching, so the bickering adults must put aside their squabbles and mobilize a search party. The rescue mission is an all-star cast typical of Anderson films (Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, Edward Norton), but the real stars are newcomers Gilman and Hayward. Through their eyes Anderson conveys the incomparable sense of freedom and fear of being a kid at summer camp, surrounded by opportunities, but burdened by your own anxieties. 

While summer camp was a long time ago for most, movies like "Moonrise Kingdom," and the others on this list, take us back to that unforgettable experience.