| Marisa LaScala |
It’s a Wonderful Knife (2023)
The creators of this call it It’s a Wonderful Life by way of Scream — and with movies like Freaky under their belt, you can start to get a sense of the irreverent tone. It’s about a girl who stopped a Christmas serial killer in her hometown; one year later, depressed, she says she thinks people would be better off if she had never been born, and the killer returns when her wish is granted.
Silent Night (2023)
This one is more of a gory action/revenge thriller than a true, scare-you-to-your-bones horror movie, but it’ll get your adrenaline pumping all the same. From famed director John Woo, the film is about a man (Joel Kinnaman) who goes on a Christmas Eve rampage to avenge the death of his son. The twist: It takes the “silent” part seriously — it’s a movie without dialogue.
Violent Night (2022)
It’s Christmas meets The Raid in this thriller, starring David Harbour from Stranger Things as a punch-packing Santa. When St. Nick arrives at a house in the middle of a robbery, he has to fight his way out and save the family or else Christmas will be ruined.
Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022)
The Santa in this one is fake — a robotic decoration at a nearby toy store — but when it goes haywire, it’s bad news. Can a local record-store owner and her employee make it through the night?
Silent Night (2021)
This film is a horror movie in that is has that creeping, existential dread kind of feeling. (No slashers.) Matthew Goode and Kiera Knightley star in a movie about a group of people who get together for one last Christmas before an environmental apocalypse, so there are also elements of end-of-the-world movies in there.
The Advent Calendar (2021)
We all love advent calendars, but this is one that’d make anyone say, “No thanks.” It’s gifted to Eve, a paraplegic who uses a wheelchair, and each day the gifts get more and more ominous. Is it all just a joke, or is something sinister going on?
Red Snow (2021)
It’s about time someone mixed Christmas and vampires. (Santa and Dracula: both immortal.) In this holiday horror comedy, a struggling romance writer takes to a secluded cabin to write during the holidays, only to have a bat crash into her window — and turn into a handsome bloodsucker named Luke.
The Lodge (2020)
This movie doesn’t have a ton of Christmas cheer — no Santa, no elves — but it is incredibly chilling. Riley Keough stars as a woman who is going to take her fiancé’s kids to his vacation cabin for a few days over the Christmas break before he can join them. When she starts to experience supernatural events, seemingly connected to her past, she has to figure out if it’s her mind playing tricks on her, or if the scares are real.
13 Slays Until X-Mas (2020)
There’s something about the holiday horror genre that really lends itself to the anthology format — there are quite a few on this list. In this one, five men are invited to a bar on Christmas Eve and, as they await their host, they start swapping scary stories. There are, as the title suggests, 13 stories in total.
Hosts (2020)
Don’t you hate it when your holiday guests turn evil? This movie is about a family that invites their neighbors, a seemingly nice young couple, over for Christmas Eve dinner, not realizing that their guests have become host to a malevolent entity that wants to take over the world.
Fatman (2020)
What happens when the naughty vow revenge? In this movie, Mel Gibson takes up the mantle of Chris Cringle, who actually lives in Alaska and also has a contract manufacturing for the government. When a naughty kid receives a lump of coal, he hires a hitman (played by Walton Goggins) to get through the government guards and kill Santa. (That’s very, very naughty.)
Black Christmas (2019)
You can actually choose between three versions of Black Christmas: There’s the (excellent) 1974 original with Margot Kidder and Olivia Hussey, the 2006 remake directed by X-Files alum Glen Morgan or the most recent take on the material, the 2019 remake, with a female writing/directing team of Sophia Takal and April Wolfe. All versions of the film follow a group of sorority girls as they’re stalked by a terrifying stranger during their Christmas break.
I Trapped the Devil (2019)
The setup is pure Halloween: A man named Steve has locked a person in his basement, believing he is the devil. Things take a turn, though, when Steve’s brother and sister-in-law show up unannounced to celebrate the holidays. Can Steve get them to believe him?
Anna and the Apocalypse (2018)
Okay, so Anna and the Apocalypse is a little bit more “comedy” than it is straight “horror” — throw in “musical” and “zombie film” as well, and you’ve got yourself a good time wrapped up in a holiday bow.
Await Further Instructions (2018)
For something in more of a creepy, sci-fi vein, this one starts off like many holidays do — with a tense family gathering around the table. Things only get worse, though, when the family discovers a black substance surrounding the house, which is followed by an ominious message on the television: Stay indoors and await further instructions.
Better Watch Out (2017)
This combines the backdrop of a holiday movie with one of the staples of the horror genre: the menacing-the-babysitter tale. In it, 12-year-old Luke and his 17-year-old babysitter Ashley are left alone for the night, and there’s trouble brewing. (It gets bonus points for actually referencing Home Alone.)
Mercy Christmas (2017)
In this horror-comedy, a man named Michael can’t believe his luck when the woman of his dreams invites him over to her family’s Christmas dinner. What she didn’t tell him? He’s the one on the menu. The dream woman is also related to Michael’s boss, so there might be a not-so-subtle metaphor about how capitalism chews up its workers.
Once Upon a Time at Christmas (2017)
Finally, Mrs. Claus gets in on the mayhem! In this one, killers dressed as Santa and the Mrs. going on a spree that mimics the 12 Days of Christmas. The low-budget, high-body-count splatter-fest is squarely in B-movie (or C-movie?) territory, but if it hits the spot there’s a sequel, The Nights Before Christmas.
Mother Krampus (2017)
Marisa (she/her) has covered all things parenting, from the postpartum period through the empty nest, for Good Housekeeping since 2018; she previously wrote about parents and families at Parents and Working Mother. She lives with her husband and daughter in Brooklyn, where she can be found dominating the audio round at her local bar trivia night or tweeting about movies.
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