5.5 Christmas Horror Movies to Stream, an ONTD Original

For the past several years I've made it my thing to marathon holiday-horror themed movies leading up to Christmas. I have a list of 50 films currently, so narrowing that down to only five was quite a task. I only selected from movies that are currently streaming/on YouTube (at least in the US – sorry if anyone can’t access the titles!), and movies that I gave 3 stars or more. This list won’t include the obvious choices such as the original Black Christmas or 2015’s Krampus, or Better Watch Out, or P2, or Rare Exports, since those are really popular (and rightly so - they’re among my favorite Christmas movies!) I tried to go for lesser known ones. The movies are not in any particular order.

An ailing man summons his four daughters home for Christmas and asks them to kill his new wife, who he suspects is poisoning him.
This made-for-TV Aaron Spelling production is on YouTube, simple enough to find. It’s not scary but it’s a pretty decent thriller. Sally Field stars and Jessica Walter is in it! Perfect for someone who wants to watch a “holiday horror” but not really into horror.


THIS WOMAN HAS CHEATED DEATH. NOW, DEATH WANTS TO EVEN THE SCORE.
Denise Watson is a TV station worker who is the only survivor of a unexplained airplane crash in which she is completely unharmed. Denise becomes haunted by feelings of unworthiness and begins seeing strange people following her and hearing voices calling her name which no one but she can hear. Disregarding warnings from a psychic friend, Denise tries to get on with her life while it’s revealed that she was supposed to die in the crash. Now the unseen specter of death wants to collect Denise by sending its minions, people that have recently died, to kill her.
Another movie that’s not accessible unless you spend a minute searching on YouTube…. Which is a damn shame. Can Vinegar Syndrome or something release this please, because I’ll gladly pay up for a quality restoration of this gem. It's a cool mix of a Final Destination narrative (although with a release date of 1984, Sole Survivor pre-dates the FD series) and a Carnival of Souls atmosphere. So if you like those movies, I’m sure you’ll love this.

A mid-level corporate employee finds out he’s not getting the Christmas bonus he was expecting, but his boss invites him to earn a promotion by beating his professional rival in a violent competition.
Available on Hulu, as part of the Into the Dark series. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but if you’re not a fan of really dark and violent humor then I would caution against it.


HE’S HOME… BUT HE’S NOT ALONE.
A young boy sees his father killed by a toy that was anonymously delivered to his house. After that, he is too traumatized to speak, and his mother must deal with both him and the loss of her husband. Meanwhile, a toy maker named Joe Peto builds some suspicious-looking toys, and a mysterious man creeps around both the toy store and the boy’s house…but who is responsible for the killer toys?
This year as part of my holiday horror marathon I watched parts 3-5 of the Silent Night, Deadly Series to finish it out and I can honestly say it’s one of my favorite horror franchises. They’re all fun as hell and after the first two, the similarities between the movies end and the plots get progressively weirder. You don’t need to have watched the previous films before watching this one, as parts 4 and 5 have really nothing to do with the rest of the series. Personally I prefer part 4 over 5, HOWEVER this is a "holiday horror" list, and part 4 pretty much abandons the Christmas/Santa theme and so I excluded it here. (Part 4 is awesome though and I highly rec it UNLESS you have an insect phobia.) Streaming on Shudder and Tubi currently.

Trying to survive the family Christmas, Cody makes a wish to be alone, which ends up backfiring when a shark manifests and kills his entire family.
When you google the movie, the first suggested question is, "Is Santa Jaws a real movie?" YES, this is a real movie, and YES you need to watch it. I'm not even kidding when I tell you that this will now be in my permanent holiday horror watching. It’s a completely stupid premise, but an absolute gem of a film. Jaws may have had an iconic piano score, but Santa Jaws has jingle bells every time the shark fin is on screen, so move aside Bruce because Santa Jaws is coming to town. It's unfortunate that I can't really find a high quality poster because look at it, it's simply perfection. A bonus is that it’s directed by a woman, Misty Talley, and Santa Jaws is actually the first female-directed SyFy original! You go girl! You can find Santa Jaws streaming on Amazon Prime.


A bunch of happy students enjoying themselves at a Christmas party until a sadistic Santa Claus comes and interrupts the festivities. Spruce Green becomes blood red when the plot is different from the naughty children they please.
It's not technically a movie, but a short film (episode) in a 6 part series. And it's really good! I loved that everything was lit up by Christmas lights - I love it when a holiday horror really leans into the Christmas aspect. The red and green lights give the movie a dreamy feel. It's also super gory! Definitely worth a watch! Accessible via a YouTube search (it's subtitled in English).



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Happy to give more recs in the comments! What's your favorite holiday horror, ONTD?