An Unsung Horrors Christmas Movie Marathon

Curated by Erica Shultz

If you’re like many people this year, you won’t be traveling for the holidays. And while that may be disappointing to some, look on the bright side: more time to watch Christmas movies!

Every year I have my traditional watches: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Carol (George C. Scott version), The Thin Man, and plenty more. I also have a handful of horror movies I love which make the annual rotation such as Black Christmas and Silent Night Deadly Night. Those along with a few other popular Christmas horror movies are the ones which tend to get all of the attention on streaming sites, social media, podcasts, and Letterboxd. But if you’re looking to dig a little (ok, maybe a lot) deeper and devote a day this December to some underseen movies, you may find some which will be added to your annual watchlist from this marathon.

I’ve purposely only included movies which are currently streaming for free on various platforms, and I’ve added some shorter anthology segments and TV episodes to break it up a bit.

Time required for the full marathon: 8-9 hours. 

Please note that this is not a family movie marathon. Most of these are not kid-friendly.

Family Reunion (1989)

Christmas satanic panic! Enough weirdness — including a black mass and a motorcycle-riding, “I’ll kill you with my psychic powers” devil-worshipper — to make it ripe for the picking for Vinegar Syndrome someday. It ambles a bit in the middle, but stick with it.

Where to watch: Tubi

Visions of Sugar Plums, from Tales of Third Dimension (1984)

Rod Serling is reincarnated as an animatronic skeleton to narrate this horror anthology, the third segment of which is a Christmas tale. Grandma doesn’t get run over by a reindeer in this one; she forgets to take her meds and goes on a killing spree.

Where to watch: YouTube (3rd story starts at 52:54)

The American Scream (1988)

I tried to think of the best way to describe this one, and I’m better off just sharing this Letterboxd review: “The director of this film definitely took acid, microwaved his head, fell down a mountain, ate some old yogurt, watched Inception, is allergic to bees, listens to Billy Ray Cyrus, (and) eats snow…”

In case you’re confused, that’s a good thing. They gave it 3.5 stars.

Where to watch: YouTube

Glim Glim (1989 episode from the anthology television show Monsters)

An alien crash lands on Earth and accidentally kills all but three of the town’s residents with a disease. The alien attempts to rectify his deadly mistake in time for Christmas. 

Also, Six from the TV show Blossom is in this and humans are awful.

Where to watch: YouTube

MST3K: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

If you’ve never seen this movie, this is the best way to watch it. If you have seen this movie, this is the best way to watch it. If you have watched it with wise-cracking robots before, watch it again. It never gets old.

Where to watch: Tubi

The Oracle (1985)

Director Roberta Findlay is generally more well-known for her movies during the golden age of porn (late 70s - early 80s), but after moving away from that genre, she tried her hand at a few horror movies, including this one. It combines New York’s 42nd Street sleaziness with dollar store special effects and actors who chew up every scene. If you have those expectations going in, you’ll enjoy this one.

Where to watch: YouTube

Campfire Tales (1991)

While the entirety of this SOV anthology is worth watching, we’re just focusing on the Christmas segment here (the third one), which will act as a primer for the final feature in the marathon. The wraparound story has the OG Leatherface himself, Gunnar Hansen, telling a group of young campers scary tales around (you guessed it) a campfire.

Where to watch: YouTube (starting at 34 minutes)

Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation (1990)

Most people haven’t seen past “Garbage Day!” in SNDN2, and they’re missing out. I’m not saying SNDN4 is good, but it certainly is fun. This is the body horror movie of the series and not for the squeamish; think of it as something like a cousin to Brian Yuzna’s Society and marvel at the effects by Screaming Mad George. This will also make you never want to be a landlord.

Where to watch: Tubi