12 best holiday horror movies

5. Sint (2010)

At this point, it may be easy to conclude that Americans have the market cornered on cheesy, gory Christmas movies. Yet, don’t think that the U.S. is the sole purveyor of holiday horror. There are some truly scary, or at least enjoyably goofy, horror movies to make it out of other nation’s holidays as well.

Sint, a 2010 Dutch film, draws heavily on the European Sinterklaas, a predecessor of the now thoroughly Americanized Santa Claus. In the real world, Sinterklaas is based on Saint Nicholas, himself a kindly saint who was Bishop of Myra in Turkey.

The Sinterklaas of Sint, however, is no generous bishop or European legend with some now-awkwardly shown helpers commonly known as “Zwarte Piet”. Rather, he’s an angry ghost of a 15th-century bishop who indulged a bit too much in looting and killing. Angry villagers kill this version of Sinterklaas, bishop Niklas, and his gang. However, they and their descendants are unaware that Niklas and his cronies will return when the anniversary of their deaths coincides with a full moon.

Full moon massacre

Such an occurrence happened on Dec. 5, 1968, but has been kept under wraps by both local law enforcement and the Catholic Church. Goert, then a young boy who witnessed the 1968 massacre, has since grown up and become a police detective. He suspects that Niklas will return on Dec. 5, 2010, and says that all Sinterklaas festivities should be suspended. For his efforts, the police department puts him on leave.

Of course, the ghostly gang returns. Niklas carries a crosier (a bishop’s staff) with sharpened edges, while the accompanying Zwarte Pieten are blackened by the fires of hell (which is still marginally better than the traditional blackface, I suppose). They blend in well with the crowd celebrating the fictional Sinterklaas … well, at least until the murdering starts.

The Dutch people generated their own marketing controversy around this film. Parents complained about posters showing a cruel, frightening Sinterklaas, which they said could put children off the holiday. However, legal complaints were struck down in a Dutch court.