Tis the season for holiday horror!
Whether you're baking cookies or fantasizing about setting the tree on fire, holiday horror films are perfect for any Christmas mood. They're that ideal blend of thematic cheer and commercial cynicism that screams, "I'm having a good time, but only because it could be worse!" that you probably feel most holiday seasons — but especially during this one.
From mutant gingerbread men and rosy-cheeked killers to stories of betrayal and twisted tragedies, the creepy Christmas catalog is vast. We've combed through and picked out 25 of the best to get your horrifying holiday going. Enjoy, goblins!
25. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
OK, I know The Nightmare Before Christmas doesn't belong on here — but it also doesn't not belong on here. Tim Burton's animated Halloween-meets-Christmas classic is only a horror film if you choose to deeply meditate on some of Oogie Boogie's grosser behaviors (and honestly, who is doing that?) Still, it's got enough of that wintery spookiness to make it a worthy title for anyone looking to scratch that Christmas-time horror itch. Plus, ya just gotta love Zero. Who's a good ghost dog?!
How to watch: The Nightmare Before Christmas is now streaming on Disney+.
24. Inside (2007)
This is basically the Die Hard of this list, more set during Christmas than it is a horror movie about Christmas. Inside is a gore-soaked jewel in the crown of the French Extremity craze of the 2000s, a time when "torture porn" horror was all the rage.
But director Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo's freaky film works because of its très important holiday vibes, which emphasize our main character's state of loneliness. On Christmas Eve, pregnant widow Sarah (Alysson Paradis) is in a deep depression mourning her husband, who was killed in a car accident just a couple of months previously.
That's when a stranger — known simply as The Woman (Béatrice Dalle) — comes knocking on her door. And like the Grinch before her, The Woman has come to take, not give. Specifically, she wants to take the baby right out of Sarah's belly to be her own. What follows is a bloody battle royale between the two women that will test even the heartiest of gorehounds. — Jason Adams, Entertainment Reporter
How to watch: Inside is now streaming on Tubi.
23. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)
Alright, this hidden gem — which I cannot believe I only found out about in 2020 — is so good it almost makes me want to learn Finnish. (Yes, it has subtitles and some of it is in English, but I want the whole essence!) Directed by Jalmari Helander, Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale tells the story of a father and son, played by real father and son Jorma and Onni Tommulia, who discover the horrific origins of Santa Claus amid an archaeological dig. Better off not spoiled, just watch this one now.
How to watch: Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale is now streaming on Peacock.
22. Black Christmas (1974)
Ah, one of the longest-lasting franchises in the holiday horror subgenre. Director Bob Clark's 1974 slasher Black Christmas has been remade twice; once in 2006 and again in 2019. Both revisits were pretty good, but it's tough to outdo a film as timelessly terrifying as the original. Following a group of sorority sisters hunted by a sadistic killer, Black Christmas delivers a staggeringly believable portrayal of murder at the holiday season you won't soon forget.
How to watch: Black Christmas is now streaming on Shudder.
21. Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
Silent Night, Deadly Night gained much of its fame by pissing off Green Bay Packers fans with a poorly timed TV advertisement. (OK, it's more complicated than that; but honestly, not by much. People in the '80s needed to chill.) Since then, the killer Santa slasher has gained a cult following for its bizarre portrait of a dude deeply warped by a childhood misunderstanding of naughty and nice. There's Christmas light stranglings, tons of ax throwing, and a surprising amount of nudity.
How to watch: Silent Night, Deadly Night is now streaming on Roku Premium.
20. Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)
Zombieland meets Broadway-level Christmas carols in this bonkers holiday apocalypse musical. Starring Ella Hunt as the titular Anna, Anna and the Apocalypse tells the story of a high school senior in Scotland struggling to face the end of her childhood when a zombie outbreak hits her small town. With great songs and some extremely fun undead choreography, Anna and the Apocalypse isn't all that scary — but it is screamingly festive.
How to watch: Anna and the Apocalypse is now streaming on Shudder, and is also available on Apple TV+, Amazon Prime, Vudu, and more.
19. The Lodge (2019)
OK, The Lodge is the bleakest title on this list, bar none. If you're looking for a fun holiday horror flick, this is not it. I repeat: this is NOT it. Now, that said, this psychological nightmare is a great choice if you're looking for an unnerving horror experience that combines The Shining with occultism. Intrigued? Starring Riley Keough as an unwelcome girlfriend on Christmas vacation with her boyfriend's kids, played by Jaeden Martell and Lia McHugh, The Lodge foregoes traditional scares for slow-burn tension and shocking implications.
How to watch: The Lodge is now streaming on Max.
18. Jack Frost (1997)
No, this is not the 1998 holiday film starring Michael Keaton as a snowman — that Jack Frost is far better. This Jack Frost, directed by Michael Cooney and released in 1997, instead serves as a stand-in for all those holiday horror movies that are great to have on in the background...but not all that fun to actually sit down and watch. Killer snowman could definitely make for a super fun horror movie, that's just not what happens here — what with Jack Frost's ridiculously awkward pacing and barely coherent plot structure. Still, it is a great visual to enjoy while you wrap presents or bake cookies. If you need more recs along those lines, try The Gingerdead Man and Santa Jaws.
How to watch: Jack Frost is now streaming on Peacock.
17. Black Christmas (2019)
If you want a more modern spin on slashers, this remake will satisfy, as it's ripe with violence with a sharp political edge. Writer/director Sophia Takal and co-writer April Wolfe take the framework of the original and weave in a tale of toxic masculinity and the horrors of rape culture. When a mysterious cyber stalker takes his sinister schtick to home invasion, the sisters of Mu Kappa Epsilon must band together to survive the holiday. With a PG-13 rating, this one's less gory than the original, but still presents plenty of scares. — Kristy Puchko, Film Editor
How to watch: Black Christmas is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
16. Sint (2011)
This pitch-black horror-comedy from Dutch director Dick Maas dives into the mythic origin of one Mr. Claus. Known Europe-side as the Sinterklaas, he's a terrifying hooded figure on horseback who carries a birch stick to beat bad children who he tosses in his sack to carry them away from their families forever.
Sint ratchets all of that up 10 notches, claiming that when the festive night of celebration overlaps with a full moon, Saint Niklas rides in on his white steed and just starts murdering everybody in sight. Stopping him falls to a teenager on the lam (Egbert Jan Weeber) and the cop (Bert Luppes) who was the only survivor the last time Nicklas went on one of his murder sprees. Way over the top to the point of being downright silly, Sint is a mean-spirited holiday hoot. Cutting a bloody swath through town, wielding a golden staff and crown, the diabolical Saint alone makes this one worth a spin. — J.A.
How to watch: Sint is now streaming on AMC+.
15. Better Watch Out (2016)
Better Watch Out may have some awkward pacing and confusing character development. But thanks to its one truly spectacular Home Alone reference, it makes this list. Dying to see what I mean? In this surprising home invasion story, Levi Miller stars as a preteen with a crush on his teenage babysitter, played by Olivia DeJonge. The two enjoy a relatively normal (albeit awkward) Christmas night in together, until a strange voice calls the house.
How to watch: Better Watch Out is now streaming on Prime Video
14. Christmas Evil (1980)
When it comes to the rampaging Santa hall of holiday infamy, the slasher Christmas Evil (aka You Better Watch Out, aka Terror in Toyland) always gets overshadowed by the 1984's Silent Night Deadly Night. Which is a shame because Christmas Evil makes that festive cult classic seem like child's play. A favorite of no less than John Waters, this thing is one eggnog off the deep end.
In an opening flashback we meet a little boy named Harry (Gus Salud) who spies on Mommy doing more, a lot more, than just kissing with Santa Claus. Cut to years later and adult Harry (Brandon Maggart) gets his holly-jollies off by gluing a beard to his face and keeping a list of whether the local kids are "naughty" or "nice." Harry's deranged reindeer games all have a tinge of sexual perversion to them that makes Christmas Evil really get under your skin, but it's all so deeply bizarre that you'll laugh as much as you squirm. — J.A.
How to watch: Christmas Evil is now streaming on Prime Video.
13. Holidays (2016)
Vertical Entertainment's shabby Holidays isn't strictly a Christmas joint — but it does crescendo with a bizarre Black Mirror-meets-Dexter Christmas short good enough to earn a spot on this list. Comprising eight short horror films based on eight holidays (Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Halloween, Christmas, and New Year's Eve, in that order), Holidays reimagines the greeting card aisle through its grimy, offbeat lens. It's uneven and often unsatisfying. Still, it gets at the very spirit of holiday horror with excess camp and great effects.
How to watch: Holidays is now streaming on AMC+.
12. Silent Night (2021)
An affluent family of beautiful, well-dressed Brits (led by Keira Knightley and Matthew Goode) annually gather at their mansion to celebrate the holiday. This year, however, is a little bit different, as news arises of a "toxic gas cloud slowly enveloping the earth and killing everyone and everything in its path" happening outside their manor walls. This turns the yuletide festivities into a big, fancy end-of-days party – instead of peppermint canes or even coal, everybody's getting a cyanide pill in their stockings this year!
Pitch-black but mordantly funny, writer-director Camille Griffin delivers an apocalyptic family drama a la Melancholia, just with glittery ornaments and old feuds taking the place of descending planetoids and Kirsten Dunst tasting ash. It's like The Ref, but with poisonous tornados obliterating grandma. — J.A.
How to watch: Silent Night is now streaming on Netflix.
11. Into the Dark: Pooka! (2018)
The first Christmas installment in Hulu's Into the Dark anthology, Pooka! tells the surprisingly sad story of Wilson, played by Nyasha Hatendi. A down-on-his-luck actor tasked with promoting a new toy for the Christmas season, Wilson begins the film the victim of a campy premise. Soon, however, the story morphs into a far more complex portrayal of selfishness and guilt.
If you love Pooka!, then definitely check out its sequel, Pooka Lives! The second one doesn't touch on any Christmas themes at all, but think of it like Pooka!'s Evil Dead 2. It takes everything that Pooka! did seriously, and turns it up to a hilarious extreme.
How to watch: Pooka! is now streaming on Hulu.
10. Into the Dark: A Nasty Piece of Work (2019)
Fans of Ready or Not can enjoy another brutal game night in the house of a conceited rich dude with Into the Dark's A Nasty Piece of Work. In this Belko Experiment-meets-National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation mash-up, Kyle Howard stars as Ted, a corporate underling vying for his holiday bonus at a terrifying work dinner party. Julian Sands and Molly Hagan undeniably steal the show as Ted's evil boss and his equally evil wife, but the whole cast nails it in this ensemble horror-comedy.
How to watch: A Nasty Piece of Work is now streaming on Hulu.
9. Krampus (2015)
Wow, where to begin with Krampus? From Adam Scott and Toni Collette as a sniping couple to the best demonic toys since Child's Play, Krampus delivers a nativity of cinematic terror through an eerie, apocalyptic tone vaguely akin to The Mist. It takes a long time for the chaos of Krampus to kick off, and the deeply unlikable family at its center does not make that waiting easy. But once the demon of European folklore does appear, this hellish sleigh ride is frightfully fantastic.
How to watch: Krampus is now streaming on Peacock.
8. A Christmas Horror Story (2015)
It's another holiday horror anthology, but unlike Holidays, this one's all Christmas. In A Christmas Horror Story, William Shatner plays a radio DJ telling four tales of Christmases involving ghosts, changelings, Krampus, and zombie elves. It's an extremely bumpy viewing experience (with a final act revelation that borders on annoying), but it's got a high-enough production value and a committed-enough cast to make you believe in the magic of its mayhem. At least, some of it.
How to watch: A Christmas Horror Story is now streaming on Shudder.
7. Tales From the Crypt (1972)
Get those visions of the cackling skeleton Crypt Keeper out of your head. This British film from Hammer director and David Lynch cinematographer Freddie Francis has nothing to do with that legendary HBO series from the ‘90s (nor the updated version on Shudder). The only thing they have in common is that this is an anthology format consisting of five unrelated stories, each shared in a wraparound tale that's told by a character that is indeed called The Crypt Keeper (Ralph Richardson wearing a hooded robe).
Admittedly, only one of the stories is a Christmas story! But "And All Through the House" is so much fun it alone justifies the film’s inclusion on this list. Legend Joan Collins stars as a wicked glamourpuss who murders her husband on Christmas Eve. But before she can get away with it, a deranged Santa Claus shows up at her door to attempt his own brand of ho-ho-homicide. There are only so many perfect pleasures in life, but seeing Joan Collins battle a murderous Santa is so obviously one of them. — J.A.
How to watch: Tales From the Crypt is now streaming on Tubi.
6. Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022)
Killer Santa, but a robot? That's the goofy fun premise of Christmas Bloody Christmas, which fully embraces sheer absurdity from its start. A news broadcast tells us everything we need to know right upfront — a bunch of robotic Santas have been recalled because a glitch in their systems has reverted them to their original programming, which came from the Department of Defense. OK? Sure. Naturally. Why wouldn't it? And if that nonsense makes you giggle, this movie's got your number. It's basically Terminator in tinsel focusing on a young woman (Riley Dandy) who is stalked by a robo-Claus that kills everybody in its way. That is, until the two showdown in a sparking neon-lit extravaganza! — J.A.
How to watch: Christmas Bloody Christmas is now streaming on Shudder.
5. It's a Wonderful Knife (2023)
If you couldn't tell from the wordplay in the title, this wintry gem is a slasher riff on Frank Capra's holiday classic It's a Wonderful Life. This time around, the world-weary protagonist is a high-schooler named Winnie (Jane Widdop), who wishes on a star that she'd never been born… unfortunately forgetting that she was the Final Girl a year earlier who'd stopped a murderer called The Angel from killing a bunch of people.
When Winnie's Christmas wish comes true, she finds herself transported to an alternate timeline — one in which she'd never stopped the killer. So it becomes her duty to once again stop The Angel in his or her tracks, before they can slash the entire town to ribbons and bows. All this while she feels adrift in a weird reality where nobody she knows and loves recognizes her. It's no surprise that Winnie finds herself bonding with a girl named Bernie (Jess McLeod) that she barely noticed in her old timeline. This opens up a whole other can of worms, though, as feelings start to develop between the two that complicate which timeline Winnie feels the most tied to.
Written by Michael Kennedy (the screenwriter behind the 2020 body-swapping slasher Freaky) this high-concept (and queer as hell) Christmas horror proves home is where the heart is. And then stabs a really big fucking knife through it. Again and again and again and again. — J.A.
How to watch: It's a Wonderful Knife is now streaming on Hulu.
4. Violent Night (2022)
Dead Snow director Tommy Wirkola flips the script on the killer Claus concept by presenting a Santa who kills for good! Starring Stranger Things' David Harbour as the man in red, Violent Night sees the jolly gift-giver minding his own damn business one Christmas Eve, delivering toys as he does every damn year. When what should appear … but a hostage situation. It's up to this hard-headed Santa to kick ass and save the (holi)day, one defenestration at a time.
Co-starring John Leguizamo as "Mr. Scrooge," the leader of the festively nicknamed nogoodniks, and Beverly D'Angelo (ye icon of Christmas Vacation) as a rich matron, Violent Night has nothing in its sights but delivering scenes of Jolly Saint Nick committing extremely gratuitous spectacles of action-hero violence. As such, it's 10 trays full of cookies and a hundred glasses of milk — comfort food for the seasonally dubious. — J.A.
How to watch: Violent Night is now streaming on Starz.
3. The Sacrifice Game (2023)
Nothing says deck the halls quite like Satanic rituals, and director Jenn Wexler's The Sacrifice Game has boughs of horror and blazing yule logs a'plenty. Nestling in among the students of the all-girls boarding school the Blackvale Academy, a couple of girls with nowhere to go for the holiday — and nothing in common but these momentarily difficult circumstances — hunker down for a depressing week together. (Yes, it's very The Holdovers.)
The girls soon find out they'll have to bond fast though, because a bad moon's a'rising outdoors where a roving band of Manson Family-esque serial killers are lurking about. Turns out one of them (Olivia Scott Welch) is a Blackvale alum, wielding plenty of inside knowledge about the grand old home. When the gang find themselves in need of a hideout — and a virgin for a demon-summoning spell — it's back to school they go, hoping to turn their dark magicks into darker reality. The Sacrifice Game, a twisty one indeed, keeps undoing our assumptions about who's good and who's bad behind this school's gates. Nobody's quite who they seem on the skin of it, and their school-girl secrets make for a quick spin straight into holiday hellfire. — J.A.
How to watch: The Sacrifice Game is now streaming on Shudder.
2. There's Something in the Barn (2023)
This offering out of Norway lays like National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation with a killer elf. (Sidenote: Why the heck didn't one of the National Lampoon Vacation movies have a killer elf in it???) There's Something in the Barn stars Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead's Martin Starr as the optimistic family man Bill, who's relocated his wife (Amrita Acharia) and two kids from the U.S. to his ancestral family farm in the snowy mountains of Norway. And the rest of the family isn't thrilled about it.
But little did cheerful Bill realize that there would be a territorial barn elf (Kiran Shah) living on the property. Before you know it, a clash between American culture and barn elf tradition erupts — for one, barn elves can't stand loud music or bright lights, which really messes with Bill's loud, bright holiday-decorating plans. There's Something in the Barn is really more of a comedy than it is horror for most of its runtime, but its last act lets fully loose as the blood turns the snow red in the two sides' war for merry dominance. — J.A.
How to watch: There's Something in the Barn is now streaming on Netflix.
1. Gremlins (1984)
What horror fan doesn't want a mogwai for Christmas? In Joe Dante's horror comedy classic, Zach Galligan stars as Billy Peltzer — a young bank teller gifted a dangerous creature for the holidays. Iconic for its adorable main "monster" and spectacular vignettes (I will never get over the gremlins drinking at a bar), Gremlins is a sci-fi tour through classic Christmas nostalgia that never disappoints. Well, except for Phoebe Cates' whole "Dad got stuck in a chimney" monologue. That bit is always kind of a bummer.
How to watch: Gremlins is now streaming on Max.
UPDATE: Oct. 31, 2024, 3:33 p.m. EDT This article was originally published on Dec. 15, 2020. It has been updated to included the latest streaming options.
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