10. Terrifier 3
Just when you thought this blood soaked bonkers franchise couldn’t get more bloodier or brutal. Art the clown comes in with bombs, chainsaws and more batshit mayhem that will delight the sadist within you this festive season. 

9. Gremlins
Technically Gremlins is a comedy rather than a horror but I count is as a horror comedy and I love this movie, it’s been 40 years since the release and this is still such a gem, controversial opinion though but I like the sequel much better. Do I even need to explain the plot? If you don’t know what Gremlins is, go watch it right now then come back and watch the rest of this countdown.

8. Better Watch out
Home Alone meets Jigsaw Kramer in this wild sleigh ride that will keep you on your toes. Blending dark comedy with some truly horrific moments, it’s a complex and psychotic game of mousetrap when a boy and his babysitter encounter an uninvited visitor. So hang the stockings and the paint cans — and don’t forget to lock the doors.

7. Krampus
Toni Collette fans rejoice! She is yet in another horror movie and fans of Trick R Treat will feel right at home for the holidays with this twisted tale, which goes to show that there are true terrors in this world that are more frightening than forced family gatherings. Everyone knows the rules of when Santa Claus is coming to town, but this film explores the lure of the lesser-known anti-Santa, the Krampus. During a terrible winter storm, a family is stalked by the beast and his evil elves. They may struggle to break the curse, but the true torture remains being stuck with your in-laws.

6. Jack Frost
This movie could definitely not be made today and no, this isn’t the family-friendly Michael Keaton movie of the same name, though some unsuspecting ’90s kids may have been traumatized after renting the wrong video. This cult classic tells the tale of a serial killer who is transformed into a murderous snowman when his prison transport collides with a genetics truck full of experimental lab acid. Complete with frozen performances, politically incorrect humour and witty one-liners, it’s the exact kind of ridiculousness you’d expect from a low-budget ’90s holiday horror film. It’s flawed and thawed, but an abominable film that’s worth defrosting, especially if you’re looking for dark humour. We’ve covered this film in our podcast, so check that out, links are in the description.

5. Silent Night, Deadly Night
“Christmas Eve is the scariest damn night of the year,” according to young Billy’s supposedly senile grandfather who warns the 5-year-old that Santa doesn’t just reward good little children — he punishes the bad ones. That premonition rings true when his parents are slaughtered by a carjacker dressed as Old Saint Nick himself just hours later, condemning the toddler into further moral compass trauma at an orphanage run by a domineering Mother Superior nun from Hell. But once a now-grown Billy is forced into the red suit by his retail job, his Santa snaps, becoming the judge, jury, and executioner of the naughty or nice list. Between ominous animatronics and irresistibly exaggerated ’80s acting, Silent Night, Deadly Night’s yuletide kills do not disappoint, featuring a hanging by holiday lights, decapitation via sleigh ride, and impalement by a reindeer (okay, a taxidermized stag, but still).

4. Black Christmas (2006)
Bring those pitchforks out, I know this is a hugely unpopular opinion but I love love love this movie, it’s so bad, it’s good plus you all know my main girl Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe is in this so I have to stan my queen. It also stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Lacey Chabert, Michelle Trachtenberg (RIP), Katie Cassidy and of course Andrea Martin who plays Sister Andrea in Evil. While the remake doesn’t live up to the original instalment, there are still some classic 2000s slasher elements to keep the movie going. You can check out my podcast interview with Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe where she discusses the difficult prosthetics she had to endure while filming this movie.

3. Silent Night
In Silent Night, Keira Knightley and Matthew Goode are throwing a killer Christmas party — quite literally. In the wake of a global catastrophe where a poisonous cloud is killing everything alive, a group of family and friends gather for one last night of revelry. The merriment is interrupted when debate arises over whether or not to take government-provided “exit pills” for a painless death just before the gas arrives. Selfishness, suicide, and Scrabble are fair game before all becomes calm and, uh, not so bright. Just a shame that Keira Knightley’s gone all weirdo transphobic out of nowhere.“

2. Black Christmas (1974)
Inspired by the “babysitter and man inside the house” urban legend, Bob Clark’s ’70s classic takes place in a sorority house over the Christmas break. A group of young women are terrorized by an unknown caller who keeps harassing them with foul hysterics and lurid threats. While tension simmers in a way only the best horror films can pull off, Black Christmas also shines a light on society’s penchant for not taking women seriously when they raise concerns. It’s considered one of the earliest examples of a slasher film and led to two remakes, the already mentioned 2006 masterpiece and the absolute shitfest that was released by Blumhouse in 2019.

1. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
This underseen Finnish horror-action comedy is a unique breed. Walking the line between various genres, the artful and twisted tale explores the mythology of Santa Claus when an archaeological dig deep in a frozen mountain unearths what they believe to be the original Santa.
It’s a dark fantasy that has a grimly funny take on the legend you thought you knew. We’ve also covered this in our podcast so check it out.

Thanks for watching! Let me know what your favourite Xmas movies are in the comments below 🙂