You Better Watch Out: Christmas Horror Flicks to Get Into the Holiday Spirit With

He's Making a List, and Checking It Twice...
Photo by: Patti Haskins, via Flickr. (CC BY-NC 2.0)

You better watch out, you better not cry...you better beware, and I'm telling you why - Santa Claus is coming to town! When you think about Santa, you probably picture a jolly old man who benevolently gives children of the world lots of wonderful gifts, but if you think about it, the concept of Santa is pretty insidious. An omnipotent being that sees all, and is the sole "decider" of who is good, and who is bad? Who visits families in the dead of night by breaking into their homes, and stealing their freshly baked cookies?

Ok, so maybe the cookie thing isn't creepy, but the constant surveillance and the millions of overnight magical B&Es are definitely creepy - how many horror flicks start with a terrifying, murderous break in, anyway?

With the holiday season quickly approaching, it's hard NOT to think about the inherently creepy nature of the man in red, which had us wondering, how many Holiday Horror Flicks are focused on the man of the hour himself, Santa? It turns out that there's actually quiet a few, so we've put together some of our top picks for Christmas Horror Flicks that'll have you seeing Santa in a whole new light this Christmas Season.

•  Sint (2010) - To kick off the scary-good holiday fun, we're starting with "Sint", a Dutch film (also know as "Saint" in the US), that focuses on Sinterklaas, the historical figure that Americans today will recognize as "Santa Claus". The film is a terrifying take on the Sinterklaas legend - the movie starts off on December 5th, 1492, with Bishop Niklas (Saint Nick, if you will), and his gang of murderous thugs being lynched by the townspeople, who have had it with their evil doings.
  
  Over the years, the townspeople have forgotten about the scary happenings, and celebrate Sinterklaas on December 5th each year, however, whenever there's a full moon on December 5th, Sint and his murderous pals return with a vengeance, and in 2010, they return looking for blood. This is definitely a creepy take on good ol' Saint Nick, and if you're into dark, creepy foreign flicks, this is one you'll want to check out. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) - After being traumatized as a child after watching his parents get murdered by a thug dressed as Santa and subsequently getting placed in an abusive orphanage, Little Billy seemingly adapts and grows up to be a normal adult, until he loses his mind and goes on a holiday themed killing spree, which includes strangling someone with Christmas lights, axe murder, and all sorts of horrific holiday hyjinx. While this movie is a great stand alone holiday horror slasher flick, it's one of the rare Christmas Horror Movies that spawned an entire franchise, and includes numerous sequels which are perfect for a holiday horror binge watch marathon. 
  
  
• Santa Claws (1996) - Ah the 90s. The pinnacle of funny flicks (both intentional, and not). Santa Claws focuses on a woman who's neighbor is absolutely obsessed with her, to the point where he will do anything to get to her. Why that involves dressing up as Santa Claus and killing people with a giant claw? Well, you're just going to need to watch the movie to find out.
  
  
  
  
  
• A Christmas Horror Story (2015) - Let us first start off by saying this - this movie is narrated by none other than William. Freakin. Shatner. That alone makes it a total win. This is a newer horror flick, and in short, William Shatner is a shock jock "DJ Dangerous Dan" that weaves together four stories of Christmas terror that happen around the small town of Bailey Downs - basically, Shatner narrates four short Christmas horror stories.
  
  The last one though, is the most ridiculous, and at first glance, doesn't have much to do with the town at all - the final story is about Santa Claus eralizing that Mrs. Claus and the elves have been turned into zombies, and in addition to having to murder all of them, he has to fight the Krampus and save Christmas. What does this have to do with the small town of Bailey Downs? Well, without giving too much away, let's just say that the Krampus is closer to the town than one might think. Come for Shatner, stay for the ridiculous holiday horror laughs.
  
  

What's Your Favorite Holiday Horror Flick?
Let Us Know in the Comments Below!