Painting the pristine white snow red with blood, Christmas horror has become as much a tradition as the same old, derivative Christmas themed rom-coms we pretend to enjoy. Besides, why stop the horror movie marathon with Halloween when there’s a whole season of festivities culminating with a stranger breaking into your home and climbing down your chimney to come? As if the thought of a man in a red jumpsuit breaking into your home at the dead of night isn’t frightening enough, Christmas is also a time to tell chilling ghost stories courtesy of Dickens, and frighten children with tales of horned Christmas devils and hairy green Grinch’s.
A typical Christmas movie marathon might consist of It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), Elf (2006), Home Alone (1990), and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989). Though over the years that has extended to some less traditional, yet essential viewings from Batman Returns (1992) to Die Hard (1988). Typically, the themes of the films will result in a burdened, anti-social brooding hero becoming more empathetic and charitable, often after being forced to recognise the hardships of others. As warming and spiritually cleansing as these stories may be, naturally there are other creative minds who have a different vision for Christmas. One that pulls from the more macabre and seek to satisfy the frustrations and stresses of Christmas time with festive horror. Besides, Home Alone is only a splatter of blood and a few strewn corpses away from being a Christmas horror home-invasion movie itself. The Christmas equivalent of The Strangers, perhaps.
While we think of a murder fuelled Santa with a need to spread Christmas cheer with bloodied festive sheers as a relatively new craze, we should remember that Christmas tradition had its fair share of horror before cheesy low budget, straight to video directors got their cameras on it. Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, for instance, is the story in which the boorish misery, Ebenezer Scrooge, is haunted by ghosts, terrorising him half to death with deadly premonitions of his own miserable, lonely death, unless he changes his greedy ways: essentially paranormal horror before the likes of Oren Peli. In folk tradition meanwhile, Krampus is an anthropomorphic horned figure from Central and Eastern Alpine folklore who similarly sought to terrorise children who had misbehaved. Teaming up with the good Saint Nicholas, horror cinema has naturally taken Krampus and transformed him into a devilish festive killer, making for a tradition of fun deviations from the white washed Christmas flicks that attempt to evoke a sense of nostalgia for an era unfamiliar to many of us.
Aside from the fact that a bearded man with a large sack sneaking into our homes while we sleep is creepy enough without him dying his green suit the iconic red with blood, horror has often found a knack for subverting the norm and thrives off juxtaposing the innocent with the horrific – such as creepy kids or supernatural dolls. Or in this case, showing how jingle bells can be used as a make shift noose. During a time of celebration, where we’re encouraged to embrace our more jovial side with eggnog, Lampoon holiday goofs and roasts, there’s something oddly cathartic about the way Christmas horror movies subvert these expectations and allow us to vent the more frustrating aspects of this time of year, while the best of these films tend to retain the essential Christmas atmosphere amongst the bloody tension and streams of gore.
If you’re bored by the Christmas cinema clichés, why not swap out Miracle on 34th Street for Krampus, or Silent Night, Deadly Night? The unique Anna and the Apocalypse even manages to bring zombies with the traditional Christmas themes and musicals that plague TV film guides this time of year, while Tim Burton’s twisted Nightmare Before Christmas presents ideas familiar to Scrooge or the Grinch, in which the naive Jack Skelington – a patron of Halloween – learns the true meaning of Christmas in gloriously gothic Burton style. Though despite what the films climax might suggest, there is definitely space for a little spook and horror during Christmas time, so here are a few Christmas themed horror movies to add a viscous splatter of red to your white Christmas.
Black Christmas (1974)
While Christmas horror movies existed before Bob Clarke’s twisted holiday slasher, Black Christmas has often been cited as one of the earliest slasher flicks, pre-dating yet overlooked by John Carpenter’s iconic Halloween (1978). Introducing now familiar slasher tropes, the quintessential Christmas horror was inspired by “The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs” – akin to Scream or One Missed Call – and follows a group of sorority sisters who are gradually killed off after receiving obscene phone calls. It utilised the atmosphere of Christmas, with its lighting, snow and festive decorations, in a way that, like other successful Christmas horror movies, created a juxtaposition between its Christmas themed backdrop and darker horror action. With a mysterious maniacal killer, obscene yet creative kills, topped off with festive decor, and a twist ending, Bob Clarke introduced Christmas cinema to something audiences hadn’t seen before, that is still just as haunting today as Scrooge’s ghostly visitors.
Krampus (2015)
Presenting concerns about consumerism, obnoxious extended family, gingerbread ninjas, vicious, disgruntled elves, and child-eating Jack-In-The-Boxes; Krampus couldn’t possibly get more Christmassy unless it included a beloved character associated with Yuletide folklore. From the disturbed mind behind the Halloween anthology film Trick ‘r Treat, Michael Dougherty’s own disturbed take on the festive season is as much a Christmas horror classic as Black Christmas by now.
Anna and the Apocalypse (2018)
What better way to celebrate Christmas than with a musical? How about one that brings Christmas, musicals, and zombies together in John McPhail’s seasonal smash-hit zombie musical, Anna and the Apocalypse? It follows the titular high schooler Anna (Ella Hunt) as she sings her way through a Scottish winter wonderland infested with zombies, blending catchy Hollywood musical tracks with undead cannibalism, not to mention the odd beheading. As the plot moves on, like any good Christmas carol, Anna’s cynical views that see the mockery of holiday cheer around every corner during the festive season, develop to accepting the seasons jovial tidings in a surprisingly feel-good flick with catchy tunes… and a surge of walking cannibalistic corpses.
Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
Home invasion horror movies, from the excellent Hush to The Strangers, play on our very practical real world fear of persons unknown breaking and entering the sanctity of our homes – making the one place we should feel safest become a place of vulnerability. Given the premise of the usually jolly Father Christmas entering our homes uninvited and unannounced, its fair to say he’s got quite a lengthy list of offences to face, without adding bloody murder to the mix. Charles E. Sellier, Jr.’s 1984 psychological slasher, Silent Night, Deadly Night, is the ultimate axe-wielding Santa slasher to watch over Christmas, which went on to form a strong cult following, four sequels and a remake, with a reboot hidden in Santa’s sack for 2022.
Silent Night, Deadly Night follows Billy Chapman, warned to fear Santa Claus at the age of 5, because while he gives presents to good children, the bad ones are punished, showing a fundamental lack of faith in the child at such a young age. Following the trend of Bruce Wayne, a criminal casually dressed as Santa crosses paths with Billy and his family, leading to the brutal murder of his parents, and a lot of childhood trauma. Years later, we start to see the toll this once-in-a-lifetime encounter with Santa as a child has had on him as he grows older, dishing out his own punishments to those on his “naughty list”…
Gremlins (1984)
A chaotic, cartoonishly anarchic tale featuring everyone’s favourite Furby, the Mogwai Gizmo. Billy is given a set of very explicit instructions: don’t feed the Mogwai or get it wet after midnight. Of course this very simple set of instructions is swiftly defied, and the result is a mischievous band of scaly green gremlins with a penchant for wreaking havoc and mayhem. From launching an orderlies in stairlifts through the roof, to barroom invasions, 1984s Gremlins is as charming as Gizmo is adorable, and comically disturbing as Stripe’s mohawk.
