Five Christmas Horror Movies That Are So Bad You Need to See Them

The Lance 12 Days of Christmas: Day Five

The Lances writers celebrate their favorite parts of the holiday season.

The Lance’s writers celebrate their favorite parts of the holiday season.

Christmas horror movies. Yes, those are a thing. While it seems bizarre to combine horror with Christmas, there are actually quite a lot of these movies. From killer gingerbread men to ax-murdering Santas, these movies are definitely weird. They’ll show you a side of Christmas that you’ve never seen (or ever wanted to see) before.

But don’t worry, these 5 movies are so ridiculous, they won’t ruin your Christmas: 

(Gore and violence warning)

5. Krampus (2015)

Available on Amazon Prime, Youtube, iTunes, Vudu, and Google Play

When the fighting of a young boy’s family causes him to lose his Christmas spirit, it unleashes the wrath of Krampus, a horned beast who terrorizes the boy and his family. Krampus is essentially the “anti-Santa”— a murderous Christmas demon who targets those who have turned their backs on the magic of Christmas. Moral of the story: don’t lose your Christmas spirit or else a festive demon will kill you and your family.

4. Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)

Available on Vudu and iTunes

A boy who witnesses his parent’s murder on Christmas Eve is raised in an abusive Catholic orphanage— a perfect recipe for a horror movie killer. So of course, the holiday festivities years later cause him to have a breakdown and turn into a serial killer—in a Santa suit! As the trailer puts it, “You’ve made it through Halloween, now try and survive Christmas.”

3. A Cadaver Christmas (2011)

Available on Amazon Prime, Tubi, Google Play, and Youtube

An evil science professor’s experiments result in a living, walking army of—you guessed it— cadavers, and they’re looking for more members. It is up to the janitor of the university, with the help of the bartender, the cop, his perp, and the student security guard, to band together to save humanity— All over the holiday break, of course.

2. Santa’s Slay (2005)

Available on Vudu, Youtube, Amazon Prime, Google Play, and iTunes

I bet you’ve never heard this Christmas story. In this twisted holiday tale, Santa Claus is believed to be the only child of Satan—yes, Satan. He allegedly lost a bet with an angel and was forced to spread gifts and happiness for one thousand years, instead of his preferred death and destruction. But when those thousand years are up,(in 2005, obviously) Santa is back and ready to wreak havoc wherever he can. On top of that, Santa (did I mention he is played by WWE star Bill Goldberg?) kills each of his victims in Christmas-themed ways. 

1. The Gingerdead Man (2005)

Available on Tubi, Vudu, Amazon Prime, and iTunes

This is not your ordinary gingerbread man. After a convicted serial killer is executed, his mother—who is a witch— mixes his ashes with a batch of gingerbread dough. Years later, a bakery employee bakes the dough into a giant gingerbread man, that comes to life as a psychotic killer: The Gingerdead Man. I know—Oscar-worthy, right?  On top of that, this iconic role is played by the one and only Gary Busey.