10 Hidden Christmas Horror Gems You Need to Stream This Holiday

Holiday horror is the gift I never return. Yes, December is for family, twinkle lights, and sugar comas. It is also prime time for murderous Santas, mean-spirited folklore, and the kind of seasonal dread you can wrap a bow around. We all know the usuals: Gremlins, Silent Night Deadly Night, Krampus, and now Terrifier 3. This time, I went off the beaten path.

Here are 10 underseen Christmas horror movies that deserve a spot in your queue. Some are nasty. Some are weird. A few are surprisingly emotional. All of them scratch that specific December itch.

1. Santa's Slay (2005)
   Bill Goldberg plays Santa as a literal demon whose thousand-year penance of spreading cheer has finally expired, freeing him to suplex the naughty and the nice. It opens with a gloriously unhinged massacre featuring Fran Drescher and James Caan, and never stops leaning into its own absurdity. Think grenade launchers, one-liners, and a ton of yuletide carnage. Camp? Maxed out.
   Streaming on: Starz
2. Deadly Games (Dial Code Santa Claus) (1989)
   Imagine Home Alone spiked with Die Hard, but darker and French. A gadget-obsessed kid turns his palatial home into a booby-trapped battlefield when a deranged Santa invades. Slick, eerie, and shot with genuine style, it flips from whimsical adventure to edge-of-your-seat survival without blinking.
   Streaming on: AMC+
3. I'm Dreaming of a White Doomsday (2017)
   Post-apocalypse, bunker life, a mom and her young son trying to make it to Christmas with dwindling supplies and no good options left. Writer-director Mike Lombardo keeps it quiet and painfully intimate: more about love, survival, and impossible choices than monsters and mayhem. Bring tissues, not just nerves.
   Streaming on: Tubi
4. A Christmas Horror Story (2015)
   Four interwoven tales set on Christmas Eve in Bailey Downs (yep, the Ginger Snaps town) range from a cursed changeling to Santa throwing down with undead elves. William Shatner, cheerfully soused as a radio DJ, ties it all together. It is a lively grab bag of dark humor, twists, and seasonal nastiness that actually hangs together.
   Streaming on: AMC+
5. Inside (A l'interieur) (2007)
   Not a Christmas movie in spirit, but it is set on Christmas Eve, and that counts here. A grieving, pregnant widow is trapped in her home by a relentless stranger who wants the baby. It is vicious, claustrophobic, and absolutely uncompromising. Extreme horror fans, enjoy; everyone else, consider this your content warning.
   Streaming on: Tubi
6. Maniac Cop 2 (1990)
   Does a holiday backdrop make it festive? Barely. Does it make the brutality pop? Absolutely. The undead Officer Matt Cordell returns to carve through New York while Christmas lights blink indifferently in the background. Director William Lustig and writer Larry Cohen dial up the stunts, the inventive kills, and the mythology. Also, yes, there is a ridiculously good rap theme song.
   Streaming on: Tubi
7. Better Watch Out (2016)
   A babysitter takes a Christmas Eve gig with a 12-year-old, and the setup looks like standard home-invasion territory... until it swerves into something far nastier. Levi Miller is chilling, the humor is pitch black, and the movie weaponizes holiday vibes in very clever ways. Best advice: go in as cold as possible.
   Streaming on: Tubi
8. Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022)
   A record-store owner tries to keep her Christmas Eve low-key and boozy; a malfunctioning military-grade robo-Santa has other plans. Neon-lit, loud, and relentless, it plays like The Terminator crashing a Silent Night, Deadly Night reunion. Punk energy, gory payoff, volume set to 11.
   Streaming on: Shudder
9. Christmas Evil (1980)
   I always call this the Taxi Driver of Christmas horror. A toy-factory lifer, disillusioned by selfish people and corporate rot, slips into a Santa suit and a very particular moral code. More character study than slasher, it is bleakly funny and uncomfortably sympathetic as it follows one man’s seasonal unspooling.
   Streaming on: AMC+
10. Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)
    A Scottish zombie outbreak collides with a full-on high school musical, and somehow the tone never collapses. The songs are genuinely catchy (yes, including "Hollywood Ending"), the gore lands, and the movie is not afraid to make you care before it hurts your feelings. It is a sugar-rush crowd-pleaser with bite, heart, and actual stakes.
    Streaming on: Tubi

There you go: ten underrated seasonal screamers to queue up after you knock out the obvious classics. Killer Santas, nasty kids, and end-times melancholy are all on the menu. What did I miss? Hit the comments, and happy holidays. Stay spooky.