Deck the halls with boughs of horror! Here’s 8 of the best Christmas horror movies.
If you prefer your holiday movies lean more “Horror” than “Hallmark,” I got you covered. Check out my list of top recommended Christmas horror movies to spread the holiday fear.
Black Christmas (2006)
This isn’t as good as the others on this list, but it’s still worth mentioning. Despite some flaws, it’s engaging and violent with a solid cast, including Katie Cassidy, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Lacey Chabert. I actually liked this one more than the 1974 original, which I had a hard time getting into. One improvement they made is giving the killer an in depth–and disturbing–backstory instead of it being some random anonymous guy who stalks them for no apparent reason.
A Christmas Horror Story (2015)
Changelings and zombies and Krampus, oh my! As with many anthologies, this one is a bit hit or miss, but the good stories are pretty great. Personally, I don’t care for the one set inside the school, but the others are better, with the one set at Santa’s workshop taking the cake. Watching Santa fight off zombie elves is already entertaining, and it also has one of my favorite twists ever. Skip the school story if you want, you’d be no worse off, but definitely watch this for the Santa story at the very least.
Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
While the rest of the series is pretty much garbage, this first film is one of my favorite slashers. We get to see a character from childhood grow into young adulthood, following the progression that leads him to his breaking point and resulting in his killing spree while dressed as Santa Claus. By the time it gets to that point, I totally understand why he breaks and why he targets his specific victims. It’s a perspective we don’t often see, and it delves heavily into the impact of PTSD/CPTSD. Also, the concept of someone dressed as Santa punishing the naughty makes a lot of sense, and it’s something I felt was missing from the sequels. Plus for an 80s movie, the violence is not too shabby.
Silent Night (2012)
This movie is a very, very loose remake of Silent Night, Deadly Night. Actually, it is more closely based on a real massacre that occurred in 2008 where a man dressed as Santa murdered nine people. While they took out the part that I liked most about the original – where we follow a killer in the making – and turned it into a mystery where the killer’s identity is unknown for most of the film, if viewed as its own unrelated, traditional slasher/mystery film, it’s pretty good and quite violent.
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)
This Scandinavian film features a Santa/Krampus mashup who has been buried in the ice for decades. A group of Finnish shepherds and a brave little boy get more than they bargained for when an American crew digs up the ice containing the legend–and threat.
Gremlins (1984)
Gremlins will always hold a special place in my heart. It was basically my gateway drug into horror, as one of the first horror movies I watched as a kid. It’s violent, but not gruesome, with a playfulness to it, so it works well for both a younger and older audience. It is a bit cheesier than I remembered now that I’m older, but I’m also impressed that Billy (Zach Galligan) and his mom actually take quite a bit of damage throughout the film as well. I like that they play off the traditional gremlin lore by constantly having the gremlins mess with technology.
The Children (2008)
When all the children at a family Christmas gathering are infected with a virus that turns them deadly, the parents and young adult must fight back to survive. The brilliance of this concept is twofold. First, violence is much more terrifying when children are the ones doing it, and second, it goes against everyone’s better judgment to attack a child –especially if it’s your own child – even if they are doing harm.
Better Watch Out (2016)
This has been my go-to Christmas horror movie since I discovered it a few years back. The first act is a tad generic, but it turns in a new direction – about a half hour in – that becomes very unique and disturbing. The horror is well done and it has a great Survivor Girl. The funny thing is that this movie references Home Alone (1990), which was directed by the writer of Gremlins!
I hope you enjoy your horrifying holidays. Got any recommendations I missed? Let me know in the comments below.
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