Plenty of holiday movies exist, and plenty are heartwarming. It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, Home Alone, and even Jingle All the Way all have some sort of message to send about how important family is during the holidays. But there's another genre out there that wants to convey another simple but very different message — you can get murdered during Christmas as easily as you can during Halloween. Here, a list of 10 Christmas horror movies to watch this season instead of whatever family classic your mom's trying to rope you into viewing. Side note: Have you ever noticed that Santa is an anagram of Satan? Just saying.
1. Krampus
In America, disobedient children get threatened with coal during the holiday season, but in some parts of Europe they get threatened with Krampus, a demonic goat man who'll abduct them in the night if they talk back to their parents. Obviously this is way worse than receiving a legitimately useful source of fuel in your stocking, so they made a horror movie about it. You'll never end up on the naughty list again for as long as you live.
2. Gremlins
Perhaps you have forgotten (or never even knew, if you haven't yet been scarred for life by this movie) that Gremlins begins with a guy buying a mogwai as a Christmas present for his son. Soon named Gizmo, the mogwai quickly reproduces and then a bunch of those turn into murderous reptilian monsters (see above). The moral of the story here is that you should never buy a gift that comes with the warning "don't feed after midnight."
3. Black Christmas
Black Christmas has the impressive distinction of being both a holiday horror movie and a sorority horror movie — it's about a group of sorority sisters being terrorized by a murderer hiding in the attic of their sorority house. The original Black Christmas premiered in 1974, followed by a remake in 2006.
4. The Nightmare Before Christmas
This is not technically a horror movie, but I'm sure a vast number of '90s children dragged screaming out of the movie theater because their parents underestimated the fright factor of a talking skeleton man would disagree. The Tim Burton–produced movie tells the story of Jack Skellington, a resident of Halloween Town who decides he wants to check out the situation in Christmas Town. He decides that Christmas should be shared with the people of Halloween Town and makes it his mission to help them incorporate some yuletide traditions into their usual spooky routines.
5. Jack Frost
There are at least four movies called Jack Frost, but for the purposes of getting scared on Christmas, you want the 1997 edition. That one is about a serial killer named Jack Frost who turns into a snowman and goes on a murder spree in a town called Snowmonton. If that sounds like too much for you, you could also go with the 1998 Jack Frost, which is about a guy coming back to life as a snowman after dying in a car accident and yet is somehow not classified as a horror movie.
6. Better Watch Out
The most recent movie on this list, Better Watch Out stars Stranger Things actor Dacre Montgomery, so if you're not sure if this tale of Christmas babysitting gone wrong is right for you, allow Billy's mullet to convince you.
7. Elves
The tagline here should be enough to sell this one: "They're not working for Santa...anymore."
8. Santa's Slay
This movie asks the question: What would happen if Santa Claus was actually the spawn of Satan? (Remember what I said about the anagram?) The answer — spoiler alert — is "a whole lot of murder."
9. Santa Claws
This is not be confused with the 2014 movie also titled Santa Claws, which has something to do with Santa being allergic to cats. The one you want is the 1996 Santa Claws, which is about a guy dressed up as Santa murdering people with a claw.
10. A Christmas Horror Story
Released in 2015, A Christmas Horror Story is actually made up of four separate stories, including one where all of Santa's elves turn into zombies and another where Krampus (him again!) goes on a killing spree. Don't you wish you were still worried about the coal?
