Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 72% based on 64 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Summer of 84 suffers from an overreliance on nostalgia for its titular decade, but a number of effective jolts may still satisfy genre enthusiasts." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 56 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.
JoBlo.com's Movie Emporium called the ending "an inspired wrap-up" and scored it 8/10. Bloody Disgusting's Fred Topel said it "hit the sweet spot for me" and expressed a need to "talk about it excessively". Film Threat said it "lulled you into a false sense of security and banality before slamming you into a brilliantly dark chilling finale. You won't be disappointed." Daily Dead found "even though the story does take a bit too long to get things moving, that's really just me nitpicking at the greatness that is Summer of 84." PopMatters' JR Kinnard said it was "a trashy classic that will absolutely rock midnight movie houses."
Variety found the film "neither funny nor scary enough to leave a lasting impression" and "more slowly paced than necessary, and those seeking horror content will find the payoff underwhelming after a protracted, mild buildup" and that "the leisurely progress isn't justified by any well-developed subplots, or by much suspense – there's never a doubt who the perp is, and apart from a couple of false-flag jump scares, little real peril surfaces until quite late." The review noted that it was unclear if the script by Matt Leslie and Stephen J. Smith was intended "to be played for satire, straight suspense, or a mixture of both."
The film won Best Screenplay for Matt Leslie and Stephen J. Smith at Cinepocalypse festival in Chicago.
It created buzz on the horror festival circuit in the United States and internationally, including featured or opening day screenings at Fantasia International Film Festival (Montreal) FrightFest (London), Sitges (Catalonia, Spain), /Slash Filmfest (Austria), and Hard:Line Film Festival (Germany). It received Jury Prize nominations at Molins Film Festival for Best Director, Best Film, and Best Screenplay.
Summer of 84 was included on multiple published best-of-year lists with notable highlights: BuzzFeed News' "The 19 Best Horror Films of 2018", LA Weekly's "The Ten Best Horror Movies of 2018", Thrillist's "The Best Horror Movies of 2018", Esquire's "The Scariest Movies of 2018", Dread Central's "Josh Millican's Best Horror Movies of 2018", Horror News Network Top 18 Horror Films of 2018, The Ringer's "The 10 Best Horror Movies of 2018", and PopHorror's "Top 25 Favorite Horror Movies of 2018" (8/25). It is listed as one of Rotten Tomatoes' "Best Horror Movies of 2018" and "140 Best 2010s Horror Movies".
Four years after its release, /Film suggests its dark tonal shift helps "distinguish itself from sundry other nostalgic horror rides".
Summer of 84 was horror streaming platform Shudder's second biggest film premiere of 2018, trailing only Mandy. It was nominated for a 2019 Saturn Award for Best Independent Film Release. The film poster was included as one of Rotten Tomatoes' "24 Best Movie Posters of 2018".
