20 Christmas Horror Films to Watch This Holiday Season

Ah, its that time of year again, when you spend time with loved ones, a season of giving and sharing.  But…would we rather spend time with our favorite Christmas horror films.  There are more and more each year it seems, but you really have to weed out some really shitty horror films that take place on or around Christmas.

Now there is an easy way to do this, I could toss all 6 Silent Night, Deadly Night movies, yes 6, Silent Night (2012) counts.  I handed picked these movies because I either enjoy them or think they are worth watching.  Now, I will say, there are so many I have yet to see like, Sint (2010), Inside (2007), P2 (2007), Rare Exports (2010) and a few others.  I will also not be adding things like Nightmare Before Christmas. Oh and no episodes of any show, they’re not movies.  No Christmas Specials, nothing like that.  Movies and that is all.  Oh and Night of the Comet takes place around Christmas, but it isn’t really a Christmas themed movie.

20. Black Christmas (2019)

Holy Shit this movie sucks.

Hawthorne College is quieting down for the holidays as students travel home to spend time with their families. But as Riley and her sorority sisters prepare to deck the halls with seasonal parties, a mysterious cloaked figure starts to leave a bloody trail throughout the campus. Refusing to become hapless victims, Riley and her friends decide to band together and fight back against the psychotic Christmas killer.

19. Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 (1987)

Garbage Day Indeed

The now-adult Ricky talks to a psychiatrist about how he became a murderer after his brother, Billy, died, which leads back to Mother Superior.

18. All Through the House (2015)

A deranged Santa slayer leaves behind a grisly trail of mutilated bodies as he heads towards the town’s most feared home.

17. Mrs. Klaus (2018)

College students attending a Christmas party at a sorority house with a dark past are stalked by a deranged killer dressed as Mrs. Claus.

16. Silent Night, Deadly Night III: Better Watch Out (1989)

A scientist (Richard Beymer) links a psychic blind girl (Samantha Scully) to killer Ricky’s (Bill Moseley) brain, mounted on top of his head.

15. Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation (1990)

The leader (Maud Adams) of a she-demon cult has her helper (Clint Howard) fetch a newswoman (Neith Hunter) for initiation, involving insects.

14. Christmas Evil (1980)

Comical festive frights. A toy-maker who revels in the Christmas spirit suffers a mental break when his work is met with hypocrisy and cynicism and goes on a yuletide killing spree.

13. Dial Code Santa Claus (1989)

Thomas, a resourceful child, is left alone with his fragile grandfather on Christmas Eve. When a killer dressed as Santa Claus breaks into their home, Thomas does whatever it takes to defend his home and grandfather.

12. Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (1991)

A boy knows what a shopkeeper (Mickey Rooney) has in store, but he is too frightened to scream about it.

11. Black Christmas (2006)

The holiday season turns deadly for a group of sorority sisters (Katie Cassidy, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Lacey Chabert, Michelle Trachtenberg) who are stranded at their campus house during a snowstorm. These coeds better watch out, for a vicious killer is on the loose, and he will not care if they are naughty or nice.

10. Silent Night (2012)

A vicious killer dressed as Santa Claus hides in plain sight during a small town’s annual Christmas festivities.

9. Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022)

It’s Christmas Eve and fiery record store owner Tori Tooms just wants to get drunk and party, until the robotic Santa Claus at a nearby toy store goes haywire and makes her night more than a little complicated. Santa embarks on a rampant killing spree through the neon-drenched snowscape, ultimately forcing Tori into a blood-splattered battle for survival.

8. Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)

Little Billy witnesses his parents getting killed by Santa after being warned by his senile grandpa that Santa punishes those who are naughty.

7. I’m Dreaming of a White Doomsday (2017)

A mother and her 8 year old son struggle to survive in a bomb shelter after an unnamed apocalypse.

6. A Christmas Horror Story (2015)

A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY

Interwoven stories that take place on Christmas Eve, as told by one festive radio host: A family brings home more than a Christmas tree, a student documentary becomes a living nightmare, a Christmas spirit terrorizes, Santa slays evil.

5. Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)

  • A zombie apocalypse threatens the sleepy town of Little Haven – at Christmas – forcing Anna and her friends to fight, slash and sing their way to survival, facing the undead in a desperate race to reach their loved ones. But they soon discover that no one is safe in this new world, and with civilization falling apart around them, the only people they can truly rely on are each other.

4. Better Watch Out (2016)

On a quiet suburban street, a babysitter must defend a twelve-year-old boy from intruders, only to discover it’s far from a normal home invasion.

3. Krampus (2015)

While the holiday season represents the most magical time of year, ancient European folklore warns of Krampus, a horned beast who punishes naughty children at Christmastime. When dysfunctional family squabbling causes young Max (Emjay Anthony) to lose his festive spirit, it unleashes the wrath of the fearsome demon. As Krampus lays siege to the Engel home, mom (Toni Collette), pop (Adam Scott), sister (Stefania LaVie Owen) and brother must band together to save one another from a monstrous fate.

2. Black Christmas (1974)

As winter break begins, a group of sorority sisters, including Jess (Olivia Hussey) and the often inebriated Barb (Margot Kidder), begin to receive anonymous, lascivious phone calls. Initially, Barb eggs the caller on, but stops when he responds threateningly. Soon, Barb’s friend Claire (Lynne Griffin) goes missing from the sorority house, and a local adolescent girl is murdered, leading the girls to suspect a serial killer is on the loose. But no one realizes just how near the culprit is.

1. Gremlins (1984)

A gadget salesman is looking for a special gift for his son and finds one at a store in Chinatown. The shopkeeper is reluctant to sell him the `mogwai’ but sells it to him with the warning to never expose him to bright light, water, or to feed him after midnight. All of this happens and the result is a gang of gremlins that decide to tear up the town on Christmas Eve.

This is it, sorry I didn’t leave a review of any kind for each movie.  But I think the rankings speak for themselves.  Plenty of good Christmas films to check out and many of them are streaming.  Hopefully you have a great Christmas and enjoyed this list.  Thanks for checking it out.

About Ray Marek III 699 Articles
I have been watching horror films since I was 6 years old. The story, one Saturday night, my mom and I were watching movies and she fell asleep on the couch. We had the channel set on HBO and the movie we were watching ended and the next one, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. This was some time in 1986. I watched then entire film, I was sitting on the edge of my seat. When my mom woke, she asked me what just ended and I told her, “Freddy”. That was all I talked about for weeks and finally she broke down and rented more horror films for me. She rented, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre part 2, Re-Animator, Friday the 13th VI: Jason Lives and Halloween II. I watched all and fell in love with horror films forever. 5 Horror Films to Watch Inferno (1980) A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) The Beyond (1981) Friday the 13th VI: Jason Lives (1986) Horror of Dracula (1958)