It’s the most wonderful time of the year… to get stuck into a Christmas horror gorefest.
Watching The Holiday and Home Alone for the 638th time is great and all, but there’s something special about a classic slasher set around baubles and tinsel.
After all, red is the staple colour for this time of year.
This year, Terrifier 3 brought ho-ho-holiday horror to the big screen as Art The Clown decked the hall with blood and guts in his return to terrorise Miles County.
And just in time for the festive season, it’s available to watch from the – I guess, comfort – of your home.
It would make the perfect double bill with absurd horror comedy Violent Night starring David Harbour as it arrives on Netflix in the UK following its 2022 debut.
But they’re just two of many Christmas-themed horrors that fans of the genre should be tuning into this December.
With only a matter of days until Christmas, now is as good a time as any…
Violent Night (2022)
Where to watch: Netflix
Stranger Things actor David Harbour takes the lead as Mr Claus in what might just be one of the most bonkers horror releases.
Violent Night follows the grumpy Santa as he takes on a group of mercenaries who break into the mansion of a wealthy family, giving them a surprise they did not plan for.
Black Christmas (1974)
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV
Perhaps the most iconic festive horror, Black Christmas (1974) will forever remain a classic.
During their Christmas break, a group of sorority girls get stalked by a stranger who is hellbent on breaking into their house and picking them off one by one.
It might sound run-of-the-mill now nearly 50 years later, but Black Christmas is one of the earliest slashes that did it best. The less we say about the 2006 and 2019 remakes the better…
Bad Santa (2003)
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV
Perhaps where David Harbour got his inspiration from; Billy Bob Thornton’s miserable swindler take on Santa is iconic.
Alongside the late Bernie Mac, the two starred as conmen posing as Santa and his Little Helper to rob department stores on Christmas Eve. However, they weren’t banking on a troubled kid making their scheme harder to execute.
ATM (2012)
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV
Forget what the Rotten Tomatoes score says, ATM is a hidden gem.
Taking place in one location, this thriller sees three colleagues trapped inside the ATM booth late at night while a hooded figure lurks outside and stops at nothing to either get inside or lure them out.
Lake Alice (2017)
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
Lake Alice might make you rethink booking that cosy cottage in the middle of nowhere on Airbnb…
A couple along with their daughter and her boyfriend head to a cabin in the woods (classic) to celebrate Christmas. However, things take a bloody turn and they are forced to fight for survival.
The Advent Calendar (2021)
Where to watch: Shudder via Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV
There aren’t many sweets behind these advent calendar doors! Eva, who is paraplegic, is gifted an antique wooden advent calendar by a friend just in time for Christmas.
However, there aren’t traditional treats behind each drawer, instead, they contain gifts that get bloodier and weirder.
If you didn’t get an advent calendar this year, this horror might make you feel better about it.
Better Watch Out (2016)
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, the Sky Store, and Apple TV
Starring a pretty solid cast of Olivia DeJonge, Virginia Madsen, and Dacre Montgomery, Better Watch Out centres around Ashley, a 17-year-old babysitting 12-year-old Luke.
Their routine night in is rudely disturbed by intruders but it’s not your typical home invasion.
The Lodge (2019)
Where to watch: Sky Cinema and NowTV
Starring Riley Keough, The Lodge follows a father who takes his two children Aidan and Mia for a family holiday to his new girlfriend’s lodge after their mother’s suicide.
However, what he intended to be an idyllic getaway turns into something much more sinister when strange events start occurring.
Terrifier 3 (2024)
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV
After smashing box office expectations and causing chaos in cinemas across the world – including making people vomit and walk out of its UK premiere – Terrifier 3 is finally available to rent at home.
Directed by Damien Leone, the third installment of the gore-soaked horror franchise sees Art The Clown return to Miles County after busting Victoria Heyes out of a secure police facility to wreak havoc.
At the same time, Sienna Shaw is struggling to work through the trauma of the Miles County Massacre five years prior, with her family wondering if it was too soon for her to leave the mental health facility she was living in.
Silent Night (2021)
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV
The horrors of family get-togethers over the Christmas period are dialled up to 11 in this apocalyptic nightmare fuel starring Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Lily-Rose Depp, and Lucy Punch.
The bleak film sees Nell, Simon, and their son Art celebrating Christmas with their friends and family.
But it is slowly revealed this is their own last supper as a deadly cloud of poisonous gas is traveling across the world and wiping out humanity, so the friends have got together for one last shindig before taking their government-issued ‘exit pills’.
Inside (2007)
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV
If you really want to ruin Christmas, look no further than 2007 New French Extremity flick Inside.
Directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, Inside focuses on Sarah who, just months after the tragic death of her husband, is preparing to welcome her first child on Christmas Day.
But her life soon turns into a nightmare when a mysterious woman arrives at her doorstep and attempts to enter her home.
It’s A Wonderful Knife (2023)
Where to watch: Shudder via Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV
It’s A Wonderful Life is one of the most heart-warming, beloved Christmas films of all time, often topping festive film lists across the globe.
But if you always thought it needed a little bit more blood and guts, this slasher adaptation has you covered.
It’s A Wonderful Knife follows Winnie, whose life is far from wonderful one year after saving her town from a terrifying serial killer on Christmas Eve.
Winnie wishes she had never been born, and magically finds herself transported to a parallel universe where, without Winnie ever existing, the murderer still terrorises her town.
To get back to her own reality, Winnie must stop the slayings and save Christmas once more.
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)
Where to watch: MUBI, Amazon Prime Video, and Apple TV
When you really think about it, the idea of a strange flying man invading your home is terrifying. And yet we celebrate Santa Claus each year.
One film that doesn’t is Finnish horror film Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, that sees a secretive drilling project uncover the tomb of Santa Claus.
But he’s far from the jolly old Saint Nick we know and love as the monstrous Santa begins slaughtering reindeer and capturing children across the village.
It’s up to Pietari and his father Rauno to get to the bottom of this Christmas chaos and stop Santa once and for all after Pietari’s friend Juuso goes missing.
Await Further Instructions
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, the Sky Store, and Apple TV
Spending a prolonged amount of time around your loved ones can be stressful over the holidays – particularly if you end up trapped inside by a mysterious entity communicating through your TV.
Released in 2018, Await Further Instructions sees Nick travelling to his family home for Christmas to introduce his girlfriend Annji.
But the usual tensions fast descend into unparalleled horror as they discover their home has been surrounded by a mysterious black mass and they begin receiving mysterious messages through their TV set.
Krampus (2015)
Where to watch: NOW TV, Sky Go, Amazon Prime Video, and Apple TV
Almost 10 years since its release, Krampus has become a Christmas staple for many jolly horror fans.
The 2015 film sees the horned beast who punishes naughty children at Christmastime pay a visit to a dysfunctional family who cause young boy Max to lose the festive spirit.
As a result, Krampus lays siege to his family home with his loved ones forced to band together to save themselves from the festive ghoul.
The Children (2008)
Where to watch: Freevee, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, the Sky Store
Creepy kids + isolated snow-covered country house + unexplained virus = the Christmas get-together from hell in Tom Shankland’s slow-building Brit horror.
Indeed, a cross between a dysfunctional middle-class family drama and The Omen, 2008’s The Children is anything but a kid’s movie.
The film sees two families get together for Christmas festivities, but when the children of the household start to become sick with a mysterious disease, they find themselves having to fight against their beloved youngsters.
Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
Where to watch: Shudder via Amazon Prime Video, Plex, Apple TV, the Sky Store
Silent Night, Deadly Night has been treated to numerous sequels and even a remake slated for 2025.
But it’s the 1984 original which remains both the most watchable, and most unintentionally funny, of the lot.
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After seeing his parents murdered by a man dressed as Santa Claus, history repeats itself when Billy Chapman grows up and dons the famous red suit for a killing spree of his own.
Jack Frost (1977)
Where to watch: Plex and Apple TV
Not to be confused with the terrible Michael Keaton vehicle of the same name, Jack Frost is one of those so-bad-it’s-good turkeys that has to be seen to be believed.
Filled with corny Christmas cracker jokes, atrocious performances, and special effects tackier than your average Christmas sweater, this bizarre tale of a murderous giant snowman has rightfully become a cult Yuletide classic.
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