Christmas Horror Films (December 2024)

It is the vacation season, which might imply just one factor: it is time to watch Christmas horror motion pictures! Christmas horror is nothing new. Within the Victorian period, of us would collect by the fireplace round Christmas time to inform one another ghost tales (that is how we received “A Christmas Carol”). Over time, the horror style has embraced this concept by unleashing horror films set on or around Christmas. A few of these movies are fairly dangerous and appear to recycle the identical boring concept (“What if a man dressed as Santa Claus killed folks?!”) time and again. However there are others that make the yuletide vibrant. Hell, even a few of the killer Santa tales work (simply this yr, we got the horror hit “Terrifier 3,” which noticed Artwork the Clown in full Santa gear). Because the bizarre yr that was 2024 involves a detailed, and the horrifying uncertainty of 2025 lurks proper across the nook, let’s chug some mulled wine, deck the halls, and watch the next Christmas-centric horror motion pictures. 

Streaming on Prime Video, Shudder, Tubi.

The granddaddy of all Christmas horror motion pictures, Bob Clark’s 1974 “Black Christmas” can be one of many most influential horror movies ever made. Clark beat John Carpenter to the “horror film set on a vacation” punch and impressed numerous imitators within the course of. There have even been two remakes of “Black Christmas,” though neither comes near matching what Clark did in ’74 (enjoyable little bit of a bonus trivia: Clark additionally directed one other Christmas traditional, “A Christmas Story,” slightly underneath a decade later). In “Black Christmas,” a gaggle of school sorority women maintain receiving obscene prank telephone calls as Christmas approaches. Whereas offensive in nature, the ladies principally shrug these calls off as innocent. Little do they know, the caller, an unseen killer who goes by the identify Billy, has taken up residence within the attic of their sorority home and is continuing to kill folks off in ugly methods. Utilizing impeccable sound design and a prevailing sense of thriller, “Black Christmas” ratchets up the stress and creates an leaves you chilled to the bone. 

Streaming on Shudder.

Joe Begos’ “Christmas Bloody Christmas”

is a trendy twist on the “killer Santa” idea. It is Christmas Eve, and document retailer proprietor Tori (Riley Dandy) and her doofy coworker Robbie (Sam Delich) got down to get drunk because the snow begins following. Little do they know {that a} robotic Santa Claus, initially designed as a army bot by the US Protection Division, has come to life and is about to go on a killing spree. Begos is relatively awful as writing dialogue (he comes from the Rob Zombie faculty of getting his characters drop the F-bomb consistently as in the event that they’re naughty tweens who simply began utilizing the phrase for the primary time), however he has a cool grindhouse aesthetic that blends properly with Brian Sowell’s regularly attractive cinematography that makes nice use of Christmas lights.

Streaming on Max.

This listing can be incomplete with out “Gremlins,” Joe Dante’s gloriously nasty vacation horror-comedy with a Steven Spielberg touch. It is Christmas time within the small city of Kingston Falls, and native financial institution clerk Billy (Zach Galligan) has simply obtained a present from his dad (Hoyt Axton). The reward is a fuzzy little critter often called a mogwai. This lovable monster is called Gizmo, and he comes with a algorithm: maintain him out of daylight, do not get him moist, and by no means, ever feed him after midnight. Sadly, these guidelines find yourself getting damaged, and poor, lovable Gizmo spawns a complete bunch of different mogwai who find yourself turning into nasty, sexy gremlins. The gremlins proceed to run amok, murdering folks and turning the city upside-down. It is as much as Billy, his Christmas-hating crush Kate (Phoebe Cates), and Gizmo to save lots of the day. The right mix of old style Amblin appeal loaded with pleasant creature results, “Gremlins” is a vacation traditional for a cause. 

Streaming on Tubi (Word: Tubi incorrectly lists the film’s title as “The Inside”).

A part of the New French Extremity wave of ultra-violent French horror pics, Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo’s “Inside” is a Christmas horror film that can make you squirm. It is Christmas Eve, and the very pregnant Sarah (Alysson Paradis) is overdue to ship her child. Sarah is not precisely excited in regards to the prospect of motherhood, nonetheless — she’s deeply depressed over the loss of life of her husband, who was killed in a automotive crash in a couple of months in the past. And Sarah’s Christmas Eve is about to be very unmerry, as a mysterious lady (Béatrice Dalle) quickly invades her residence with the will to chop Sarah’s child out of her stomach for her personal nefarious, psychotic causes. What follows is a ugly battle of cat and mouse that’s positively not for the squeamish. 

Streaming on Shudder.

“I Trapped the Satan” is a slow-burn chiller with a premise clearly borrowed from the traditional “Twilight Zone” episode “The Howling Man.” Within the movie, it is Christmas time, and Matt (A. J. Bowen) and his spouse Karen (Susan Theresa Burke) have proven up unannounced on the residence of Matt’s estranged brother Steve (Scott Poythress). Steve acts nervous and peculiar at their sudden arrival, and whereas Matt assumes it is as a result of he and his brother do not have one of the best relationship, he quickly learns the actual cause for Steve’s anxiousness: Steve has a man locked up in a room within the basement. However in line with Steve, it is no mere man he is holding prisoner, it is the Satan himself. Written and directed by Josh Lobo, “I Trapped the Satan” takes its time, constructing ambiance that lends itself completely to its chilly, wintry setting. 

Streaming on Max.

Michael Dougherty’s “Krampus” all the time leaves me slightly conflicted. On one hand, I feel the film is a triumph of manufacturing design, and it does an excellent job creating Christmas-based scares. Then again, the movie runs out of steam because it approaches its conclusion, as if Dougherty could not work out tips on how to stick the touchdown. On high of all that, it actually bugs me that the movie is firmly PG-13. I am not the form of one that thinks all horror motion pictures will need to have a tough R score, and I fully perceive that Dougherty was making an attempt to recreate the “household pleasant horror” vibe of, say, “Gremlins.” However I genuinely suppose that “Krampus” would’ve labored higher had it gone for an R score. Nonetheless, regardless of all of this, “Krampus” has its charms. Within the movie, a household is trapped of their home when the Christmas demon often called Krampus unleashes all kinds of vacation horror, together with killer toys, murderous gingerbread males, and a complete lot of snow. 

Streaming on Kanopy.

If you happen to like your Christmas horror bleak, then it’s best to take a look at Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s “The Lodge.” Colder and darker than an evening in December, “The Lodge” is a nerve-jangling expertise that by no means lets the sunshine in. Following the stunning loss of life of their mom, bratty siblings Aiden (Jaeden Martell) and Mia (Lia McHugh) are outraged that their father (Richard Armitage) is remarrying. Their new stepmom-to-be is Grace (Riley Keough), a girl who grew up in a cult that resulted in mass suicide. Grace is extraordinarily fragile, however she additionally appears very candy and really form and tries very laborious to win over the youngsters. Sadly, the youngsters are a pair of jerks, and once they get snowed-in with Grace at a cabin throughout Christmas, they determine to torment the poor lady with a mean-spirited plan. Sadly for the siblings, this plan backfires spectacularly when Grace’s sanity fully snaps. The ethical of the story: kids are terrible. 

Streaming on Netflix.

Talking of bleak Christmas motion pictures, this is “Silent Night time”! To be honest, that is formally thought of a darkish comedy, but it surely goes to such unsettling locations that I feel it qualifies as horror. Within the movie, a gaggle of posh British mates collect collectively at an enormous nation property for a Christmas celebration. Because the night descends and the celebration begins, everybody appears to be performing slightly off. And we quickly study why: as a result of results of local weather change, a toxic fuel cloud is sweeping internationally and killing everybody. There’s seemingly no escape from the loss of life cloud, so the U.Ok. authorities has handed out suicide drugs to permit of us to take issues into their very own fingers. The chums, together with their youngsters, plan to have one final vacation blowout earlier than taking the drugs. None of this sits properly with younger Artwork (Roman Griffin Davis), who tells his mother and father (Keira Knightley and Matthew Goode) that he would not wish to take the capsule, a lot to their chagrin. “Silent Night time” has moments of gallows humor comedy, but it surely additionally goes to such unrelentingly darkish locations that you just would possibly wish to skip this one should you’re not in one of the best headspace. 

Streaming on Tubi.

“Silent Night time, Lethal Night time” turned a lightning-rod for controversy when it arrived in 1984. Lately, motion pictures about killers in Santa Claus costumes are commonplace, however again then, the idea was so offensive that many individuals received up in arms (it is price noting that the majority of those folks had been protesting the movie primarily based on its now-famous poster alone, which had Santa’s hand coming out of a chimney clutching an axe). The low-budget B-picture turned so controversial that it ended up being pulled from theaters. Nonetheless, all that controversy additionally ensured the movie turned a revenue, which meant a franchise was born. All-in-all, the “Silent Night time, Lethal Night time” franchise is relatively dire. It has its moments (“Garbage day!”), but it surely’s not superb. In my humble opinion, probably the most fascinating movie within the collection is “Silent Night time, Lethal Night time 4: Initiation,” which is a sequel in name-only. This entry has nothing to do with a killer dressed like Santa Claus. As a substitute, it follows a journalist (Neith Hunter) who discovers a coven of witches making ready to make a Christmas Eve sacrifice. Directed by shock grasp Brian Yuzna, “Silent Night time, Lethal Night time 4” is extraordinarily sleazy and gross, filled with bizarre make-up results and big bugs. Pleased holidays!

Streaming on Shudder.

In 1968, BBC1 launched the brief movie “Whistle and I am going to Come to You,” primarily based on the M.R. James ghost story “Oh, Whistle, and I am going to Come to You, My Lad.” As I discussed at first of this text, Victorians had a practice of telling ghost tales on Christmas. Whereas the brief movie initially aired in Might of 1968, it lead on to the anthology collection “A Ghost Story for Christmas,” a collection of brief movies impressed by traditional ghost tales that will air on the BBC across the vacation season. A number of of the “Ghost Story for Christmas” specials have now been added to horror streaming platform Shudder simply in time for the vacation season, together with “Whistle and I am going to Come to You,” which might be one of the best of the bunch. Whereas the story is not set on Christmas, it’s totally a lot within the Christmas ghost story custom, and it manages to generate loads of chills and thrills. Michael Hordern performs Professor Parkin, a solitary man liable to mumbling to himself. Parkin is on vacation at a seaside lodge throughout the winter, and at some point, whereas strolling in a close-by cemetery, he finds a whistle. Curious, Parkin blows into instrument, which proves to be a nasty concept because it appears to summon some form of supernatural power that begins tormenting this poor man. Or possibly it is all in his head? Spooky and unusual, “Whistle and I am going to Come to You” is the right vacation horror deal with.