10 Best Comfort Horror Movies
4. Gremlins (1984)
Anyone who says Die Hard (1989) is the greatest Christmas movie ever made has clearly never seen Gremlins (1984).
Joe Dante's monster flick sees Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) get the greatest Christmas gift a boy could ever ask for: the Mogwai Gizmo; a creature so memorable, so original, so downright cute it even had a band named after it. Sure, Gizmo's a furry little monster with supernatural origins, but everything will be fine so long as Billy follows the rules and doesn't feed him after midnight, doesn't get him wet, and doesn't expose him to sunlight.
Needless to say, he somehow manages all of the above, and soon Gizmo is sprouting vicious little clones who turn green and scaly and homicidal all over Kingston Falls.
Perhaps it's the seasonal setting that makes it so easy on the eyes, but there's something about Gremlins – in spite of the yuckiness and gore – that makes it candy for the brain. Whatever the case, this is a unique horror film that manages a careful balancing act between cute as hell and simply hellish, leaving us wanting more – and you know what, despite its flaws, 1990's Gremlins 2 delivered.