This is it. The holidays are upon us. It’s the last call for holiday preparations and cramming in every last bit of holiday horror our eyeballs can handle. Luckily, there’s no shortage of holiday horror out there. This week’s picks bring double the selection, all dedicated to delivering yuletide nightmares. These ten titles dig a little deeper than the classic titles like Black Christmas, Gremlins, and the Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise to introduce potential new favorites.
As always, here’s where you can stream them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
Adult Swim Yule Log (aka The Fireplace) – HBO Max
Look no further if you’re in the mood for something brand-spanking new and more than a little unhinged. Adult Swim’s 2022 holiday yule log presentation unravels into a gory feature film, courtesy of director Casper Kelly (“Too Many Cooks”). Kelly takes a kitchen sink approach to the horror madness that must be seen to be believed. Bring the spiked egg nog and buckle up.
Anna and the Apocalypse – AMC+, Kanopy, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Shudder, Tubi
A high school-set Christmas musical collides with the zombie comedy in a surprising mashup. Instead, what should be a recipe for disaster becomes an infectious and affecting coming-of-age holiday tale that isn’t afraid to go bleak when needed. It helps that the cast is so charming, and the tunes utterly catchy. There’s no such thing as a Hollywood ending.
The Children – Plex, The Roku Channel, Tubi, Vudu
Children have a penchant for creepiness in horror, and The Children ranks high among the killer kid subgenre. An isolated family and friend gathering over the Christmas/New Year’s holiday winds up pitting children against parents when a gruesome virus breaks out. If you think the holiday setting means tamer kills, you’d be wrong; these children are malicious little killers.
The Day of the Beast – AMC+, Fandor, Pluto TV, Screambox, Shudder, Tubi, Vudu
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 brings the laughs, but the horror equally matches the humor. 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.
Dead End – Freevee, Plex, Tubi
It’s late, and Frank Harrington (Ray Wise) still has a long way to get to his in-laws on Christmas Eve. His eyelids are growing heavier by the mile; Frank decides to try a shortcut in the middle of nowhere. After narrowly avoiding a car crash, Frank’s detour becomes a nightmare when he and his family become haunted by paranormal activity and a strange hearse. Dead End is a small, quiet little haunter with a great cast. Lin Shaye plays Frank’s wife, with Alexandra Holden as Frank’s daughter. Toggling between eerie chills and dark comedy, Dead End offers an underseen and creepy holiday haunter with a twist.
Dead of Night – Fandor, Kanopy
This British horror anthology tells multiple tales of terror, but only one relates to the holiday. Even still, it’s a stone-cold classic, and there’s no better time than now to watch or revisit it. “The Christmas Party” spins a chilling story of a ghostly encounter during a children’s Christmas gathering. Hide and seek becomes the perfect recipe for one partygoer to encounter the unexpected when she finds a great hiding spot. Come for this children’s party of terror and stay for the other substantial segments.
Night of the Comet – AMC+, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Shudder, Tubi
Everything about this horror-comedy screams Christmas, from the setting to the décor to a major character dressing up as Santa to surprise our favorite sisters from the Valley. Besides, any excuse to watch our favorite Valley girls take on zombies, mad scientists, and ruthless survivors is worthy.
P2 – Freevee, Plex, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Tubi, Vudu
This horror-thriller will make you think twice about devoting too much of your life to work. Rachel Nichols’s Angela is a corporate workaholic, the last to leave the office on Christmas Eve. That makes it the perfect time for a psychopath to hold her hostage in the parking garage. This one’s intense, effective, and pretty savage.
Scrooged – Paramount+, Pluto TV, Prime Video
No haunted holiday horror list would be complete without at least one adaptation of Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol.” While there are a few memorable genre-leaning takes on the classic, we’re going with Richard Donner’s beloved ’80s film. Frank Cross (Bill Murray) is a cynical, selfish TV executive haunted by the spirits of Christmas past, present, and future in this ’80s retelling. Sure, it’s a comedy, first and foremost, but some of those ghosts can be pretty terrifying. Thanks to Frank’s heavily decayed mentor Lew (John Forsythe) and nightmarish visions of Death, Scrooged presents a family-friendly PG-13 holiday viewing that doubles as gateway horror.
Sole Survivor – AMC+, Shudder
The lone survivor of a plane crash is dealing with a severe case of survivor’s guilt. Haunted feelings of unworthiness become literal when Death comes to finish what it started, sending undead corpses after her. This eerie, atmospheric creepfest plays like a cross between Final Destination and Carnival of Souls, and it’s set during Christmas time.
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