10 Most Terrifying Christmas Horror Movies 

Never to be confused with the far more inferior and increasingly worse 2006 and 2019 remakes of the same name, the original Black Christmas isn’t just a phenomenal Christmas horror, it’s a landmark in horror cinema itself.

Hailed as a forerunner to the slasher genre that populated the '80s, this Christmas classic from director Bob Clark (who’d go on to helm non-horror holiday favourite A Christmas Story) sees a group of sorority sisters menaced by an unknown killer. Hiding in the attic, the intruder first torments his victims with obscene phone calls before stalking and slaughtering them during their Christmas break.

Made on an estimated budget of only $620,000, Clark makes the most from his low budget through a palpably tense and uneasy atmosphere. Generated through claustrophobic camera angles taken from the killer’s perspective and unnerving sound design (particularly during the killer’s phone calls) that only adds to the suppressive, cold tone, Black Christmas still holds up remarkably well almost half a century later.

Unlike the more mainstream slashers that would follow, Black Christmas’s terror doesn’t come from its gruesome kill count alone, but rather the nuanced way the antagonist is presented.

Black Christmas is unequivocally the all time greatest Christmas horror ever made.