Holiday Screams: 12 So-Bad-They’re-Good Christmas Horror Films… Plus One Bonus Nightmare
Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today, we are counting down to Christmas in style with a brand new list – Season’s Bleedings: 12 So-Bad-They’re-Good Christmas Horror Films… Plus One Bonus Nightmare.
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🎅13 Obscure festive horror turkeys
13 Obscure festive horror turkeys
Christmas is a time for tradition: stuffing your face until you feel both exhausted and sick, arguing with relatives that you only see once a year, and watching horror movies that were clearly written over a substantial drinking session and made for the price of a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese. While Black Christmas and Gremlins get all the glory, there is a special place in my heart for the absolute dregs of the festive genre.
I have curated this list of “bad” Christmas horror movies so that you have one for each of the 12 days (or nights) of Christmas and a bonus entry for pure masochists. Whether it’s a werewolf in a dollar store fur suit or a killer dressed as Scrooge, these films celebrate the true reason for the season: low-budget horror goodness. Let’s take a look, and apologies in advance.
| Night | Movie Title | Sub-Genre | The Vibe |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Secret Santa (2015) | Retro Slasher | Cheap & Nasty |
| 4 | The Nights Before Christmas | Joker-style Slasher | Scenery-Chewing Madness |
| 8 | The Christmas Spirit | Bizarre Comedy | Luchador Fever Dream |
| 10 | Werewolf Santa (2023) | Creature Comedy | Dollar-Store Fur Suit |
| 12 | Santastein (2023) | Sci-Fi Mashup | Charming Stupidity |
⚠️ A Quick Note on Streaming & IMDb Score
Streaming libraries change faster than the weather in November. While we try to keep our “Where to Watch” sections up to date, availability depends heavily on your region. If a movie isn’t on the listed service, check JustWatch! Also, keep in mind that IMDb scores were accurate at the time this list was posted.
Night 1: Secret Santa (2015) – The gift that keeps on gagging
- ⭐ IMDb Score: 4.8/10
- 🎬 Director: Mike McMurran
- 🔪 Sub-Genre: Grainy Retro Slasher
The Knockout Verdict: Cheap, nasty, and strangely charming
A slow-burn slasher that tests your patience before rewarding you with a hairdryer kill for the ages.
Why It Made The List: It’s a grainy, low-budget love letter to 80s gore. It features some of the most baffling dialogue you’ll hear this side of a drunk uncle at Christmas dinner and has a weird, almost grindhouse sort of charm.
A group of eccentric weirdos gathers for a Secret Santa exchange, only to be offed by a killer using their own gifts against them. The most baffling thing about this Christmas log is how long it actually takes to get to the killing. Give it a try for that hairdryer scene.
“It features some of the most baffling dialogue you’ll hear this side of a drunk uncle at Christmas dinner and has a weird, almost grindhouse sort of charm.”
Where to Watch: Plex (Free).
Night 2: 13 Slays Till X-Mas (2020) – A mixed bag of coal and cheap gore
- ⭐ IMDb Score: 4.1/10
- 🎬 Director: Various
- 🔪 Sub-Genre: Anthology Horror
The Knockout Verdict: Scuzzy indie spirit
A scuzzy, uneven anthology that survives on pure indie spirit and a handful of cheap thrills.
Why It Made The List: Anthology films are usually a mixed bag, but this one is more like a bag of coal with a few pieces of zircon hidden in there somewhere. The segments range from “What the hell was that?” to “I suppose that was okay”. The wrap-around story somehow holds it together with a certain scuzzy charm.
A group of guys spend Christmas Eve at a dive bar sharing spooky stories. It’s perfect if you have a short attention span and a high tolerance for fake snow. Plus you might just get the warm Christmas fuzzies for supporting a proper low-budget indie venture.
Where to Watch: Prime Video, Plex.
Night 3: Once Upon a Time at Christmas (2017) – Kentish New York
- ⭐ IMDb Score: 3.6/10
- 🎬 Director: Paul Tanter
- 🔪 Sub-Genre: Low-Budget Slasher
The Knockout Verdict: Delightfully grimy
A police procedural so wooden it could be firewood, saved only by a delightfully grimy Santa performance.
Why It Made The List: Set in upstate New York but clearly filmed in a snowy field in the UK. It stars Simon Phillips as a growling, unhinged Santa who looks like he smells of stale lager and regret. The acting is wooden and the police procedure is non-existent. Little warning: you are going to be seeing Phillips more than once on this list. Apparently terrible Christmas horror is his niche.
A killer Santa and Mrs. Claus engage in a killing spree for… reasons? I’m not actually sure which one is worse: the original or the sequel (more about that in a second)? You will get a laugh out of this at the very least. Wait, what do you mean it’s not a comedy?
Where to Watch: Prime Video.
Night 4: The Nights Before Christmas (2019) – Scenery-chewing sequel
- ⭐ IMDb Score: 4.0/10
- 🎬 Director: Paul Tanter
- 🔪 Sub-Genre: “Comic Book” Slasher
The Knockout Verdict: Louder and dumber
Embraces full comic-book villainy for a sequel that is louder, dumber, and maybe even a little more watchable.
Why It Made The List: Simon Phillips returns in this sequel that is somehow both better and worse than the original. Joker-esque Santa is back, slashing through a plot involving an FBI agent who seems to have learned her trade from watching CSI on mute. It leans harder into the “comic book villain” vibe, making it a bizarrely entertaining watch if you switch your brain off completely – I recommend doing so with a lot of alcohol.
It leans harder into the “comic book villain” vibe. I just couldn’t get past how Mrs Claus doesn’t stop moving her hands – it reminded me of an idle animation in a video game. Switch your brain off for this one.
“Joker-esque Santa is back, slashing through a plot involving an FBI agent who seems to have learned her trade from watching CSI on mute.”
Where to Watch: Plex, Prime Video (VOD).
Night 5: The Naughty List of Mr. Scrooge (2024) – Hallmark Slasher
- ⭐ IMDb Score: 4.5/10
- 🎬 Director: Jake Helgren
- 🔪 Sub-Genre: Made-for-TV Slasher
The Knockout Verdict: Glossy, melodramatic trash
Imagine a Hallmark movie where the romantic lead gets stabbed in the face. It’s glossy, melodramatic trash.
Why It Made The List: Jake Helgren is the king of glossy, made-for-TV slashers. The mask is terrifying for all the wrong reasons, and the melodrama is dialled up to eleven. It’s a Hallmark movie where everyone gets stabbed.
College friends reunite for a “Secret Scrooge” exchange, only to be hunted. It sounds absolutely crazy but this formula can actually work really well. The Naughty List of Mr. Scrooge seems to give up half way through, but the premise is fun.
Where to Watch: Prime Video, Plex, Tubi.
Night 6: Twas the Night (2023) – Visual feast, Narrative famine
- ⭐ IMDb Score: 3.7/10
- 🎬 Director: Joe Lujan
- 🔪 Sub-Genre: Neon Anthology
The Knockout Verdict: Style over substance
A visual feast with a narrative famine; watch it for the lighting, ignore the plot.
Why It Made The List: Visually, this anthology is stylish, bathed in neon lights and deep shadows. Narratively? It’s a car crash. The segments are disjointed and often make no damn sense at all, but the commitment to the aesthetic is commendable.
A “storytelling criminal” terrorises a couple with tales of holiday horror. Jack Frost, The Gingerbread Man, and Krampus go on their own mini rampages. Get some mince pies and a few drinks and just have a laugh at the absurdity.
Where to Watch: Plex, Tubi, YouTube.
Night 7: I Know What You Did Last Christmas (2025) – Zero-budget Parody
- ⭐ IMDb Score: 4.5/10
- 🎬 Director: Gregory Hatanaka
- 🔪 Sub-Genre: Festive Parody
The Knockout Verdict: Shameless and silly
A shameless, zero-budget parody that exists solely because the title was available.
Why It Made The List: The budget was likely whatever was left on the director’s credit card and a packet of crisps, but it embraces the absurdity of the “legacy sequel” trend. It’s weirdly fun to see the ultra simple formula applied to a Christmas slasher.
Exactly what you expect: a group of friends, a dark secret, and a killer in a festive outfit picking them off one by one. Director Gregory William Randolph Jr. continues that ultra weird cross-over between so-bad-it’s-good horror and Lifetime style romance movies, too… Very strange. It’s out in cinemas on… Nah I am kidding, it’s obviously on Tubi completely free.
Where to Watch: Tubi (Free).
Night 8: The Christmas Spirit (2023) – Luchador madness
- ⭐ IMDb Score: 4.8/10
- 🎬 Director: Bennet De Brabandere
- 🔪 Sub-Genre: Bizarre Dark Comedy
The Knockout Verdict: A luchador fever dream
A fever dream of a movie that answers the question: “What if the Christmas Spirit was a Mexican wrestler?”
Why It Made The List: This might be the weirdest entry on the list. A man has the literal “Christmas Spirit” trapped in his head and it manifests as a Mexican luchador wrestler who tells him to kidnap people. It swings wildly between psychological trauma and wrestling jokes. Now if that isn’t a good enough reason to to head on over to Plex or Prime Video to stream this then I don’t know what is?
It’s not scary, but it is extremely, confusingly strange. To make a low budget festive horror movie like this takes some serious balls. Must-watch for fans of the bizarre and fans of Luchadors, of course.
Where to Watch: Plex, Prime Video.
Night 9: Nutcracker Massacre (2022) – Stiff props, Stiff acting
- ⭐ IMDb Score: 3.3/10
- 🎬 Director: Rebecca Matthews
- 🔪 Sub-Genre: Doll Slasher
The Knockout Verdict: Unintentional comedy gold
The killer is a rigid prop and the acting is worse, making for unintentional comedy gold.
Why It Made The List: From the production house that churns out films like The Curse of Humpty Dumpty, this is exactly what it says on the tin. The doll prop is stiff, the kills are hilarious, and the characters make decisions so utterly ridiculous that you’d be shouting at the TV. It sums up festive soap-opera horror perfectly.
A life-sized nutcracker doll comes to life and starts murdering people. It’s a doll slasher done on a shoestring and it’s glorious for how utterly farcical it is. I love little festive oddities like this!
Where to Watch: Prime Video, Plex.
Night 10: Werewolf Santa (2023) – Fur suit of sadness
- ⭐ IMDb Score: 3.0/10
- 🎬 Director: Airell Anthony Hayles
- 🔪 Sub-Genre: Creature Comedy
The Knockout Verdict: A student-film mess
A student-film level mess featuring a werewolf suit that defies description and dignity.
Why It Made The List: This is the lowest rated movie on this list of festive turds. It relies heavily on a very obvious furry suit and a YouTuber character who is intentionally annoying. Scrappy and silly, feeling every bit like a student film that accidentally got a deal.
Santa gets bitten by a werewolf. Features the British horror goddess Emily Booth, which is worth the price of admission alone. If you like your horror with a side of “what the hell have I put on?“, this is it.
“Features the British horror goddess Emily Booth, which is worth the price of admission alone. If you like your horror with a side of “what the hell have I put on?“, this is it.”
Where to Watch: Paramount+, Prime Video.
Night 11: Christmas Presence (2018) – Soap opera lodge screams
- ⭐ IMDb Score: 3.9/10
- 🎬 Director: James Edward Cook
- 🔪 Sub-Genre: Paranoid Thriller
The Knockout Verdict: Festive EastEnders with gore
It wants to be a psychological thriller but lands closer to a festive episode of EastEnders with gore.
Why It Made The List: It starts with abrasive, bitchy dialogue reminiscent of a soap opera, before descending into a “Who is the monster?” paranoia fest. It’s slightly better made than others on this list, but is that really saying much? Still enjoyably melodramatic.
Friends (and frenemies) gather at a remote lodge, only to be stalked by a shapeshifting entity. I really like how the IMDb synopsis still has the “No subjective descriptions, just factual plot points within the character limit.” text prompt. It kinda lets you know what you are in for when it comes to low standards. Still, it’s fun!
Where to Watch: Prime Video (VOD).
Night 12: Santastein (2023) – It’s alive!
- ⭐ IMDb Score: 3.7/10
- 🎬 Director: B. Edelman, M. Camalion
- 🔪 Sub-Genre: Sci-Fi Slasher Comedy
The Knockout Verdict: Charming stupidity
A charmingly stupid mash-up that proves low budget doesn’t have to mean low effort.
Why It Made The List: Finally! Someone has brought together Frankenstein and Santa… We can end on a high note. The practical effects are surprisingly charming and the film has an almost pantomime-like “let’s put on a show” energy. It brings together Frankenstein and Santa in a way that is hard to dislike.
A scientist accidentally resurrects Santa Claus, creating a hybrid with a thirst for blood. It is a slasher, a sci-fi, and a comedy all rolled into one. Hopefully that “comedy” part was intentional. The perfect digestif for your binge. This little snippet of trivia on IMDb is definitely worth a quick quote, too:
The writers/directors will neither confirm nor deny that when the three Christmas ghosts visited them to help them earn redemption for making “Santastein,” the Ghost of Christmas Past was, in fact, Mary Shelley.
It has 0 upvotes and 9 downvotes. I love it! Whatever you do, don’t pay the $10 rental fee for this one, it’s on YouTube completely free.
Where to Watch: YouTube (Free).
Christmas Bonus: Silent Bite (2024) – Sucking the life out of Christmas
- ⭐ IMDb Score: 3.7/10
- 🎬 Director: Reyna Young
- 🔪 Sub-Genre: Vampire Indie
The Knockout Verdict: A rough, indie vampire flick
A rough, indie vampire flick that drags like a sleigh on concrete, but fits the trashy theme perfectly.
Why It Made The List: This movie screams From Dusk Till Dawn if it had a budget of roughly £14.50. The vampires look like they raided the clearance aisle of Walmart a few days after Halloween.
Look, I’m a generous writer so I couldn’t end the list without giving you guys a Christmas bonus. With that being said, you may have preferred a subscription to the Jelly of the Month club than the movie wrapping up this list – Silent Bite (2024). A gang of thieves hide out in a vampire infested hotel. The pacing drags more than a family argument over Monopoly, but it’s a masterclass in indie awkwardness. It’s also the third appearance of purveyor of poor festive horror Simon Phillips who not only stars in this but also wrote it, too. Check out our full review of Silent Bite right here.
Where to Watch: Prime Video.
Surviving the 12 Slays
There you have it. Twelve days (and a nice bonus day) of cinematic coal. While these films won’t be winning any Oscars (unless there is a category for ‘Best Use of a Spirit Halloween Costume’), they possess a certain scrappy charm. Thanks for the support this year—it’s been amazing! Have a terrible Christmas and a horrific New Year.
🎁 Quick Picks: The Best of the Worst Christmas Horror
Most Fun to Watch: Santastein (2023)
Actually possesses a little bit of charm. It mixes sci-fi, slasher tropes, and comedy with a “let’s put on a show” energy that makes it perhaps the most watchable film on this list.
Most Bizarre Premise: The Christmas Spirit (2023)
A man possessed by the spirit of Christmas which manifests as a Mexican Luchador wrestler. It is deeply confusing, psychologically strange, and totally unique. I love it!
Best for Unintentional Laughs: Nutcracker Massacre (2022)
The stiffest killer doll in cinema history combined with soap-opera acting. Perfect for a rowdy group watch with plenty of drinks.
The “What Were They Thinking?” Award: Werewolf Santa (2023)
Worth clicking on just to see the werewolf costume which looks like it was bought from a discount fancy dress shop five minutes before filming started.
Most Unhinged Performance: The Nights Before Christmas (2019)
Simon Phillips returns as a Joker-esque Santa in a performance that chews so much scenery there is no set left standing. Utterly ridiculous but weirdly fun.
You might also like:
- Terrifier 3 (2024) review – Visually brilliant but desperately try-hard festive horror
- Presence (2024) review – Soderbergh’s voyeuristic ghost story
- Opus (2025) review – A woefully disappointing psychological horror
- The Dreadful (2026) Review – Aptly Titled Folk Horror Bore
- Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) Review – The Best Of A Bad Bunch
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