We Wish You a Scary Christmas: Holiday Horror Flicks to Get in The Christmas Spirit With This Season

You Better Not Pout, You Better Not Cry...
Photo by: Jack Lawrence, via Flickr. (CC BY 2.0)

Up on the rooftop, click, click, click - you better hope that it's Saint Nick! The Christmas Season can be a truly special time of year, but if holiday horror movies are to be believed, the Holiday Season can definitely be one of the scariest times of the year as well.

Over the years, Christmas Horror Movies have developed into a special sub-genre of their own, and you can bet that each year around Thanksgiving, a new flock of holiday-themed horror flicks are going to be released.

With a seemingly endless collection of horror holiday classics building over the last few decades, we thought we'd help you get a head start on the fun by rounding up some of our favorites:

1. Black Christmas (2006) - 2006's Black Christmas is actually a remake of the 1974 film of the same name, which was so iconic, they just had to make it twice. In Black Christmas a sorority house decides to have a holiday party, but as the party progresses, a shadowy figure keeps plucking them off, one by one. Who is the murderous mystery man? None other than Billy, the little boy who grew up in that house many years ago before it became a sorority house, and who has pretty much lost his mind with blind rage after years of abuse.
   
   It's a bit different than the original, in that it lays out a pretty wild backstory for the killer, Billy. In the original film, he is only identified at the end of the film as "Billy", and isn't given a backstory at all, but in the 2006 film, Billy's backstory explains what the heck he was doing hanging out in the attic of a sorority house during a Christmas party to begin with.
   
   
2. Christmas Evil (1980) - So, imagine if you were so traumatized by seeing your mom kiss Santa as a child that you grew up to be an adult that wants to actually become "the one true Santa", but also somehow that leads you to go on an axe murder killing spree? Festive, right?
   
   So, back in the day, little Harry saw his mom kissing Santa Claus underneath the mistletoe on fateful Christmas Eve (and, being a small child, he wasn't perceptive enough to realize that Santa was in fact his father in a costume), and this scarred the boy so deeply, that he became one of the least-well-adjusted adults to ever grace the silver screen. No, seriously.
   
   Harry decides its his life's work to become the next true Santa, so he does what any level headed maniac would do - he begins working at the Jolly Dreams toy factory, and spying on the neighbors kids, keeping naughty and nice lists (the whole "he sees you when your sleeping" thing seems a lot creepier when put into perspective, doesn't it?), and generally living his life as Santa.
   
   That all changes when he realizes that no one at work takes him seriously, and he basically snaps, steals a bunch of toys for "good kids", and goes on a murdering spree with an axe. All this over his Dad kissing his Mom in a Santa suit. Imagine if he had caught pops dressed up as the Easter Bunny!
   
   
3. Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) - Like Christmas Evil, Silent Night, Deadly Night involves a small child having a traumatic experience with a man in a Santa suit, and then basically losing his mind later on as an adult, but unlike Christmas Evil, where little Harry was so traumatized by his parents kissing he decides to "become Santa" as an adult, Silent Night, Deadly Night's little Billy has more of a reason to go bananas, objectively speaking.
   
   The movie kicks off with poor little Billy witnessing his parents get brutally murdered by a burglar in a Santa suit who was evading authorities on Christmas Eve, and life only goes downhill from there. He's shipped off to an orphanage at a convent, and his Santa-induced PTSD is only made worse by Mother Superior (who also abused Billy to boot) clocking Santa right in the jaw when he comes to visit the little children at the orphanage.
   
   Fest forward to adulthood, and generally, all things considered, Billy seems fairly normal. That is until he witnesses something traumatic whilst working for a department store during the holiday season, which, of course, sends him into a homicidal rage. But it wouldn't be a Christmas movie if he didn't don a Santa suit while going out and killing lots of people, right? Don't worry - he totally wears a Santa suit while ruthlessly butchers anyone on his naughty list.
   
   
4. Santa Claws (1996) - Ok, so, if you Google this horror flick, you might actually find the trailer for what appears to be an adorable movie about Christmas kittens. This is not the Santa Claws Slasher Flick in question. Ok, now that that's cleared up, down to business. The Santa Claws movie we're talking about is the one where a woman named Raven is basically stalked by her suspiciously-friendly (aka creepy as hell) neighbor Wayne, who as it turns out, has uh, murdered lots of people in the past. But he's just one of those guys that no one ever suspects as the murderer, until you know, he's murdering them.
   
   Raven, a single mother and horror movie actress, is quite the busy gal, and unsurprisingly, her neighbor-turned-stalker gets jealous when she has to you know, focus on work and not give him all of her attention, so he does what any reasonable "nice guy" would do - he follows her to her movie set, and murders her costars dressed as Santa. His weapon of choice? A giant, razor-sharp claw, that he uses as a murderous hand of death. Surely that'll win her over, won't it?
   
   Santa Claws falls into the "so bad it's good" category, scoring an impressively low 20% on Rotten Tomatoes. If you're into campy, cheesy, low-budget slasher flicks, then this just might be the movie for you this Christmas.

What's Your Favorite Christmas Horror Movie? Let Us Know in the Comments Below!