Christmas may be a great time of year to spread the holiday cheer, but it's also an opportunity to pop in some holiday-themed horror movies and enjoy a few scares. It might be hard to share these films with the entire family, but a group of friends can sure have a ton of fun into the wee hours of the cold night.
Updated on December 19th, 2022 by Amanda Bruce: Though Violent Night isn’t classified as a horror movie, it’s definitely making people think about more unconventional movies that take place during the holiday season. Not every movie set during the season needs to be a fairy tale ending or a romantic comedy. There are a lot of movies, like Violent Night, that take a very different approach to incorporating holiday themes, and horror movies do that well. From scary Santas to misbehaving children, Christmas horror movies can be a lot of fun.
Anna And The Apocalypse (2017)
Available to stream on Shudder.
Zombies during the holiday season aren’t that common among horror movies. What’s also not common among horror movies is being a musical or a comedy. All of those aspects are included in Anna And The Apocalypse.
The movie centers on the titular Anna during the holiday season as zombies take over in Scotland. It’s both horrifying and hilarious, able to pretty seamlessly combine three very different genres.
The Advent Calendar (2021)
Available to stream on Shudder.
Advent calendars, for the unfamiliar, feature a series of compartments, one opened every day in the lead-up to Christmas. Most last for the 25 days leading up to the holiday in December, while others can be shorter. They have seen some popularity in the romantic comedy genre when it comes to holiday movies, but this is not like those rom-coms.
Instead, the item each day leading up to the holiday is a wish granted by a demon-like genie. Each of those wishes often ends in brutality or bloodshed. It’s a twist on a Christmas tradition that horror and holiday enthusiasts might find fun.
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)
Available to stream on Hulu.
Inspired by Scandinavian folklore, Rare Exports takes the idea of an evil Santa and runs with it in an interesting way. It involves a pair finding what they think is the tomb of Santa, but awakening something a bit more evil, a Christmas goat-like figure who punishes the bad and gives gifts to the good.
Rare Exports doesn’t stick to the traditional look at Santa in his sleigh from the North Pole, but it does utilize the “saving Christmas” trope present in a lot of holiday movies. This time around, it’s saving the holiday from a more violent outcome than just reigniting Christmas magic.
Dead End (2003)
Available to stream on Tubi.
While Dead End is set during the holiday season, it’s hard to necessarily label it a Christmas movie. The bulk of the movie is set while a family of four is traveling to a holiday celebration.
While on their trip, the group encounters a strange woman and end up terrified. What the movie does that’s most interesting during the family trip though is play with their perception. It leaves the audience wondering just how reliable the narration was, and what really happened on the trip.
Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987)
Available to stream on Shudder.
It’s pretty rare for horror movies set during the holidays to maintain sequels set during the same season but the Silent Night, Deadly Night film series is different. The second movie follows one of the traumatized children from the first movie, now an adult.
Here, the traumatic events of witnessing the murders of his parents in the first movie have stuck with Ricky so much, that he becomes the very thing he was afraid of. Ricky goes on a killing spree, attempting to finish what his brother started in the first movie. He recounts it all while he’s in therapy, and then escapes to commit more violence. It’s a clever twist on a horror trope, especially for the time, turning the survivor into the sequel’s killer.
Better Watch Out (2017)
Available to stream on Tubi.
Christmas takes on a zany yet ominous new meaning in this horror flick about a 12-year-old sociopath who tries to get close to his 17-year-old babysitter, even if it means murder. The filming is frantic and full of energy as classic horror tropes are turned on their head in the craziest ways.
The movie is notable for a scene where Luke tries to stage a real-life version of the swinging paint can gag from Home Alone. It's an inventive way to nod to the audience without directly breaking the fourth wall. The film ends on a darkly comedic note that leaves plenty of room open for a sequel.
The Lodge (2019)
Available to stream on Shudder.
It's not entirely Christmas-themed, but The Lodge uses its freezing-cold winter theme to maximum effect while nailing the viewer with one psychological hit after another. It's a story about a cruel prank by two children on a mentally unstable young woman that backfires in the worst way imaginable.
The film plays with the audience by providing a what-if scenario that isn't answered until later in the film. However, once the reality comes to light, the horror doesn't stop there. The Lodge is extremely effective at making people think twice about their own actions.
Christmas Evil (1980)
Available to stream on Tubi.
Black comedy and traditional horror merge together to create this quirky Christmas classic about a young boy who discovers that his beloved Santa Claus isn't real. The effect is so traumatic that it scars the boy for life and affects him well into adulthood.
Once grown up, he starts personifying jolly old Saint Nick to the best of his ability while keeping tabs on the neighborhood children to see if they're being naughty or nice. When people begin to ridicule him for his habits, the resulting snap sends him into a rage that goes headfirst into a killing spree.
Krampus (2015)
Available to stream on STARZ.
This monster movie flick stresses the importance of having the Christmas spirit—or else! The story centers on a family who gets together for the holidays and ends up fighting, which prompts a young boy to lose his enthusiasm for the holiday.
He unwittingly summons up a nasty Yuletide demon who stands in direct opposition to Santa Claus and comes to spread punishment to the non-believing. The boy and his family are forced to face down one of the most horrific demons in movie history and hopefully regain a little Christmas cheer in the process.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Available to stream on Disney Plus.
Halloween and Christmas clash in this beloved Tim Burton classic. Pumpkin King Jack Skellington unwittingly stumbles upon the fictional realm of Christmas Town and is so taken with what he finds that he attempts to spread the holiday cheer to Halloween Town.
Unfortunately, his quest to spread some happiness to his dark town is met with some hilarious resistance by the local ghosts and goblins. It'll take some convincing to get these night creatures to embrace the bells and holly.
