Of all the good holiday movies there are out there, some of the best that commonly go unnoticed are horror holiday movies. From horror-comedy to pure slashers, the horror genre has dipped its toes in the Christmas season many times and these are some of the best entries you can find under the tree.
Gremlins (1984)
The OG of Christmas horror fun. This loveable Christmas comedy-horror is only horrific in its graphic portrayal of little monsters blowing up in microwaves and melting… but actually features “comedic” deaths if there is such a thing.
Krampus (2015)
This more recent film is similar in the likes of Gremlins, a horror-comedy with mythical tales and Christmas traditions becoming the most terrifying thing you can experience. The ending also gives me goosebumps every damn time I watch it.
Black Christmas (1974)
One of the first slasher films I ever saw, and one that is commonly disregarded as starting the late-70s and 80s craze, this Canadian made horror film shocked audiences worldwide. The classic tale of a sorority house being taunted by a mysterious caller is one of the best there is,
Black X-Mas (2006)
This remake of the classic above is technically terrible… but features some amazing horror holiday imagery that it is guaranteed to get you in the mood. It also stars some huge names like Lacey Chabert from Mean Girls, modern scream queen Katie Cassidy, and housemother Andrea Martin who played a victim in the 1974 original.
Better Watch Out (2016)
This more recent film was featured in my 31 days of terrors series on this blog, so you can read my praise for it there. However, it offers a holiday horror turn on the home invasion film… imagine Home Alone meets The Strangers.
Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
This classic 80s slasher turned the red-suited man into a terrifying killer. One Christmas eve, a young boy sees a santa kill his mother and father, and when he escapes from a mental institution goes on his own killing rampage. It is classic slasher trash with a holiday twist.
Jack Frost (1997)
This B-movie from the 90s is commonly mistaken for the Michael Keaton family film of the same name released a year later. A psychotic killer gets turned into a snowman and kills people of his town as a giant snowman. It is so stupid, and features a tough kill that kind of sees him rape a woman to death… but it is so holiday cheesy fun.
A Christmas Horror Story (2015)
This more recent Canadian film is fun and full of holiday creepy cheer. 4 different stories are interwoven over Christmas eve. Killer elves, ghosts, and Krampus himself make for an intriguing, and low-budget but actually well done holiday horror.
And All Through the House (1989)
Not so much a movie, but this hour long episode from Tales from the Crypt is a familiar story of this list unfortunately: a crazed mental patient escapes and dons a red santa suit to haunt a woman who has just hidden a killer secret of her own. It is fun, spooky, and fuses slasher and home invasion tropes into one fun episode.
P2 (2007)
This 2007 feature film sees a woman trapped by an obsessed security guard in a parking garage of her metropolis work building. She has to fight for survival and get out alive before he keeps her forever. It features fun Christmas music, some over-the-top violence, and a good performance from Rachel Nichols and Wes Bentley before his Hunger Games days.
Anna and the Apocalypse (2018)
and finally, this most recent entry is currently in theatres and is a hilarious, violent romp that fuses Shaun of the Dead and La La Land with the holiday season. This horror-musical is the best of its kind and is a huge comment on holiday consumerism.
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