12 best holiday horror movies

11. Gremlins (1984)

Don’t let the spectacle of cute and gross movie critters distract you from the fact that Gremlins is a holiday movie. It’s not quite as in your face about it as Krampus, but this 1984 fan favorite drops in a few notes to remind of its Christmas setting. In fact, if it weren’t for the holidays, the whole plot of the movie wouldn’t exist.

It all starts when a man enters a mysterious antique store in his local Chinatown. He’s looking for a Christmas present for his son, Billy. Seems like an antique shop is a strange place to get a present for your teenage son, but maybe we don’t know Billy that well. Anyway, his father Randall quickly finds a cute little creature the shop owner tells him is a “mogwai” (which is actually Cantonese for “monster”).

Mr. Wing, the owner, refuses to sell the Mogwai. However, his grandson sneaks in and completes the sale anyway, but not before issuing a warning: don’t expose the animal to bright light, don’t get it wet, and don’t you dare feed it after midnight. He doesn’t explain why these rules are important, but I’m sure it will never come up.

Well, except it does, almost immediately. Billy’s friend spills water all over his new pet, now named “Gizmo”. More Mogwai sprout from Gizmo’s back. The new guys fool Billy into feeding them, whereupon they turn into reptilian monsters and wreak havoc throughout the town.

Besides some set dressing, that’s nearly it for the Christmas theme from here on out. That is, except for the tale of Billy’s girlfriend, Kate. While hiding from the gremlins, she tells Billy that her father died while pretending to be Santa on Christmas. Apparently, his horrible demise came about because he got caught in the family chimney and … hadn’t told anyone about his plan? And no one wondered where he was? Even stranger, after she tells this awful story, it’s never mentioned again.