‘Twas Christmas Adam, and the twinkling lights stretched as far as the eye could see. Carolers weaved from door to door, and the festive spirit was finally starting to take hold.
As we grow older, the holiday season often brings more stress than the joy we remember from childhood. While we certainly hope this isn’t the case for you, especially after the trials the world has faced in recent years, we recognize that it can sometimes feel like the magic of Christmas has faded. So, to bring some merriment back to your holidays, we thought it might be a bit cathartic this Christmas to settle in with a mince pie and a glass of mulled wine, while watching others endure a little more suffering than we do. To that end, we’ve put together a list of our favorite festive shockers—no heartwarming family moments here, just plenty of violence, blood, and angst, spiced with dark humor and a festive spirit that’s anything but merry.
The Children is a spine-chilling holiday horror flick that will make you think twice about having kids over for Christmas dinner! Director Tom Shankland delivers a fright-filled package of yuletide terror that starts with an idyllic family gathering in a snowy winter wonderland. But the festive mood quickly turns fearful as a mysterious virus begins to spread, transforming the innocent youngsters into pint-sized psychopaths with a taste for blood.
As the body count rises and the freak accidents grow more grisly, the horrified adults must fight for their lives against the murderous munchkins.
The children’s performances are hauntingly brilliant, and the fact that they are never directly caught in the act only adds to their sinister presence, making them even more menacing. The Children is a holiday scream that will make you want to lock up the little ones until the New Year.
In a chilling twist on the traditional Christmas movie, the Dutch horror film Saint delivers a terrifying tale that will make you think twice about leaving out cookies for Santa this year.
Directed by Dick Maas, known for his darkly comedic and gory style, the film introduces international audiences to the little-known legend of Zwarte Piet, Saint Nicholas’s menacing counterpart in Dutch folklore. According to the tale, each December 5th on the eve of Saint Nicholas Day, Sinterklaas and his shadowy sidekick visit homes to reward good children with presents, while the naughty ones are abducted in a sack and dragged off to Spain as punishment. However, in Maas’s blood-soaked reimagining, a ghostly Saint Nicholas arrives on the scene this year to unleash a rampage of gruesome killings and destruction.
With its frenetic pacing, inventive death scenes, and macabre sense of humor, Saint gleefully subverts holiday movie tropes, transforming joyful Christmas imagery into fuel for nightmares.
Get ready to jingle all the way to a zombie apocalypse in John McPhail’s wildly entertaining musical gore-fest!
Starring Ella Hunt, Mark Benton, and Paul Kaye, this festive fright fest is as sweet as a candy cane and just as deadly. Anna Shepherd (Hunt) is counting down the days until the end of high school, with big plans to see the world before settling into university life—much to the chagrin of her hopeful, widowed father. But just as she’s about to start her globe-trotting adventure, a zombie apocalypse crashes her plans and takes a big bite out of her quiet Scottish town. Now, Anna and her friends must fight, slash, and sing their way to survival, as they face off against the living dead in a desperate race to reach their loved ones.
In short, it’s like Shaun of the Dead meets Footloose, with a pinch of High School Musical—gore, grit, and toe-tapping tunes all wrapped up in a Christmas cracker of chaos. Just remember: if you’re going to slay zombies, you might as well do it with a beat!
The Brain is a delightfully campy Christmas caper that wraps up 1950s B-movie madness with a big shiny bow of holiday hilarity. This festive flick is stuffed like a stocking with cheesy sci-fi fun, as a TV psychologist with a popular program uses said show to take over the world with the help of a gigantic brain. Enter our wisecracking teen hero, sent to the psychologist’s institute and determined to unwrap the truth behind this mind-control scheme.
The only thing standing between the psychologist and world domination is this clever but troubled high school student, whose pranks are sharp enough to slice through any sinister plot.
It’s a gift of goofy, nostalgic delight that blends mind-control mania with merry mayhem and serves it up with all the trimmings.!
Directed by Steven C. Miller (Werewolves) and starring Jamie King, Malcolm McDowell, Brendan Fehr, and Ellen Wong, Silent Night is a bloody stocking full of holiday horror. Set in a small American town, the film follows a killer Santa Claus who’s checking his naughty list—and crossing off names with a vengeance on Christmas Eve. As the body count rises, it’s up to the staff at the local Sheriff’s office to stop the murderous jolly old man before the town’s holiday cheer is completely snowed under.
What really shines here is Miller’s full-throttle embrace of horror tropes. He’s crafted a gore-soaked rollercoaster that delivers creative kills, a villain who’ll make you think twice about Christmas presents, and a wicked sense of dark humor that keeps things from getting too grim.
Miller doesn’t just update a classic slasher with a festive twist—he’s baked up a film that not only honors the original but stands proudly on its own, serving up a yuletide terror you won’t soon forget.
Tyler MacIntyre’s (Tragedy Girls; V/H/S/99) festive shocker, It’s A Wonderful Knife is a gift you won’t want to miss..
Directed by MacIntyre and written by Michael Kennedy (Freaky), this Christmas thriller unwraps the story of Winnie Carruthers, who, one year after saving her town from a psychotic killer on Christmas Eve, finds herself in a life that’s far from merry. But when she wishes she’d never been born, Winnie is thrown into a nightmarish parallel universe, where she discovers that without her, things have gone horribly wrong. Now, the killer is back, and it’s up to Winnie to team up with the town misfit to track down the murderer and find her way back to her own reality. It’s It’s A Wonderful Life meets Scream—full of holiday terror, dark humor, and enough twists to keep you on the edge of your sleigh!
The Curse of the Cat People is a beguiling and bewitching holiday gem that weaves an atmospheric tale of a lonely young girl’s descent into a dream world of her own imagining. Set against the frosty backdrop of a picturesque small town during the Christmas season, this slow-burn ghost story follows the imaginative Amy, who increasingly retreats into flights of fantasy, much to the concern of her well-meaning but worried father Oliver. Bereft of friends her own age, Amy conjures up an ethereal companion in Irena, the spirit of her deceased mother, and also forges a touching connection with the reclusive actress Julia Farren, who lives a life of solitude in her inviting, cozy abode. But one snowy evening, after a fiery argument with her father, Amy dashes out into the howling blizzard, triggering a frantic search party to track down the lost child amidst the swirling snowflakes and biting cold.
The film evokes the spellbinding aura of Victorian-era Christmas ghost stories of yore, with Amy serving as the unreliable narrator guiding us through her haunting, dreamlike journey. The unsettling atmosphere, juxtaposed against the festive yuletide setting, imbues the film with a hauntingly magical quality.
Next up is Fabrice A. Zaphiratos’ delightfully demented slice of yuletide horror that’s sure to deck your halls with boughs of art-house sensibilities and over-the-top splatter.
When Sarah and her boyfriend Ted head to rural Wisconsin to spend Christmas with her family, little do they suspect the ancient evil that lurks in the snow-covered woods. Before you can say “I saw Mommy slicing Santa Claus”, Sarah unwittingly awakens the vengeful spirit of a bloodthirsty samurai warrior, who proceeds to hack and slash his way through the holiday festivities.
Brimming with surreal imagery, gory set-pieces, and a gonzo anything-goes attitude, this crimson-soaked Christmas cracker packs plenty of pulse-pounding suspense and delivers more than its fair share of holiday hacking.
Very few holiday horrors can compete with the sheer level of bizarre perversion and festive chaos that Jeffrey Mandel’s creature feature delivers.
Starring Julie Austin as Kirsten, a young woman who unknowingly awakens a demonic Christmas elf after slicing her hand during a pagan Anti-Christmas ritual (because that’s what we all do in the woods, right?), this film takes a wild turn. It turns out that this elf is a key player in a neo-Nazi plot to create the ultimate “master race”—because what says Christmas like a little bit of WWII-era conspiracy, right?
Kirsten and her friends end up trapped in a mall store with this killer elf, and the only person who can save them is Mike McGavin, an alcoholic ex-cop turned mall Santa, who’s probably been hitting the eggnog a little too hard. Elves is hands-down one of the best “so-bad-it’s-good” Christmas horror movies you’ll ever have the dubious pleasure of watching.
This 1971 horror-comedy gem puts a twisted spin on the classic “Hansel and Gretel” fairy tale. Shelley Winters stars as the titular Auntie Roo, a wealthy widow who lives in a sprawling mansion in 1920s England. Each Christmas, she opens her home to a group of orphans, showering them with lavish gifts and festive cheer. But this year, things take a dark turn when Roo becomes fixated on a little girl who bears an uncanny resemblance to her deceased daughter.
In a misguided attempt to keep the child all to herself, Roo locks the poor girl away in her attic. When the girl’s brother tries to sound the alarm, his warnings fall on deaf ears – after all, who would suspect the kindly Auntie Roo of such nefarious deeds? With no one else to turn to, the brave boy must take matters into his own hands and embark on a daring Christmas Eve rescue mission to save his sister from Roo’s clutches.
Filled with campy humor, over-the-top performances, and plenty of holiday horror, “Who Slew Auntie Roo?” is a gleefully absurd romp that’s sure to delight fans of offbeat Christmas fare. It may not be a traditional feel-good flick, but it’s guaranteed to spice up your holiday viewing with its delicious blend of yuletide fun and Gothic thrills.
