Beyond Krampus: Holiday Horror Fun
by EG
The success of Christmas-themed horror movie Krampus this month was a bit of a surprise, but it shouldn't have been. Holiday horror movies have a long history of making the season creepy, and Krampus is just the latest example of scary movies that use the yuletide atmosphere as their backdrop. If you've already seen Krampus and need more holiday fright, here are a few films that might satisfy your cravings.
This one is merely a 1980s revision of A Christmas Carol starring Bill Murray, but Dickens' classic was always a ghost story at heart. Scrooged is played mostly for laughs, but the humor is decidedly dark, and there are a few moments that could make you squirm a little.
You might not remember that this 1980s hit was set in the Christmas season, but it's a father's Christmas gift for his son gone awry that unleashes an army of nasty little creatures on a sleepy small town. Again, humor is at the forefront here, but there's nothing funny about the destruction wrought by gremlins on the rampage. Well, yes, there is, but it's a little scary sometimes, too.
This one isn't about laughs at all. It's Christmas time on a college campus, and a sorority house full of unsuspecting students is stalked by an anonymous killer. This 1974 horror film predated Halloween by fours years and Friday the 13th by six, making it one of the earliest examples of the modern slasher film. This one is as good as any, and its ending is truly chilling. Don't confuse it with the inferior 2006 remake.
On Christmas Eve, a young businesswoman is inadvertently stuck in a deserted underground Manhattan parking garage. That would be bad enough, but she's also being stalked by a deranged man capable of gruesome violence. This isn't a deep or thoughtful movie, but its take on the contemporary, violent woman-in-peril formula offers a few genuinely scary situations.
This one wasn't intended to be a horror movie, but there's something deeply unsettling about it. A mysterious train whose conductor abducts kids in the middle of the night, a creepily deserted city at the North Pole, an army of elves that worship Santa, and scores of horrifically animated CGI characters (including a terrifying version of Aerosmith's Steven Tyler) -- it's really a non-stop frightfest in disguise.