5 Christmas Horror Movies So Bad They’re Lowkey Good
The Halloween season is over; it’s Christmas time. But what if you still can’t get over the spooky vibes? Worry not: we brought you some weird Christmas-themed horrors.
5. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)
Christmas horror is a weird genre, and to truly succeed in it, a movie must embrace its weirdness. Rare Exports is the perfect example of such an attitude: the movie tells the story of unveiling the darkest Christmas secret that’s been covered deep under the Korvatunturi mountains — and dug back up right before the holidays.
“This Christmas, everyone will believe in Santa Claus,” promises Rare Export’s tagline, and it’s very much correct. This Finnish movie brilliantly works with its genre, creating a surprisingly captivating story that — believe it or not — enchanted even the critics as Rare Exports holds a strong 89% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.
4. A Christmas Horror Story (2015)
What’s better than one Christmas horror movie? A Christmas horror movie all-in-one anthology package, of course! A Christmas Horror Story follows several stories at once, including that of a haunted Christmas tree, a terrorizing Christmas spirit that’s out for blood, and Santa Claus fighting an army of zombie elves back in the North.
The creators of A Christmas Horror Story advise its viewers to “better watch out,” and we can totally see why: it’s the perfect mix of holiday cheer and bloody violence that you can either love or hate. Curiously enough, the critics loved it more than viewers: the film brags an 83% critic score against a measly 48% audience score.
3. Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)
Christmas horrors are great and all, but let’s throw a zombie apocalypse in the mix, shall we? Anna and the Apocalypse follows a young girl who wants to take a gap year after school, spends quality time with her friends, quarrels with her father, and doesn’t notice how amid all the Christmas rush a zombie pandemic comes to town.
What really elevates Anna and the Apocalypse from the rest of the movies is not even the zombie army but the fact that it’s a musical. Full of bold creative decisions, the movie deserves its great Rotten Tomatoes score of 77% from critics as it offers a unique experience no matter what your initial expectations are. It’s just that special!
2. Better Watch Out (2017)
We all know and love Home Alone and Home Alone 2 (and pointedly ignore all sequels) — but what if we took its core idea and added sinister forces to it? Then, we’d end up with Better Watch Out, a movie about a babysitter who does her best to protect her protege from a terrifying supernatural home intrusion on Christmas Eve.
Filled with great performances, Better Watch Out is, indeed, a Home Alone meets supernatural horror. Christmas, home intrusion, makeshift traps, comedy, evil forces — it’s all there, and it’s a lot of fun. It’s one of the best movies on our list, and critics will support this claim: Better Watch Out has an incredible critic score of 89% on RT.
1. Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022)
The latest movie on the list, Christmas Bloody Christmas entertains another mixture of genres by adding a rogue AI to the already-familiar Christmas horror setting. Because if there is one thing scarier than a murderous Santa Claus then it’s a murderous robotic Santa Claus that bugged and wants to wipe out an entire town.
Christmas Bloody Christmas provides a more modern take on the general idea as everyone knows that if you make one character into a robot, it’s now modern. But seriously, it’s a fun movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously — and the Rotten Tomatoes critics seemingly liked it, too, as it boasts a solid 77% critic score.