At the end of November, I hit upon the idea of watching horror films with a festive theme in the run up to Christmas – a way to make the horror of Christmas much more bearable! I decided I’d watch twenty four films, to match the number of doors on an Advent Calendar, and produced a list of the ones I’d found initially.
There were some thirty four films on that list, and I suggested it would probably grow. At that point I’d only checked Amazon, and I suspected there would be more than the initial batch to be found there, and I could also check Netflix.
I did do as planned; I watched a full twenty four Christmas-themed horror films, and when each came to an end, I removed it from my watch-list on Amazon, and browsed the list of related films that the service popped up, from which I added more. I also took a look on Netflix, but I didn’t find much there. At least one is available to me on that service for which I’d have to pay on Amazon – but I found it harder to search for suitable films in general.
At a later point, I remembered I had a little Roku device plugged in to an old 25″ TV that I no longer use (it was my bedroom TV until I replaced it). I found a small number of films on one of the various ‘horror’ services available on that platform.
I also saw a tweet from Screambox with what looked like the same idea in mind, including an image showing twenty four possible titles. Here’s that image:
The films listed there, from top left to bottom right, are:
- Black Christmas
- Silent Night, Deadly Night 2
- Rare Exports
- Christmas Evil
- Night of the Missing
- Secret Santa
- Day of the Beast, The
- Deep Red
- Santastein
- Deathcember
- Silent Night, Bloody Night
- Good Tidings
- I’m Dreaming of a White Doomsday
- Christmas Tapes, The
- Babysitter Must Die
- 13 Slays Til Xmas
- Hansel & Gretel
- Days before Christmas
- Nutcracker Massacre
- Yule Log
- She Was So Pretty
- Avarice
- Cannibal Claus
- Eve, The
There were some overlaps with my original list, but for those not on the list I searched for them, and added them if they were listed on Amazon.
And a while later still I remembered Plex, which I can access from my main TV (and from the Roku box). I tend not to look at Plex because a poor user interface in the TV means it doesn’t show up on my ‘home’ screen – though I’ve now made it a little easier to access. Browsing that I found a whole lot more – again with some overlaps – so there’s now a watch-list on there, as well.
The updated list of films is something I’ll get to later in this post. For now, though, it’s worth looking at the films I’ve watched. Not all were on the original list; some came from the later additions. I’ve given each film a rating out of ten below, but it’s worth remembering that doesn’t necessarily reflect the quality of the film; if I’m in the right mood a really bad film might get a higher score than it should, or a really good film might get a lower score. In other words, these scores are how I felt about it on that viewing – if I watched the same films again another time, the score might be completely different.
So, in the order I watched them, with some brief notes about what I thought, the films I watched were:
01: Silent Night (2012)
A straight forward slasher movie about a psychotic Santa taking out towns people in various gruesome ways. Fun, and a good start to the horror advent. 6/10
02: Blood Tidings (2016)
Three psychotic Santas slaughter a group of homeless folk, seemingly targeting one person with them – a homeless war veteran – but with almost no dialogue from them (other than one mentioning their target’s name), no explanation is given as to why. Clearly low budget (particularly apparent with the audio in places). I thought this was a bit weak. 4/10
03: The Twelve Slays of Christmas (2022)
Only a short at just over 40 minutes, this is really a collection of trailers for other movies from the same company (Full Moon) dressed up as an anthology. I enjoyed it nonetheless, and at some point should look for the films featured (so as a series of trailers… it worked!) 6/10
04: The Nights Before Christmas (2019)
Back to proper films with this tale of a demented husband and wife dispatching people on a naughty list, while an FBI agent hunts them down. Not what I’d call horror, but some entertaining kills – and I liked the killers. 6/10
Aside: a scene at the beginning made me think this is a sequel, but I dismissed it as being just a little set up for the story. Turned out I was right the first time – see entry 06.
05: All through the House (2015)
Another Santa-costumed killer (I’d anticipate there being more of these!), and an overall weaker film than all so far. Redeemed, though, by some fun gore. 4/10
06: Once Upon a Time at Christmas (2017)
This is apparently also known as ‘The Days Before Christmas’ – this is the one ‘The Nights Before Christmas’ (entry 04 above) is a sequel to. Interestingly, while the events of this film are referenced in the sequel, the scene at the start wasn’t – which made me wonder if this was itself a sequel. Apparently not, though; as far as I can see, this is the first. It featured the same killers, but was marginally less entertaining – and there was a continuity error so ridiculous that it was unforgivable, so only 4/10 for this one.
The error: The ex wife of the killer revealed the truth to her daughter… and in the very next scene, she told the sheriff’s deputy that she’s not going to tell her daughter. Who she’d already told. Maybe I blinked or something and missed something that made sense of that? Dunno.
07: The Mean One (2022)
This was ‘The Grinch’ retold as a comedy horror, with the mean one of the title having a taste for human flesh, as well as an intense dislike of Christmas (I can relate!) As such, it could’ve been a lot better than it was, and might have been better if it lived up to the comedy part, but where it tried to be funny I thought it just failed. 4/10
08: Weredeer (2022)
A guy takes his girlfriend to meet his family at Christmas, and she gets bitten by a deer and turns into a weredeer! Entirely as terrible as it sounds, this was exactly as I expected – so, yes, I enjoyed it! 5/10
09: Silent Bite (2024)
A group of festive bank robbers faces off against a group of vampires in the motel in which they decided to hide out. 6/10 – would’ve been 7 but the sound was notably poor in places.
10: Babysitter Must Die (2020)
I started watching this thinking it was a sort of babysitter edition of Die Hard – and wasn’t sure if it should’ve been tagged horror. It was no patch on the Bruce Willis classic, obviously, but I enjoyed it, and did learn the reason for the horror tag, which was sadly under (un!) used. 6/10
11: He Knows (2022)
As Christmas approaches, a serial killer known as Sammy the Elf takes people out for not being nice. The idea has lots of potential, but the implementation didn’t live up to it. 4/10
12: 13 Slays Till Xmas (2020)
There were some good ideas in this anthology of Christmas tales of horror but none of them achieved their potential, which is a shame. This was the one film so far which challenged my usual stubbornness, whereby I will persevere with a film even if I’m not enjoying it – I was close to giving up on it several times. 3/10 (and it only gets as high as 3 because there were some good ideas).
13: The Killing Tree (2022)
A dead killer is resurrected as a Christmas Tree and embarks on a vengeance-fuelled killing spree. Yes, it’s every bit is ludicrous as it sounds, and a terrible film – I loved it! 6/10 🤣
14: 13th Day of Christmas (2021)
It took me twice as long as its running time to watch this film – it was another challenger for my usual stubborn ‘watch to the end, even if it’s crap’ attitude; I had to leave it and do other things, then return to it in order to be able watch all the way to the end. It was tagged as horror, but I can’t help but wonder if that referred to how horrifyingly bad it was.
It did have one redeeming feature – even though it was badly scripted, clearly had someone’s bus fare for a budget, poor production values, and so on. Surprisingly, when the reveal at the end was delivered, I realised there were clues to it throughout the film. It wasn’t just made up as they went along, which was how it felt. Gosh. But still just 2/10.
15: The Fright Before Christmas (2020)
Saint Nick gatecrashes a Christmas party to tell a few spooky stories… And kill the guests. In other words, another anthology. I wondered if these were excerpts from other films (as per ‘The Twelve Slays of Christmas’ (entry 03), but they seemed reasonably self contained (if sometimes a bit weak) – and watching the end titles it was clear they were filmed for this. The overall film wasn’t great, though a long way off some of the worst of these – but I found the Saint Nick character quite entertaining. 5/10
16: Mercy Christmas (2017)
An invitation to join a colleague’s family for Christmas becomes a fight for survival when the family’s festive tradition comes to light. This was a fun movie, and definitely the most enjoyable of this run so far. 7/10.
17: Sick for Toys (2018)
The synopsis for this made me think of ‘Mercy Christmas’ (which I watched the night before – entry 16, immediately above). However, other than the acceptance of an invitation not being a good idea, there was no comparison. This one was slower based, and more serious – not as good, but still enjoyable. 6/10
18: Saint (2010)
Taking the legend of Saint Nicholas – Nikklas – and giving it a horror twist, I really enjoyed this Amsterdam-based movie, even with the plot holes (How often do the events happen again? Remind me the frequency of full moons on December 5th?) 7/10
19: Secret Santa (2018)
When the punch at a family Christmas dinner is spiked with an extra powerful version of sodium pentothal, the participants learn – with deadly effect – that honesty is NOT always the best policy. Another one I really enjoyed – and bonus points for the very end, leading the story-line into a favourite direction). 7/10
20: 12 Deaths of Christmas (aka Mother Krampus) (2017)
A couple of reviews I read of this film absolutely slated it – and its overall rating out of 10 on IMDB is quite low – but dodgy acting etc in some places aside, I found it enjoyable. There were clues throughout to an important plot twist, and a nicely dark ending. The aka is as meaningless as the title – I didn’t count, but I don’t think there were 12 deaths – but some of the deaths that were there satisfied me. 6/10
21: Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
What happens when a child is traumatised by seeing ‘Santa’ kill his parents, then a decade or so later ends up dressed as him in a store and then gets tipped over the edge? This film attempts to answer that question. Not a great film, but good enough for me to have enjoyed it. 5/10
22: Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 (1987)
They don’t seem to do it all that often, but sequels can sometimes show clips from the previous film as a recap and to set things up, and this one does just that – but not in a good way.
The first 48 minutes of this film consisted of part 1 edited down under the guise of the brother recounting events to a psychiatrist. As such, there’s no point watching both – there’s enough of the 1984 ‘Silent Night, Deadly Night’ in this that I could have saved myself an hour and a half and just watched this one, and in doing that I’d have seen both. However, I would then have seen the first film made worse and a really poor sequel in one go. 2/10
23: Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)
This film follows a similar idea as ‘Saint’ (entry 18), by exploring an alternative take on the idea of Santa, only this time depicting ole red as Krampus, who was long ago entombed in ice and buried beneath a mountain – but he has now been uncovered so his evil elves set about releasing him from the ice.
This was a good film, only marred by an ending that seemed to glorify slavery (that’s how I’m interpreting it, anyway). 7/10
24: Santa’s Slay (2005)
Gladly, I didn’t end this run of 24 Christmas-themed horror films with a disappointing choice – but unfortunately it hasn’t ended on a high either.
Claus is again depicted as a demon, this time one that lost a bet and as his forfeit had to spend a thousand years bringing joy to the world at Christmas… 1,000 years ago. In other words, this film takes place when that period ends.
I enjoyed it until the climax of the film, when Santa’s murderous day of fun came to an end for no real reason. Well, as far as I can make out, it was for a reason, but one that was ruled out not five or ten minutes earlier. And just for that, it only gets 5/10.
A ‘bonus’ watche: Noche Silenciosa, Noche Sangrienta (1972) – aka Silent Night, Bloody Night
In my initial watch-list, I had a film called Silent Night, Bloody Night 2 (2015). This was obviously a sequel, so I searched for the title alone on Amazon. This film turned up and I duly added it.
I watched this one part way through December, thinking it would be one of this year’s twenty four, and while it does fit the theme, I’ve decided not to count it. This is because it’s a Spanish dub (with English subtitles) of an American original. Those subtitles aren’t the original dialogue, but translations back to English from the Spanish dub.
i.e. it has been double-translated, and something has definitely been lost in translated-translation!
For example, at one point the subtitles came up showing a couple of lines of dialogue as:
“you scared me. What happened?”
“Well, Tess has 30 bird cages. Towman is in all trouble. At home, it scrolls except me. Outside it was curdling and you hadn’t locked.”
In the context of what had happened in the film, some of that made sense – but not all of it.
A more amusing example that stuck in mind was a sign that said ‘no trespassing’ with a subtitle that said ‘entry defense’.
I’d say I found the ending a bit odd, but I suspect that was down to the translations. I have the gist of it, but I think I need to see it with the original dialogue to be sure – and I suspect it will be a better film for it as well. This version, though? 3/10.
While searching and adding links to this, I’ve since found the original version on YouTube – so that’s now bookmarked for a future watch: probably December 2025!
The new list
Having given it some thought, I’ve decided that the list here needs to be ‘complete’ at the time of posting. That is to say, it should include all of the suitable films I’ve found up until now, even if I’ve already watched them. I’ll include an indicator next to each film where I’ve watched it as part of a Christmas-horror Advent Calendar – the year I watched it, and the rating I gave it on that viewing. If I haven’t yet watched a film as part of a Christmas-horror advent watch it won’t be marked, even if I’ve seen it already separately to this.
The reason for presenting the list this way is because I now have enough films listed to have another Advent Calendar of Christmas horrors next year, and at least the year after, and with luck I’ll find more still. If I drop a film from the list I may find it another time, forget I’ve seen it, and add it again – whereas if I include the ones I’ve watched I’ll be able to quickly see if that’s the case. And if/when I do finally run out, they’re still listed so I can start the fun all over again if I wish!
In some cases, there is a little note below the title. These might be to explain an apparent inconsistency (for example, two ‘Silent Night, Deadly Night 6’ entries) or a reference that may help me in future. The list is generally in alphabetical order based on the main (or first) title I found it listed under – so in theory where there are two films with the same title, the earliest one should be listed first. However, I may have taken a liberty or two here and there, for example to make sense of films that are part of a series.
I’ve also decided that while I’m going to include the updated list of films in this post, because I may want to add to it at fairly arbitrary times, I’m also going to create the list elsewhere on this site. Moving forwards, that list will be the one I add to. That way come Christmas 2025 and beyond, the corresponding blog posts to this one and its predecessor – assuming I write any – don’t need to include the list, just link to it. (And possibly theme other watch-lists as well?)
Once I’ve decided where to put it, I will update this post to include a link to it.
And with all of that said, here is the updated list:
- 12 Deaths of Christmas (2017) – Watched 2024 – 6/10
AKA Mother Krampus - 12 Slays of Christmas, The (2016)
- 12 Slays of Christmas, The (2022) – Watched 2024 – 6/10
- 13 Slays Till Xmas (2020) – Watched 2024 – 3/10
- 13th Day of Christmas, The (2021) – Watched 2024 – 2/10
- A Cadaver Christmas (2011)
- A Christmas Horror Story (2015)
- A Christmas Horror Story (2021)
- A Christmas Monstrosity (2018)
- A Christmas Tale (2005)
- A Christmas to Dismember (2016)
- A Creature Was Stirring (2023)
- A Very Flattened Christmas (2024)
- A Zombie Christmas (2017)
- Advent (2024)
AKA Krampus Calendar, The - Advent Calendar, The (2021)
- All the creatures were stirring (2018)
- All Through the House (2015) – Watched 2024 – 4/10
- Amityville Christmas Vacation (2022)
- Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)
- ATM (2012)
- Await Further Instructions (2018)
- Babysitter Must Die (2020) – Watched 2024 – 6/10
- Bad Santa (2003)
- Bad Santa 2 (2016)
- Better Watch Out (2016)
- Black Christmas (1974)
- Black Christmas (2006)
- Black Christmas (2019)
- Black Santa (2023)
- Blood Tidings (2016) – Watched 2024 – 4/10
AKA Good Tidings - Bloody Christmas (2012)
- Bloody New Year (1987)
- Brain, The (1988)
- Cannibal Claus (2016)
- Carnage for Christmas (2024)
- Ceasar and Otto’s Deadly Xmas (2012)
- Children, The (2008)
- Christmas Blood (2017)
- Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022)
- Christmas Craft Fair Massacre (2022)
- Christmas Crime Story (2016)
- Christmas Cruelty (2013)
- Christmas Evil (1980)
AKA You Better Watch Out - Christmas Horror Story, The (2017)
- Christmas Slay (2015)
- Christmas Presence (2018)
- Christmas Season Massacre, The (2001)
- Christmas Spirit, The (2023)
- Christmas Tapes, The (2022)
- Christmas Time (2017)
AKA My Brother the Time Traveller – not actually a horror, but I love to hate time travel movies. - Christmas with the Dead (2012)
- Christmas Zombies (2020)
- Christmas with the Dead (2012)
- Christmassacre (2015)
- Curse of Jack Frost (2022)
- Damned Within the Shadows, The (2001)
(AKA Christmas Nightmare) - Day of the Beast, The (1995)
- Dead by Christmas (2018)
- Deadcember (2019)
- Deadly Little Christmas (2009)
- Dear Santa (2024)
- Deathcember (2019)
- Dismembering Christmas (2015)
- Do You See What I See? (2016)
- Don’t Open ’til Christmas (1984)
- Down the Chimney with a Shotgun (2022)
- Elf, The (2016)
- Elf in the Hood (2024)
- Elves (1989)
- Elves (2018)
- Family Reunion (1989)
- Fatman (2020)
- Feeders 2: Slay Bells (1998) and Feeders 2: Slay Bells (2019)
Two titles identical titles but made at different times. - Fright Before Christmas, The (2020) – Watched 2024 – 5/10
- Fright Before Christmas 2, The (2023)
- Granny Krampus (2024)
- Gremlins (1984)
- Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
The first took place around Christmas – this might not have done. - Gremlins 3 (In development)
The first took place around Christmas – don’t know about this. - He Knows (2022) – Watched 2024 – 4/10
- He Sees You When You’re Sleeping (2024)
- Hell on the Shelf (2021)
- Holiday Hell (2019)
- Holidays (2016)
- Home for the Holidays (1972)
- I Slay on Christmas (2023)
- I Trapped the Devil (2019)
- I’m Dreaming of a White Doomsday (2017)
- It’s a Wonderful Knife (2014)
- It’s a Wonderful Knife (2023)
- Jack Frost (1997)
- Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman (2000)
- Killer Christmas (2017)
- Killer Raccoons 2: Dark Christmas in the Dark (2020)
- Killing Tree, The (2022) – Watched 2024 – 6/10
- Krampus (2015)
- Krampus 2: Toys of Evil (2019)
- Krampus 3: Hell Awakens (2020)
- Krampus 4: The Origin Story (2020)
- Krampus 5: The Snow Beast (2023)
- Krampus: The Return (2022)
- Krampus: Origins (2018)
- Krampus: The Christmas Devil (2013)
- Krampus: The Devil Returns (2016)
- Krampus: The Reckoning (2015)
- Krampus Unleashed (2016)
- Legion (2010)
- Lodge, The (2019)
- Mean One, The (2023) – Watched 2024 – 4/10
- Mercy Christmas (2017) – Watched 2024 – 7/10
- Mother Krampus (2017)
- Mother Krampus 2: Slay Ride (2018)
- Mrs Claus (2018)
- Naughty List of Mr. Scrooge, The (2024)
- Nightmare on 34th Street
- Nights Before Christmas, The (2019) – Watched 2024 – 6/10
- Not a Creature Was Stirring, Except… (In development)
- Nutcracker Massacre (2022)
- Oldtimers (2022)
- Once Upon a Time at Christmas (2017) – Watched 2024 – 4/10
AKA The Days Before Christmas - Pagan Warrior (2019)
AKA Krampus the Avenger - Psycho Santa (2003)
- Psycho Santa 2 (2021)
- Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010) – Watched 2024 – 7/10
- Red Christmas (2014)
- Red Christmas (2016)
- Red Christmas (2023)
- Red Christmas Part 2 (2024)
- Red Snow (2021)
- Sacrifice Game, The (2023)
- Saint (2011) – Watched 2024 – 7/10
- Santa Claus vs The Devil (1959)
- Santa Claws (1996)
- Santa Isn’t Real (2023)
- Santa Slayer (In development)
- Santa Slays (2024)
- Santa’s Slay (2005) – Watched 2024 – 5/10
- Santastein (2023)
- Season’s Greetings (2015)
- Season’s Greetings 2 (2019)
- Secret Santa (2015)
- Secret Santa (2018) – Watched 2024 – 7/10
- She Was So Pretty: Be Good for Goodness Sake (2017)
- Shivers Down Your Spine: A Christmas Horror Story (2014)
- Sick for Toys (2018) – Watched 2024 – 6/10
- Silent Bite (2024) – Watched 2024 – 6/10
- Silent Night (2012) – Watched 2024 – 6/10
- Silent Night (2021)
- Silent Night, Bloody Night (1972)
Watched and not counted: The version I watched was its double-translated Spanish version: Noche Silenciosa, Noche Sangrienta – I’ll count it when I’ve watched the English language version. - Silent Night Bloody Night (2008)
A short film, unrelated to the 1972 title. - Silent Night, Bloody Night 2: Revival (2015)
- Silent Night, Bloody Night 3: Descent (2024)
- Silent Night, Bloody Night: The Homecoming (2013)
A British remake of the 1972 original, not a sequel. - Silent Night, Bloody Night: Untitled Sequel (In development)
- Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) – Watched 2024 – 5/10
- Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 (1987) – Watched 2024 – 2/10
- Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! (1989)
- Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation (1990)
- Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toymaker (1991)
- Silent Night, Deadly Night 6: The Last Holiday (2006)
Short film – presumably not a proper/official sequel. - Silent Night, Deadly Night 6: Santa’s Watching (2010)
- Silent Night, Zombie Night (2009)
- Sister Krampus (2021)
- Slant (2022)
- Slay Belles (2018)
- Slay Bells (2015)
- Slayed (2020)
- Slayer Santa (2000)
- Stuffings (2021)
- There’s Something in the Barn (2023)
- There’s Snow Escape (2022)
- To All a Goodnight (1980)
- Treevenge (2008)
- Twas the Night (2023)
- Two Front Teeth (2006)
- Unholy Night (2019)
- Violent Night (2022)
- Weredeer (2022) – Watched 2024 – 5/10
- Werewolf Santa (2023)
- While She Was Out (2008)
- Wind Chill (2007)
- Winterskin (2018)
As you can see, with over a 180 films now on the list, it has grown quite a bit since the original thirty or so. In theory, that means I can carry on this ‘Christmas Horror Advent Calendar’ for a good few years yet. Although that’s subject to me being able to watch them – I can’t watch something that isn’t available to me in some way.
And of course there are almost certainly more out there, waiting for me to discover them. 🙂
And finally, I appear to be uploading this on 31st December, so… Happy new fear, everybody!