_edited.png)
The Crypt's Holiday Horror Film Festival
- Niomi Dylan Sass
- Dec 6, 2025
- 7 min read
Written by Niomi Dylan Sass
There are an indescribable number of terrible Christmas-themed horror movies, but don’t you all fret and worry, I've got you covered this holiday season. My ghoul friends, I curated a list of 5 movies that each have their very own haunting tale. When making this list, I made sure to check it twice to see if these movies had that malevolent vibe the holiday season needs. The spirit of Christmas always misses that touch of chaos. In these films, you’ll be sure to find a different kind of holiday cheer. All of them have their own unique spin on how a day that's supposed to bring lots of cheer for the world to hear ends up turning into nightmares you can’t ever wake up from. I highly recommend watching all of these movies. Maybe don’t watch them all in one night, but like one every night, 4 days before Christmas, so by the time it is Christmas day, you can watch Terrifier 3.
Gremlins (1984)
Black X-Mas (2006)
Krampus (2015)
The Mean One (2022)
Terrifier 3 (2024)
GREMLINS
The horror cult-classic film Gremlins (1984) was directed by Joe Dante and starred Zach Galligan and Phoebe Cates. In the movie, we see a teenager, Billy Peltzer, get an unexpected gift for Christmas. His dad got a creature called a Mogwai for his son on his way back home from a work trip. He was given very clear instructions on how to take care of these adorable furry little critters. Rule number 1: Keep it away from bright light. Rule number 2: Don’t get it wet. Lastly, and probably the most important one of all, rule number 3: never feed it after midnight. The movie is streaming on HBO Max and AMC+.
Billy names his Mogwai Gizmo, and they instantly connect. Unfortunately for the town of Kingston Falls, those rules got accidentally broken. Gizmo spawned reptilian creatures known as the Gremlins, and they thrive on causing destruction and chaos. The Gremlins scatter all around the small town to do what they do best. One of the group of Gremlins goes to an elderly woman’s house, and she has one of those electric chairs that assist people with mobility issues to travel up stairs. They mess with the wiring, and when the old lady is trying to escape the Gremlins, they ramp up the speed, which sends her flying up the stairs and out the window. Billy, his girlfriend Kate, and Gizmo have to find a way to neutralize the threat and save the town.
Acting: 9/10
Story: 10/10
Gore: 2/10
Overall: 8.5/10
BLACK X-MAS
This is a slasher remake of the 1974 original; it has the same concept but with a killer twist, written by Roy Moore and Glen Morgan and directed by Glen Morgan. Black X-Mas (2006) is easily on my list because of the group of girls starring in it: Michelle Trachtenberg (Ice Princess), Lacey Chabert (Mean Girls), and Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Sky High). It follows a group of sorority girls and their house mother being stalked and preyed upon on Christmas. “The Moaner” was the name of the killer in the original one, but this one is Billy, and it gives him an origin story, making this a new film wrapped in the old one. Billy is a patient at Clark Sanitarium and has a tradition of trying to escape every year to try to make it home for Christmas; this year, he is successful.
Billy’s house has been refurbished into a sorority house, which now makes for his new hunting grounds. The sorority is familiar with how Billy got locked away, and as a tradition, they put his name in for a Secret Santa. After a few gift exchanges, it is revealed that one of the girls didn't buy Billy his present this year because she thinks it’s messed up to buy a killer a present. Once they notice a couple of girls go missing, they begin to worry. One of the sorority girls' biological sisters comes to the house to pick her up for the holidays and instantly gets worried when she finds that she isn’t there to meet her. What she does find is a present under the tree to the sorority, but from Billy, and instantly, they know something is up. People start dying left and right because Billy finally came home for Christmas.
Acting: 9/10
Story: 7/10
Gore: 10/10
Overall: 8.5/10
KRAMPUS
There are many iterations of the old-time tale, Krampus, a folkloric figure that is half-goat and half-demon: Anti-Santa. He is known to do the evil bidding of Santa by punishing all the naughty children. Good kids get presents from Santa, and all of the bad kids can be potentially brought back down to hell to turn the children into a feast for Krampus. My favorite version, which is the least cringe, is the 2015 version, which is streaming on Peacock. Not going to lie, though, there are some cringey parts because of the writing, but the actors are working with the lines they had. This is another movie that has a star-studded cast like Adam Scott (Step Brothers), Toni Collette (Hereditary), and David Koechner (Talladega Nights). Krampus (2015) was directed by Michael Dougherty, who directed another one of my favorite movies, X2: X-Men United (2003).
The movie follows the Engel family, who are just as dysfunctional as the rest of our families, but Max isn’t standing for any of his relatives' shenanigans this year. In the midst of feeling his tense emotions about his irreverent family members, he accidentally summons the Christmas Demon: Krampus. His family gets trapped inside by an extreme blizzard happening outside. This is where Krampus’ creatures, like twisted toys, ghastly gingerbread men, and evil elves, come and kill them, one by one. The people in this household must remember the true meaning of Christmas to survive the night. My favorite aspect of this movie was the creativity in how Krampus’s goons would look. The toys genuinely were creepy to me when they revealed their true form, and I don’t get creeped out too often.
Acting: 9/10
Story: 5/10
Gore: 7.5/10
Overall: 7/10
THE MEAN ONE
We all know the iconic Christmas character whom we all resonate a little too much with as we get older: the Grinch! This is a dark, haunting, and comedic interpretation of the monster who terrorizes a small town for celebrating Christmas. This film was directed by Steven LaMorte, who just directed the 2025 horror film Screamboat, which is based on the Mickey Mouse character. Also, starring a quickly growing legend in the horror community, David Howard Thornton (Terrifier 3) as “The Mean One.” This is how everyone refers to the monster in this film. Two other actors worth mentioning are Krystle Martin, for her interpretation of Cindy, and Chase Mullins, who played Deputy Burke; I just thought he was cute, which made the movie more watchable.
In this version of the story, it begins with a flashback to the first time Cindy saw The Mean One; he killed her mom while trying to steal from their house. When the little girl described the creature to the police, they dismissed her because, sure, a green monster was responsible. 20 years later, she returns to Newville to try and face her fears. Shortly after her arrival, the creature comes back and kills her father. She tries to explain to the police that it was the same monster that killed her mom all those years ago. Of course, they didn’t want to believe her. However, as more people from the town begin to die and disappear. Now, Cindy and the one cop who doesn’t think she’s totally crazy have to save the town and Christmas. What was most enjoyable about this movie, besides the really cute cop, was how it was an equal part campy and gory story.
Acting: 7/10
Story: 7/10
Gore: 10/10
Overall: 7.5/10
TERRIFIER 3
The newest and now the ultimate Christmas-themed horror movie that won’t be topped for probably another decade or two, Terrifier 3. We have the daring David Howard Thornton as Art the Clown and the legend Laura LeVera as Sienna Shaw. I don’t know how Art the Clown can be so funny and scary at the same time; it’s such a good character. These two have amazing on-screen chemistry together, which adds so much depth to the movie. This movie was written and directed by Damien Leone, and it did something a lot of horror creators have been trying to do since Jeepers Creepers: create a horror icon that will join the other slasher big names. If you have not seen this movie yet, it is now on Prime Video, and I highly recommend this if you are a fan of gore and Christmas vibes.
Years after the brutal killings that happened to her friends and family in Terrifier 2, Sienna has just gotten out of a psychiatric facility, and she’s staying with her aunt. We see quickly how traumatized she got from the whole prior experience. Unlucky for her, Art the Clown has something supernatural happening, and he gets resurrected. Quickly, he finds Sienna and begins to kill everyone close to her and her brother, brutally. Now, Sienna has to convince her family that she isn’t crazy and isn’t lying about Art coming back from the dead. However, it ends in the goriest of showdowns between Art the Clown, his new accomplice, Sienna, and her niece. The movie ends on a cliffhanger, which will lead into the next chapter of this franchise. I had to save the best movie for last. I watched this in theatres when it came out, and EVERYONE was having a grand ole time watching Art destroy all those people in the most festive way possible.
Acting: 9/10
Story: 9/10
Gore: 12/10
Overall: 10/10
Comments