The notion of watching horror movies on Christmas seems downright heretical. After all, the yuletide season is supposed to bring cheer and good will toward your fellow man. But there’s a certain segment of the population that likes to cut that mirth with some more subversive fun, and it’s people like that who probably love the Christmas-themed horror movie Krampus.
The film opened in theaters in 2015, pitting Adam Scott, Toni Collette, Allison Tolman and Conchata Ferrell against the Krampus, a creature from Germanic folklore that acts as a sort of anti-Santa Claus, punishing the wicked. That’s essentially what this horned monster does in the movie. And while there are surely people shocked that such a movie would be released around Christmas, it’s just the most recent in a long tradition of festive horror.
Check out some other movies that explored the dark side of yuletide.
1. Tales from the Crypt (1972)
Not the HBO series but a British adaptation of several of the original comic stories – including “All Through the House,” a very creepy segment about a murderess menaced by an escaped mental patient who just happens to be dressed like Santa Claus. Joan Collins plays the lead with exactly the kind of proto-Alexis Colby bearing you’d expect, and yes, there’s a bit of a twist ending.
2. Home for the Holidays (1972)
A TV movie and a slasher at that, this forgotten gem features Sally Field, Julie Harris, Jessica Walter and the Sound of Music baroness herself, Eleanor Parker. There’s a certain segment of PEOPLE readership who read that sentence and immediately started watching. You’re welcome.
3. Black Christmas (1974)
Stalking into theaters a full four years before Michael Meyers started bothering babysitters in Halloween, this slasher has Margot Kidder, Olivia Hussey and Andrea Martin playing sorority girls fleeing a mystery killer during Christmas. It’s a decent little thriller, and here’s the kicker: The director, Bob Clark, also directed A Christmas Story.
4. Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
Another slasher, this one is probably most famous for creating a controversy when the movie-going public objected to the idea of someone dressing up as Santa Claus and killing people. And that’s not too surprising, considering how many children are already terrified of the regular, non-murderous Santa. Neither well-reviewed nor that successful financially, Silent Night, Deadly Night ultimately spawned four sequels and a remake.
6. Gremlins (1984)
The Steven Spielberg-produced film made $153 million on movie-goers’ desire to see Christmas cheer mixed with mayhem. You might consider Gremlins more of a comedy than a horror movie, but a lot of the films on this list blend scares and laughter. This one does both well, in addition to satirizing some of the more commercial aspects to the holiday season.
7. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Is it a kids’ movie? An all-ages movie? A Halloween movie? A Christmas movie? The answer is yes, and Disney-sanctioned though it all may be, The Nightmare Before Christmas doesn’t skimp on the creepy and scary. It’s rated PG, but it’s a fairly hard PG, you know?
7. Jack Frost (1997)
A silly, schocky movie about a serial killer named Jack Frost who gets transformed into in an evil, sentient snowman – as a result of science, no less! Its most famous cast member is a pre-American Pie Shannon Elizabeth, but the movie is probably most famous for its confusion with the 1998 family movie Jack Frost, which stars Michael Keaton as a father who dies and comes back as a snowman but does not murder people. Doubtless this confusion has resulted in the ruination of at least one movie night.
8. Santa’s Slay (2005)
Based on the trailer and the fact that it stars pro-wrestler Goldberg as an evil Santa Claus, you might be inclined to pass on this one. However, that less-than-stellar premise belies the fact that this comedy-slasher boasts an oddly eclectic cast that includes Fran Drescher, Chris Kattan, Rebecca Gayheart, Dave Thomas and Emilie de Ravin. Yeah, we thought that was surprising too.
9. Black Christmas (2006)
A remake of the 1974 version, the new one features Katie Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg and Lacey Chabert as the imperiled sorority sisters and Andrea Martin, star of the original, as the house mom. It goes off in a very different direction, and it’s written and directed by the guy who wrote the first Final Destination if that’s any indication of what goes down. And whereas the original largely plays it straight, this one offers humor along with the horror.
10. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)
After all this, it hardly sounds strange that there exists a Finnish horror-adventure-fantasy movie about reindeer herders fighting an undead Santa who from beyond the grave controls an army of “helper elves” who kidnap naughty children, does it? No wait – yes, that does actually sound super weird even still.