5 Holiday Horror Films to Celebrate All Year Long

An oldie but goodie, Black Christmas is often called the original slasher film. And considering it predates John Carpenter’s Halloween by four years, it’s certainly one of the first movies to set the prototype for all the knife-wielding killers to come.

There’s so much to love about this movie: the cast, the ambiance, the unsettling ending. First and foremost, I adore Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder as Jess and Barb respectively, two sorority girls who serve as our main characters for much of the film.

John Saxon is top-notch as a well-meaning detective, and Keir Dullea is so creepy as Jess’s overbearing boyfriend (who’s also possibly the creepy killer who’s been making obscene phone calls).

Plus, it doesn’t get more festive than this film, every scene is replete with a wintry atmosphere and holiday décor. 

This is one that deserves to be on your yearly rotation, so don’t miss out on this fantastic horror classic this season.   

Gremlins is the very first film I remember being totally obsessed with. I was around four years old, and I seriously couldn’t get enough of it.

Growing up, I totally wanted a snuggly Mogwai as a pet (because I literally learned no lessons from the film at all). That being said, the prospect of accidentally creating a brood of terrifying gremlins absolutely lingered in my mind.

The practical effects in Gremlins still hold up astoundingly well, and the fun cast makes this one a slam dunk for the holiday season. To be honest, this movie is great any time of year, but it’s especially perfect when you’re setting up the Christmas tree.

Just be careful there aren’t scaly little beasts hiding behind the ornaments.    

All right, I know, I know: this is certainly not strictly a horror film. But I would make a very strong argument that it is, in fact, a dark fantasy film, and I consider dark fantasy under the horror umbrella, so I’m including it.

One of my earliest crushes was on Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman, and honestly, in retrospect, that shows impeccably good taste on my part.

Over thirty years after its release, Batman Returns remains a strange and surreal film, and especially now, in the age of remakes and reboots and endless sequels, it seems like a Christmas miracle that such a bizarre, big-budget movie ever got made in the first place.

From the elaborate and ornate sets to the exceedingly dark tone of the overall film, this is the perfect movie for people who want to celebrate Christmas but don’t want to be happy about it. After all, nobody broods quite as well as Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne.

 Enjoy your holiday spent in Gotham, and don’t forget to pick up your purchases from Shreck’s Department Store. That is, if you can get there before Catwoman blows the building to smithereens.  

Here’s something we don’t talk about very often in the genre: there aren’t nearly enough New Year’s Eve horror movies. Fortunately, if you’re looking for something to watch on December 31^st, we’ve at least got Terror Train.

Among a group of college students, a prank goes horribly wrong, and as a horror fan, you know what that means: vengeance is not far behind.

Starring Jamie Lee Curtis at the height of her Scream Queen fame, this high concept of slasher-killer-on-a-train is certainly a gimmick, but it’s one that works well if you’re looking for some mindless entertainment to ease you into the new year.

It’s been forever since I’ve seen this film, and I’m long overdue for a rewatch, which means I’ve got my New Year’s entertainment all picked out. 

Yes, I consider Eyes Wide Shut a horror film. No, it’s not your typical genre fare by a long shot, but the existential dread and overall sense of weirdness pervading the film most definitely land it in the horror category so far as I’m concerned.

Tom Cruise’s dreamlike journey into the provocative landscape of New York City makes the Big Apple seem more foreboding than ever before (forget for a moment that all of the NYC sets were recreated on a soundstage because Kubrick no longer traveled to his homeland of America).

There was a tremendous amount of lore surrounding the film before its release, and some of that mystery—including how much of the final cut was to Stanley Kubrick’s liking—remains to this day.

And since the film is set during the holiday season, complete with a very weird and uncomfortable Christmas party in the opening sequence, Eyes Wide Shut deserves to become a reclaimed holiday classic.

Just be careful not to forget your costume for the masquerade ball. 

Featured photo: Still from "Black Christmas" via Universal Pictures