Last updated: November 4, 2026
For everyone who likes their eggnog spiked with dread. These are the best Christmas horror movies, from a snowbound psychological nightmare and a merciless French home invasion to a killer robot Santa, a demonic folk legend, and a killer clown in a Santa suit, plus where to stream every one right now. Looking for something less likely to get blood on the tree? See the best Christmas and holiday movies streaming right now.
THE LODGE (2019)
A soon-to-be stepmother (Riley Keough) gets snowed in with her fiancé’s grieving kids at a remote lodge over Christmas, and things go very, very wrong. A frostbitten, unrelenting psychological chiller.▶︎ Watch on Tubi and Kanopy · Read the full review
GREMLINS (1984)
Joe Dante’s holiday creature feature turns a Christmas gift with three simple rules into chaos once every rule gets broken, unleashing a horde of mischievous monsters on a snowy small town. Equal parts Spielbergian Americana and anarchic horror-comedy, it’s still the gateway Christmas horror movie.▶︎ Watch on HBO Max
VIOLENT NIGHT (2022)
David Harbour shines as a beat-down Santa Claus who returns to his brutal ways when mercenaries take a rich family hostage on Christmas Eve. A bit overly self-aware in spots, but it delivers the gory goods.▶︎ Watch on Netflix · Read the full review
INSIDE (2007)
French extremity at its most merciless. On Christmas Eve, a widowed, heavily pregnant woman spending the night alone is terrorized by a stranger who wants her unborn baby, in one of the most brutal home-invasion movies ever made. Strictly for strong stomachs.▶︎ Watch on Tubi
BETTER WATCH OUT (2016)
A babysitter’s quiet Christmas night with a 12-year-old turns into a home invasion that takes a hard, nasty left turn. Mean, funny, and best gone into blind.▶︎ Watch on Prime Video and Peacock
RARE EXPORTS (2010)
Finland’s twisted Santa origin story. When an excavation in the arctic mountains digs up something that was buried for good reason, a reindeer herder’s young son figures out the real Santa Claus is nothing like the one in the commercials. Deadpan, darkly funny, and a cult favorite.▶︎ Watch on Tubi · Watch on Kanopy
KRAMPUS (2015)
Michael Dougherty sends Santa’s horned, shadowy counterpart after a bickering family that’s lost its Christmas spirit. Not every gag lands, but as counterprogramming to the usual holiday fare, killer gingerbread men and a demonic jack-in-the-box make for a lot of fun.▶︎ Watch on Prime Video and Peacock
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993)
Halloween and Christmas collide in Henry Selick’s stop-motion classic, as Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, stumbles into Christmas Town and decides to take over the holiday himself, with predictably ghoulish results. Gorgeous, macabre, and packed with Danny Elfman songs, it’s the perfect Christmas horror for the whole family.▶︎ Watch on Disney+
I TRAPPED THE DEVIL (2019)
A slow-burn chamber piece in which a man’s family shows up for Christmas to find he’s locked someone in his basement, convinced it’s the devil himself. Writer-director Josh Lobo builds dread out of paranoia and grief rather than jump scares.▶︎ Watch on Shudder · Watch on Kanopy
CHRISTMAS BLOODY CHRISTMAS (2022)
Joe Begos’ grimy holiday slasher is set on Christmas Eve, when a military-grade robot Santa at a small-town toy store malfunctions and starts a killing spree, and a record-store owner who just wants to get drunk has to survive the night. Neon-soaked, foul-mouthed, and gleefully violent.▶︎ Watch on Netflix · Watch on Shudder
TERRIFIER 3 (2024)
Art the Clown dons a Santa suit for a Christmas killing spree. Combining malicious, vaudeville goofball humor with line-crossing brutality, it’s strictly for the strong of stomach.▶︎ Watch on Prime Video and Hoopla · Read the full review
More: Christmas movies → · New horror movies → · Horror on every service →
FAQ
What is the best Christmas horror movie?
For pure dread, The Lodge and Inside are the most genuinely unsettling. For fun, start with Gremlins or Violent Night.
What Christmas horror movies are on Netflix?
Violent Night and Christmas Bloody Christmas are both streaming on Netflix right now.
Are there funny Christmas horror movies?
Yes. Gremlins, Violent Night, Krampus, Better Watch Out, and Rare Exports all mix real scares with a wicked sense of humor.
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By: Matt Oakes
Started blogging about film in college when the university paper wouldn’t have him. Dislikes your consensus film Twitter favorites. Devotee of horror movies that make him die a little inside. Catches films at festivals when he can. Proud SFCS and OFCS member and Tomatometer-approved critic. Editor-in-chief of Silver Screen Riot.
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