After the festivities of December draw to a close—and without the colorful distraction provided by the holiday season— it can be hard to face the dark expanse of winter that stretches between the hopeful optimism of New Year’s and the long-awaited dawn of spring.
January in particular can feel especially bleak, with its dismal weather and a vibe that hovers somewhere between humdrum and funereal.
So why not lean into the spirit of the season and make the most of it with the type of horror that will give you the chills in more ways than one?
Here are ten of the best bleak, wintry horror movies to make your blood run fittingly cold.
The Shining (1980)
Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novel about an aspiring novelist-turned-caretaker holed up in a snowbound haunted hotel with his family for the winter is still the final word in cinematic depictions of cabin fever.
If you have a soft spot for the unhinged charisma of Jack Nicholson or the open-wound vulnerability of the late, great Shelley Duvall, this has all the subzero terror you need.
The Thing (1982)
If The Shining’s blizzard-cloaked Colorado mountains aren’t cold enough for you, may I suggest Antarctica?
John Carpenter’s remake of 1951’s The Thing from Another World finds Kurt Russell leading a group of researchers who encounter an alien life form with the ability to perfectly mimic other life forms.
What follows is extreme paranoia—and plenty of practical gore effects—in one of the coldest climes the planet has to offer.
Curtains (1983)
Canada knows how to turn out a frigid slasher (see also 1974’s original Black Christmas), and this one features a particularly nightmarish villain terrorizing a mansion full of actresses who are all vying for the same role in a movie.
It doesn’t get much more memorably creepy—or more seasonally appropriate—than a scythe-wielding killer wearing a wrinkled “old woman” mask pursuing an ice-skating victim across a frozen pond.
Ravenous (1999)
For those who prefer to take their wintertime terror with a heaping helping of cannibalism, here’s a film set in 1840s California about a group of soldiers stranded in the Sierra Nevadas who are forced to fight back when one of their own develops a taste for human flesh.
Starring Guy Pearce and inspired by real-life events, including the ill-fated Donner Party, this cult classic will give you plenty of frostbitten nightmare fodder.
Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (2004)
The entire Ginger Snaps trilogy—which deftly turns werewolf mythology into a metaphor for menstruation and female coming-of-age—is worth a watch, but the third film in particular relies heavily on its dark and snowy setting in the Canadian wilderness.
A prequel to the saga of the Fitzgerald sisters of the first two films, it follows the girls’ nineteenth-century ancestors to explain the origins of the werewolf curse that plagues their family.
30 Days of Night (2007)
Every winter, a small town in Alaska experiences a full month where the sun never rises—and the local vamps treat those thirty days of darkness as an absolute feeding frenzy.
Based on a comic book, this movie is frenetic, violent, and not even a little bit romantic.
If you need an antidote to the sexy-and-smoldering vampire trope that tends to dominate the culture, these unapologetically brutal bloodsuckers offer quite the palate cleanser.
Let the Right One In (2008)
Speaking of vampires, here’s a movie that mixes bloodsuckers and the cold blankness of winter to a very different effect.
Set in an austere-looking Swedish suburb, young Oskar is relentlessly bullied and infinitely angry—until he meets Eli, his first real friend.
But does Eli want something more than mere friendship from Oskar? The answer is heartbreakingly sad and strangely beautiful.
Dead Snow (2009)
Not to be outdone by their neighbors in Sweden, Norway offers their own winter-set cult classic that answers the question, “What’s worse than regular zombies?” with the difficult-to-dispute answer, “Nazi zombies.”
Specifically, Nazi zombies who have been shambling across the Arctic mountains since World War II. Get ready for plenty of especially gratifying zombie death scenes.
Frozen (2010)
No warbling ice queens or sentient snowmen here; instead, this Frozen takes the title into a much more literal—and terrifying—place.
Like a winter version of the shark attack endurance flick Open Water, this movie follows three friends who get stuck on a chairlift at a ski resort and have to fight to survive as night falls and the temperature drops.
The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2017)
Director Oz Perkins’ had a huge hit in 2024 with Longlegs, which features an unforgettable opening scene of the titular villain terrorizing a little girl in the snow.
If you like that vibe, you’ll love this movie, in which two young women are stranded together at a boarding school in the dead of winter.
Somehow, despite the punishing cold, Perkins manages to make a basement furnace the absolute scariest thing in the entire film \—no small feat!
Featured still from “Dead Snow” via IFC Films
