Christmas Horror

[George Barry Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close George Barry]

Do we? Should we? have a Christmas Horror thread. And if we do/should, should we have two categories? With Santa and Without Santa.

Guy Pearce as Scrooge in an upcoming Christmas Carol adaptation* https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7686464...=nm_flmg_act_5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dK2CGOJ74k

*It will premiere Dec 19 on FX and will be broadcast several times between Dec 19-25

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

The scariest Christmas movie for me is still Scrooge/Christmas Carol with Alistair Sim. Watched it again last year for the first time in ages, and it's still creepy as hell.

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

The scariest Christmas movie for me is still Scrooge/Christmas Carol with Alistair Sim. Watched it again last year for the first time in ages, and it's still creepy as hell.

That's definitely my favorite version of this oft-filmed story. Sim is simply stunning, and his ultimate conversion never fails to make me get a bit dusty.

BLACK CHRISTMAS is probably my favorite Christmas horror film. Others that I like include CHRISTMAS EVIL, SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT, TO ALL A GOODNIGHT, and for pure cheese, DON'T OPEN TIL CHRISTMAS.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

That's definitely my favorite version of this oft-filmed story. Sim is simply stunning, and his ultimate conversion never fails to make me get a bit dusty.

BLACK CHRISTMAS is probably my favorite Christmas horror film. Others that I like include CHRISTMAS EVIL, SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT, TO ALL A GOODNIGHT, and for pure cheese, DON'T OPEN TIL CHRISTMAS.

SEASON'S GRIEVINGS, ANDREW!!!

[George Barry Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close George Barry]

The scariest Christmas movie for me is still Scrooge/Christmas Carol with Alistair Sim. Watched it again last year for the first time in ages, and it's still creepy as hell.

I also think Sim's Scrooge is the best.
Other good versions I think are worth a watch (open list):
A Christmas Carol (1999) Patrick Stewart is very good as Scrooge and Richard E. Grant is an exceptional Bob Cratchit
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) given the nature of this production, Michael Caine is a surprisingly serious and convincing Scrooge
A Christmas Carol (2000) a contemporary re-telling with Ross Kemp as Eddie Scrooge, a loan shark
Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988) well done comic take off. Here is the scene where the last lines have since been cut on some releases*

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kisDnOevbw8

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

I also like the 1938 version with Reginald Owen and Gene Lockhart. It doesn't rate as well as the Sim version, and doesn't pack the same emotional punch, but it's still well done with a very solid supporting cast.

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

SEASON'S GRIEVINGS, ANDREW!!!

Arghhh! Yule be sorry you did that, Mark. Punish!!! PUNISH!!!

[Roderick Butthorn Find all posts View Profile Close Roderick]

This:

[Scott Intellectual Carrot Find all posts View Profile Close Scott]

[Alison Jane Girl Boss Jane Find all posts View Profile Close Alison Jane]

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) given the nature of this production, Michael Caine is a surprisingly serious and convincing Scrooge.

Love this one. Michael Caine will always be Scrooge to me.

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

I saw there's an animated Xmas movie called 'Klaus' and I thought it was about Klaus Kinski.

[Lorne Marshall Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lorne Marshall]

To continue on with this thread, has anyone else been watching Christmas horror flicks this month? Over the years, I have always tried to take in at least a few of these in December.

Probably like many of you, some of my favorites are BLACK CHRISTMAS, CHRISTMAS EVIL, the "All Through the House" segment with Joan Collins from TALES FROM THE CRYPT, and SILENT NIGHT BLOODY NIGHT. Some others I also enjoy are the Mexican SANTA CLAUS (borderline horror, I'll admit), SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT 5: THE TOY MAKER, the "Fright Before Christmas" segment from CAMPFIRE TALES, and recent stuff like SANTA'S SLAY, TREEVENGE (a clever short from Jason Eisener) and P2.

Last year I went especially crazy with seeking out things I had never seen before. I was spurred on by a number of new releases on DVD in December 2018, such as ALL THE CREATURES WERE STIRRING, ELVES (a pathetic ripoff of Blumhouse's TRUTH OR DARE), and CHRISTMAS BLOOD (another Norwegian Santa slasher, but not quite as brutal - from what I've read - as CHRISTMAS CRUELTY). In addition, I ordered many that had been released previous years in the same month, such as BETTER WATCH OUT, SAINT NICK, SECRET SANTA (2015), and ONCE UPON A TIME AT CHRISTMAS. Plus I was able to view numerous other really obscure things (thanks, YouTube), including finally getting to see TALES OF THE THIRD DIMENSION.

A few titles I have viewed within the last year or two that I really enjoyed and will probably add to my semi-rotation (along with the aforementioned classics) are SECRET SANTA (2018 version from Adam Marcus), POOKA (from the Hulu series Into the Dark) and RED CHRISTMAS. I also admire THE 12 DEATHS OF CHRISTMAS, a British flick that is available in the US as, bizarrely, MOTHER KRAMPUS. The twist in it somewhat reminded me of the Thai movie COMING SOON. The killings were pretty creative. The only negative for me (and it would probably be pretty big for most folks) is the cheesy makeup for the "witch." (Fun fact: There's a region 1 DVD of an unrelated and awful non-sequel called MOTHER KRAMPUS 2, which is also available on region 2...as just MOTHER KRAMPUS!)

This year, I haven't noticed any new DVD releases tailored to this season, but I have been streaming quite a bit. So far I've watched A NASTY PIECE OF WORK (the latest offering in the Into the Dark series), LA NUIT DU REVEILLON (a French crime thriller Amazon Prime Video has listed as SILENT NIGHT BLOODY NIGHT for some reason), SICK FOR TOYS, MERCY CHRISTMAS (seems to be a remake of the 1988 film LUCKY STIFF), HOLIDAY HELL, and DEEP IN THE WOOD (decent Italian mystery whose only connection to the holiday is it opens at a Krampus festival). The weirdest listing I saw on Amazon Prime Video was for something called HAUNTED CHRISTMAS, which has nothing to do whatsoever with the holiday. (Someone posting on their website identifies it as episode 2 of OKINAWA HORROR STORIES.) The capsule description for it sounds more applicable to Kazuo Umezo's HORROR THEATER, which contains the Christmas-themed episode "The Present." Anyway, I'll post any others I view in the next couple of weeks.

I didn't list all the titles I have watched over the years. If both horror movies and episodes of TV shows (like "Seasons of Belief" and "Glim-Glim" from TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE or "The Thirteenth Day of Christmas" from TIME FOR MURDER) are counted, the total number approaches 100.

[Matt H. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Matt H.]

"Glim-Glim" from TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE

Good call, but it was actually an episode from "Monsters". Such a sad ending.

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

Another one that's worth hunting down is the 1972 made for television movie HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS. A proto-slasher that's surprisingly tense and creepy. Hell of a cast too - Walter Brennan, Eleanor Parker. Sally Field, and Julie Harris.

[Lorne Marshall Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lorne Marshall]

Good call, but it was actually an episode from "Monsters". Such a sad ending.

You're right, Matt, thanks for the correction. What's interesting is that the little girl in both that and "Seasons of Belief" is played by the same actress (who, less importantly, was a recurring character on the TV show BLOSSOM).