Summer, though with a definitive start and end date meteorologically (unless we consider global warming’s recent tendency to warm us up earlier than June 21st and keep us sweating into October… but I digress) can carry different meanings for different people when it comes to movie-going. We all know, generally, what films are going to be in a “summer movie preview” of a given magazine, or when all the big blockbusters will start piling up until we’re drowning in a sea of franchise failures and kids-movie merchandising.

For me, the summer movie season is ending this week unfortunately, and it began in early May. I preface this post with all this before people read my favorite films of the summer and think to themselves, “well wait a minute that didn’t come out in the summer!” So, I’m taking some liberties with the term “summer” here and simply reflecting upon the films I saw in the cinemas in this 4 or so month span, whether they were very new releases or a little bit of a delay on my part. Without further hesitation though, I’ll start with the first thing I got to see in theaters which just so happens to be one of my favorites.

The Evil Dead remake, which actually premiered in theaters on April 5th of this year, was one of the most deliciously gory horror films I’ve seen without being of the torture porn persuasion, with more cringe-worthy, groan-and-scream eliciting (granted, I saw the film in a literally empty theater so I let my reactions loose, just saying) moments of blood and violence than the original, though with quite a bit less humor as a result.

Director Fede Alvarez did an impeccable job however, of balancing the film; there existed in these 91minutes so many new and interesting changes so that as a standalone horror film with a higher budget than the first Evil Dead, it simply worked, while also cleverly and reverently throwing in nods to the source material, so that fans of Sam Raimi’s original trilogy would catch the references and feel like their beloved fandom had been handled with the utmost creativity and due respect.

Speaking of creativity, I think this summer was really interesting in terms of what it means for something to be a blockbuster. I saw quite a few of the big releases and observed as some exceeded industry expectations and some petered out immediately, monetarily speaking. World War Z had so much behind-the-scenes drama and a third act which some say fizzled out. I wholeheartedly disagreed with the latter (it’d be pretty difficult and stupid to argue with the former, after all), finding the shift in tones to be effectively suspenseful and powerful for a big and seemingly bloated zombie film. I think it treated zombies, however, in a way that no horror film has.For the unique qualities of the film—sans gore in its global representation of events and the focus on action as opposed to horror, which ended up making things pretty scary nonetheless— it was probably one of my top favorites in a summer of many smart genre installations.

The Conjuring also earned a lot of money, more than I was expecting it to, garnering some serious respect for the classic haunting/possession formula and, hopefully, setting a precedent for genuinely scary, well-executed horror films which can also bring in big bucks. This movie was terrifying and wonderful in all its spooky, perfectly-paced, and brilliantly-acted glory.

Now, I have a personal bias towards Monsters University which has resulted in an empty wallet in exchange for a hell of a lot of new Sulley and Mike accessories— an embarrassing confession to make here, might I add considering I’m now a young adult. Actually, I don’t regret it all that much. I mean, truly, this film was not anything to scoff at in light of some of Pixar’s more intellectual endeavors. This film had plenty of heart and intelligence and was simply fun, especially if you’re at the age where these characters are near and dear to you as they are to me, and seeing their college lives was a blast if nothing else.

Another strictly fun movie was Pacific Rim. Guillermo Del Toro may not have created a finely tuned sci-fi great, but as far as cool creatures fighting cool robots, in IMAX 3D especially, I think he did more than alright.

Lastly, and this is going to take the prize of my favorite summer 2013 film: This is the End. This movie was a masterpiece. While many critics focused on the humor inherent in these stars making fun of themselves and in presenting to us a sort of underlying question of today’s kind of reality TV societal structure, my favorite aspect which made the film that much more entertaining and more interesting to me is the seriousness with which the apocalyptic aspects of the story were treated.

By unexpectedly and fully going for the referencing of so many great films and tropes with such gravity and detail, the parts we were meant to be laughing at were made that much funnier. Because the apocalypse wasn’t being played for laughs but our questionable and flawed but crudely lovable protagonists were, it was okay for us to laugh at them kicking a decapitated head around somehow. It was one of the most clever, singular comedies anyone’s come up with and it’s just a shame that it’s not a formula to be repeated, but maybe that’s a good thing.

This brings me to my point in even considering my favorite films of the summer. We need more originality, more thought put in our summer blockbusters, more risks and less redundancy. The Lone Ranger, just based on trailers, box office numbers, and critical response, seemed to me like Captain Jack Goes to the Wild West, and audiences, including myself, weren’t buying in. The films I’ve picked here as my favorites—Evil Dead, World War Z, The Conjuring, Monsters University, Pacific Rim, and This is the End—all took something familiar and either just did it well or re-did it entirely so that it wasn’t a tiresome, cookie-cutter movie-going experience. They took source material, genre tropes, formulas and expectations, giant budgets and did something new or at the very least entertaining with them, so a trip to the movies this summer ended up meaning something slightly more than just two hours spent escaping the heat.

None of these particular releases, in my opinion, ended up just as good blockbusters: they ended up being good films in general, that just so happened to come out in the summer and therefore earned the sometimes derogatory misnomer. I hope that if these films indicate anything to us and to Hollywood, it is that the term doesn’t always have to mean money over creativity, or that it is loud and big but not smart or thoughtful. I think a blockbuster can and should be all those things, and this is the summer that, I hope, will prove that and change, or even elevate, not only the connotation of the term but also the nature of summer movies for years to come.

Sara majors in Film Studies and Media & Communication at Muhlenberg College. Her favorite genre is horror but she loves learning, writing and talking about all kinds of movies and all forms of entertainment. She has interned with Film Forum and Tribeca Film, both in her native NYC where she hopes to find work in criticism, marketing, distribution, or festival programming post-grad. Her blog and associated Twitter were created with the intention of being more involved and aware of happenings in the film and television industries, as well as to practice writing about pop culture in an academic but friendly and funny way.