‘Tis the season to watch holiday-themed horror, and we’re here to make that even easier for you. We’re breaking down the best holiday horror selections across the many streaming apps available to us, and we’ll be running individual articles for each of the big services.
To begin, Shudder‘s robust horror library means no shortage of great offerings, many of which are curated in their “Unhappy Holidays” collection. Here are some of the highlights, along with a few outside selections and looser interpretations of holiday horror!
Better Watch Out
This title is for those that like their holiday horror full of pitch-black humor and one nasty mean streak. A babysitting job in the quiet suburbs turns into a harrowing night for the babysitter when her ward’s house is under siege by intruders. There’s far more than meets the eye in this twist on home invasion horror, and it’s vicious. A bone-chilling villain and one brutal kill that riffs on a family holiday favorite makes this a memorable and crowd-pleasing pick.
Black Christmas
There’s no excuse to miss this holiday staple over the holiday season; it’s available on four different streaming platforms. A precursor and pioneer for the slasher craze that followed a few years later, this atmospheric gem sees a sorority stalked and hunted by a stranger over the Christmas break. While Olivia Hussey’s Jess is a final girl for the ages, Margot Kidder threatens to upstage her at every turn with her performance as lively sorority sister Barb.
Christmas Evil
After a traumatic childhood experience over learning the truth about Santa Claus, a toy factory employee suffers a nervous breakdown. As a result, he dons a Santa suit and embarks on a killing spree. Christmas Evil bears more in common with a haunting character portrait in the loose vein of Maniac than a conventional holiday horror slasher, with an emphasis on melancholy.
The Day of the Beast
Set on Christmas Eve, a Catholic priest teams up with a metalhead and a television occult specialist to stop the Antichrist’s birth, which will trigger the apocalypse. The lengths the trio is willing to go to thwart the end of the world really brings the laughs, but the humor is equally matched by the horror, too. A sort of spiritual cousin to the earlier works of Sam Raimi but with Alex de la Iglesia’s unique sense of humor, this should have a bigger audience than it does. The Day of the Beast also made evil goats trendy long before The Witch.
Deadly Games
Released in France a year ahead of Home Alone, with a similar setup, the plot follows the resourceful Thomas as he’s left to protect and thwart an unwanted and dangerous home intruder on Christmas Eve. The stakes are far higher and more shocking than anything Kevin McAllister had to overcome. It’s a Rambo-loving kid with a mullet against one of the most intense Santas in movie history.
Maniac Cop 2
So, Christmas is about as important to the plot as St. Patrick’s Day was to the original, but this sequel is set around the holiday and makes excellent use of the décor. Plus, it’s just a damn fun sequel worth watching. This time undead Officer Cordell teams up with a serial killer. Many people’s holidays are ruined in the process. And there’s something magical about the titular villain killing people against a backdrop of holiday lights.
Scare Me
Fred (Josh Ruben) is an aspiring writer who rents a snowy cabin for a weekend as an intended writer’s retreat. The story ideas don’t flow so easily, though, despite trying his best to spark his imagination. However, it so happens that his cabin neighbor is a best-selling horror novelist, Fanny (Aya Cash). When a storm causes a blackout in the neighborhood, Fanny shows up at Fred’s door and challenges him to tell a scary story. Tensions mount as the tales get more elaborate, building to an intense finale. Scare Me isn’t a holiday-themed horror movie, but its winter setting and fireside storytelling evoke the cozy holiday spirit all the same.
Sheitan
Translated as Satan, Sheitan follows a group of friends who spend Christmas Eve partying at a club. They run into a shepherd who’s prepared a night of pure insanity and Satan worshipping. Things get disturbing. If you’re not in a particularly festive mood, Sheitan is the perfect holiday horror pick for you. Expect it to put the “creep” in Creepmas.
To All a Goodnight
This slasher marks the feature debut by The Last House on the Left actor David Hess. It’s a familiar slasher setup with a yuletide spin. A sorority prank turns deadly, and karma comes two years later when the sorority sisters host a party that gets crashed by a killer. It’s pretty standard fare, and Hess doesn’t get nearly as brutal as you might expect. But To All a Goodnight does offer some fun kills and an entertaining enough holiday slasher perfect to put on while trimming the tree.
Jack Frost
A car accident transforms serial killer Jack Frost into a mutant snowman, free to enact revenge on the man responsible for his death sentence. This December-set holiday slasher is for the crowd that prefers their horror-comedies to get over-the-top on the goofy mayhem and carnage. Cheesy one-liners are only matched by holiday themed deaths. How do you stop a killer snowman? The solution is just as tongue-in-cheek as the movie. This is for the horror fans that like a big glass of schlock with their holiday cookies.