Ho, Ho, Horror: The Best Christmas Horror Movies & Where to Watch Them
By: Stephanie Welling & Ashley Welling
Christmas horror movies take the evils of the world and examine them against a time of year meant to be “pure” and joyous, making their messages all the more terrifying. Wondering what to watch? Well, put on your fluffy socks and make some cocoa because we’ve compiled the best of what Christmas horror movies have to offer below.
Krampus (2015)
Homicidal Christmas cookies, family drama, and one of the most ancient holiday evils the world has ever known — Krampus is a Christmas horror movie that’s both hilarious and truly terrifying. When 8-year-old Max (Emjay Anthony), marred by his family’s stress and cynicism, decides to abandon his Christmas spirit once and for all, Krampus awakens and drags the whole family into a wintery hellscape from which they may never return. The story is based on Central European folklore about a half-goat, half-demon that punishes naughty children on Christmas, in stark opposition to the gifts and joy that Santa brings. The father’s (Adam Scott) Austrian mother (Krista Stadler) acts as a narrative bridge between folklore and the modern-day, carrying a deep sense of dread as she watches her family and anticipates the arrival of evil. With stunning practical effects, a talented cast (including our queen, Toni Collette), and a story to put the fear of Santa back into anyone, Krampus is a must-watch this holiday season.
Watch it on Amazon or YouTube.
I Trapped the Devil (2019)
Let's talk about what ought to be its own subgenre altogether: pure, unfiltered dread. Josh Lobo's I Trapped the Devil drowns us in it as we follow A.J. Bowen, Susan Burke, and Scott Poythress into the choking darkness of grief, betrayal, and familial trauma. Karen (Burke) and Matt (Bowen) arrive at Matt's estranged brother's house (which, bonus for all you familial horror fans, is also the brothers' childhood home) partially for Christmas but mostly to check in on him after the loss of his wife. We are presented with a broken man, laden with grief and haunted by nightmarish visions of his departed wife, whose house is covered in blacked-out windows and Christmas decorations heavy with dust and cobwebs, leftover from the previous year. Steve (Poythress) eventually confesses the reason why he is acting so strangely: he has both caught the devil and imprisoned him in his basement. Convinced Steve has actually just kidnapped an innocent bystander, Matt and Karen carefully navigate this unexpected situation as they flicker between trying to free his prisoner and actually, possibly believing Matt's conspiracy theories about the horrifying influence the devil has had on humanity. Ever toeing the border of reality and, well, unreality, I Trapped the Devil is a masterclass in confronting the boundless terrors of grief as it dives nose first into the question: who, or what is really behind that basement door?
Watch it on Amazon, Hulu, or YouTube.
Better Watch Out (2017)
Buckle up, because Better Watch Out is one heck of a ride. When Ashley (Olivia DeJonge) agrees to babysit 12-year-old Luke (Levi Miller) one last time before she moves away, all seems normal. Not long into the night, however, strange noises start coming from outside and Ashley is left to defend Luke and herself from some truly insidious forces. Without giving away all the many twists and turns, Better Watch Out is a roller coaster ride through a range of emotions that will leave you feeling more vengeful than you ever thought possible, even for Christmas. Violent, sadistic, and rooted in some real-world horror, cuddle up and spike your eggnog, because this is one Christmas horror movie that never lets up.
Watch it on Amazon or YouTube.
Pooka! (2018)
The first December installment of Blumhouse's now abandoned Into the Dark anthology series on Hulu, Pooka! feels more like a feature-length episode of Black Mirror in both its tone and reality-warping sucker punch of an ending. This is the type of movie that you should go into blind; don't watch the trailer, don't prep with any pre-movie reviews, just turn it on and let it drag you into Nasha Hatendi's nightmare-inducing relationship with a gigantic mascot costume of the oddly popular children's toy, Pooka. Oh, and don't forget the tissues.
Watch it on Hulu.
Holidays (2016)
Holidays packs eight holiday horrors into a cool 105 minutes, something that works well for some of its stories and slightly less for others, but it still manages to be one hell of a ride. Viewers are treated to a smattering of dark tales ranging from New Year's to Christmas, with all of their bloody secrets hidden in plain sight. Writer and director Scott Stewart delivers an increasingly tense Christmas short, featuring real-life couple Seth Green and Clare Grant, also in the vein of Black Mirror if Charlie Brooker ever found it within himself to grant his audience a bit of comedic relief. Green finds himself falling down the moral rabbit hole one night while making a desperate, last-minute Christmas purchase for their son: a pair of smart gaming glasses that show the user their deepest desires. For his son, it's being the first person to walk on Mars; for Green and Grant, not so much. Needless to say, this family's Christmas cheer wanes a bit when uVu shows you YOU!
Watch it on Netflix or Amazon.
Black Christmas (1974)
Credited as one of the very first slasher films, Black Christmas is a true horror classic. Set on a college campus right before Christmas break, the film follows Jess Bradford (Olivia Hussey) and her group of sorority sisters as they deal with obscene harassment from an unknown caller. Initially they brush it off as classic sexual harassment until they notice their friends start to go missing. The film sets itself apart by holding a microphone to the voice of the women’s liberation movement of the time, pinning it against malevolent forces that threaten its demise at every turn. From cops that don’t take women’s concerns seriously to arguments with boyfriends about giving up careers to start a family, abortion, femicide, and sex, it’s all taken apart and talked about here — making Black Christmas one of the earliest examples of a horror movie that holds up a mirror to the world, forcing it to reckon with all of its evil doings.
Watch it on YouTube (for free!) or Amazon.
Dead End (2003)
Listen, chances are you don't know us. If you did, you would wonder why we ever stop talking about how much we love Lin Shaye. Unfortunately, raving about how Lin Shaye is the Nicolas Cage of horror (has appeared in well over 100 movies, outperforms all of their co-stars by a sizable margin, can and will give an off-the-rails performance at a moment's notice, etc.) doesn't pay the bills so we are forced to consider other topics of conversation. Jean-Baptiste Andrea's 2003 masterpiece, Dead End, throws us into the dysfunctional world of the Harrington family on a long drive to some family's for Christmas. With them is their son Richard, their daughter Marion, and Marion's boyfriend Brad. Familial tensions rise before reaching multiple boiling points, interrupted only by a strange woman in white wandering the area and an ominous hearse always leaving behind a trail of bloodied, mangled bodies. Lin Shaye's closest competitor is the hilariously tense Ray Wise, but Shaye naturally takes the lead with the most memorable lines ("Look! We've got potato chips!") and one of the most vomit-inducing shot of exposed brains that we've seen in a long while. Love you, Lin.
Watch it on Amazon or YouTube.
Await Further Instructions (2017)
Imagine the most forced, tense interaction you’ve had with a family member over the holidays, and then multiply that by a thousand. Then you’ll start to understand the atmosphere in Await Further Instructions. Set in the modern-day, what starts off as an extremely uncomfortable visit home for Christmas quickly turns into something much more deadly as outside forces experiment to see how violent people become when their fears are preyed upon. A masterclass in tension-building with an ending that no one sees coming, Await Further Instructions is stomach-churning and anxiety-inducing from start to finish (in the best way possible). The moral of the story: Don’t believe everything you see on TV.
Watch it on Netflix, Amazon, or YouTube.
Elves (1989)
If you’re in the mood for a Christmas horror movie that’s aggressively ridiculous from the title screen to the end credits, then Elves is the cult classic for you. When Kirsten (Julie Austin) performs a Pagan ritual with two of her closest friends right before Christmas, they accidentally awaken a demonic force born of Hitler’s obsession with building a master race of mega soldiers. Makes sense. Demon elves, terrible acting, and a whole lotta teenage angst make Elves an entertaining, albeit cringey, journey through the most ridiculous of what the 80s had to offer.
Watch it on YouTube (for free!).