Christmas is all about jingles, carols, cuddling with your significant half and eating until you start to hate yourself. Still, you can easily spice the whole experience up with a decent Christmas-themed horror movie.
The entire neighborhood is full of joy, there are lights everywhere, eggnog is cascading down into thirsty gullets, children go caroling all over the place, and you’re thinking “Man, this makes me want to scream!” You absolute Grinch! Maybe it would help to hear somebody else scream instead.
Here are 6 of the best holiday-horror movies you can watch this Christmas.
Top 6 Holiday-Horror Movies
Krampus is an action-packed Christmas horror movie that’s sure to keep you on your toes. After a boy is very much chagrined by the fact that his relatives are Grinches and don’t seem to get along with each other, he accidentally summons Santa’s step-brother by throwing his letter to Santa out on the window. He should have known better…
The situation turns into a bigger disaster as people start to be hunted down by Krampus, who is, for some reason, really unfriendly. The movie also features Krampus’ evil sidekick, Gingerbread Man, whose devil-may-care deeds in this movie place it on the same level as Mussolini.
The film’s combination of dark comedy and horror sequences makes it one of the best choices for the holidays. It was a huge hit, grossing $61.5 million on a $15 million production budget. The movie is available on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.
There are people for whom Christmas isn’t Christmas unless they’re watching this classic. The movie is made in Tim Burton’s distinct style and tells the story of Jack Skellington, who wants to bring Christmas over to Halloween Town.
This, however, is easier said than done. Children can watch it, too, since it’s more of a cartoon than a movie. Also, it’s not one of those nihilistic slashers that can make grown people throw up.
If you haven’t seen The Nightmare Before Christmas, you’re really missing out on a great story, fantastic visual design, and cool music. It’s one of the best movies Tim Burton has ever made and, according to some people, his crowning achievement.
The movie’s available on all major streaming platforms, including Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime.
10/10 for the pun in the title. In this movie, Santa’s seemingly suffering from multiple personality disorder. He is a demon who has lost a curling match with an angel. And yet he is compelled to be good and get the presents to children on Christmas.
However, he soon starts to massacre people left and right, and the only presents he brings are terror, blood, and misanthropy. If kids ever ask you if Santa’s real, let them watch this movie and they’ll stop believing in him.
Which is great… Gifts are expensive, you know. To quote Santa/Satan himself, this movie “scares the Dickens out of people,” but can also make them laugh out loud. It can be watched on a variety of streaming services, such as Netflix.
If you’ve got nothing against the Dutch language, you should definitely watch this movie. In Europe, during the night of December 5th, Saint Nicholas puts treats in children’s shoes.
In this movie, an undead Saint Nicholas (who for some reason has become a raving madman – talk about what routine can do to a man…) puts axes through children’s skulls. Basically, he kidnaps children and kills them. So, maybe you should keep the children away while watching this movie.
Even though the movie has gotten largely low notes, we recommend you watch because it’s got some breakneck action and it’s actually very well-made. Just make sure it’s got subtitles. The movie can be watched on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. You can also find it as “Saint.”
Old slashers are the best ones, I think we can all agree on that. The film draws inspiration from the Babysitter urban legend and transposes it in a setting in which a lunatic starts calling sorority sisters and then harassing and killing them.
The movie was a huge hit at the time and nowadays it’s seen as a cult film. It was one of the very first films of this sort. This is actually horror and there’s little to no humor in it, so if you want a movie that will raise the hairs on your neck, this is everything you’ve been looking for.
It’s got a twist ending, too. You can watch it on Netflix and Hulu.
Scientists agree that serial killers are born from kids either being sexually abused or told that Santa wasn’t real. In this movie, the kid that’s about to be the serial killer sees Santa (who is really his father in a costume) groping his mom.
When he grows up and becomes a worker in a toy factory, he suddenly decides that he simply won’t put up with that. The best way to convince yourself that Santa is a good guy, not a sex fiend, is apparently to start chopping heads.
Didn’t Dickens tell you anything about this? “You better watch out” becomes quite literal in this movie, because Santa’s surely not making any compromises when it comes to letting people know he’s the sweetest dude in the neighborhood.
Watch it on Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime; it’s up to you.
Honorable Mentions
Christmas Cruelty (2013), Santa Claws (1996), Jack Frost (1997) and One Hell of a Christmas (2002) are some other movies you could try on Christmas Eve. If you’re a holiday-horror aficionado, you’ve got plenty of movies to choose from.
Carols and family movies are overrated anyway. It’s better to scream than rejoice in glee. That’s something Dwight Schrute would say, but it’s true.
We hope you’ve found this list handy. It could have been longer, but in order for that to happen, we would have had to put every disaster of a movie in it, and that would not have been too much help. Other than that, we wish you a Spooky Merry Christmas!
Katie Porter is an aspiring writer, movie lover, and part of the team at Seatup. In her free time, she enjoys exploring her home state Colorado and plays in women’s amateur rugby league.
