10 Most Terrifying Christmas Horror Movies
The spookiest horrors to add to your Christmas list this year.
Horror films aren’t just for Halloween. In fact, this genre full of spooks and gore can (and should) be watched all year round. Especially at Christmas, that wholesome time of year meant for goodwill to all.
Typically, Christmas is the time to wrap ourselves up warm on the couch to watch stacks of feel-good favourites intended to get us in the spirit of the season. Horror films on the other hand, with their nihilistic outlook and all-round cruelty, are the complete antithesis of what this celebration is all about. And this is exactly what makes Christmas horror films so appealing to genre fans.
The likes of Gremlins, Anna and the Apocalypse, or even The Nightmare Before Christmas may spring to mind as being some of the best festive fright-fests around. But, as great as these flicks are, they lean more into their outrageous side rather than delivering effective scares.
Thankfully, though, there are some genuinely chilling horrors out there to send a shiver down our spines this December.
While we’ll always have a soft spot for iconic Christmas classics like Home Alone and It’s a Wonderful Life, there’s nothing wrong with adding these horrors to your Christmas movie watchlist.
10. Wind Chill (2007)
Long before she gripped audiences in critically acclaimed horror A Quiet Place, Emily Blunt impressed filmgoers when she starred in low-budget chiller Wind Chill.
Taking the coming home for Christmas road trip movie and transforming it into something far more malicious, this film follows Blunt and Ashton Holmes as two unnamed students making their way home from university. But after Holmes’s character decides to take a detour along a notoriously dangerous road, they’re forced to swerve when an oncoming car hurtles towards them. Stranded in the snow, the pair begin to see strange figures in the distance before being greeted by a highway patrolman (Martin Donovan). Unfortunately for the traveling companions, though, this officer isn’t the help they were hoping for.
It doesn’t take long for them to realise that they’ve stumbled into the midst of a real-life ghost story. Pursued by the menacing officer, they must find a way to escape these ghosts of Christmas past before they end up meeting the same tragic fate.
With an inventive premise bolstered by a phenomenal performance from a young Blunt, Wind Chill is an atmospheric – if a little schlocky – ghost story perfect for some Christmas spooks.