Why are so many horror films set at Christmas?

From Gremlins to Black Christmas, it remains one of the more unusual traditions of the year

Outside of merely capitalizing on the most overtly hyped period of the year, Christmas actually plays nicely into the very psychology of what makes great horror: the exploitation of all those insidious little fears which bury themselves deep inside of us.

For as much as that affixed smile may hold through bickering relatives, shopping crowds, and burnt turkeys; the holidays are precisely that time of year when we can be left on edge from pressing all that accumulated stress deep, deep inside our psyches. Which is exactly where horror lives.

Amplify your fears of a Christmas meltdown a little further; then a little further than that. Suddenly the idea of a psychotic elf with a chainsaw trying to break through your front door doesn’t seem so wild.

So, if you need to ease the tension hanging in the cinnamon-scented air this holiday season, why not release it all with one of these gruesome holiday horrors?

Gremlins 
 

Our fondness for sweet, little Gizmo aside; let’s never forget that Gremlins is a surprisingly sadistic piece of work. Gremlin-in-a-microwave, anyone? Director Joe Dante managed to spin a Spielberg-produced Christmas movie into pure anarchy; taking on the grossest aspects of materialism with its all-consuming beasties. And when exactly are we any more materialistic than at the holidays?

Black Christmas 
 

Bob Clark’s 1974 horror gives a holiday twist on a classic urban legend. A sorority house set affright over the Christmas period by a series of creepy anonymous phones calls leading to creepier full-on murders; this flick was a key source of influence for the slasher movie craze of the 80s, predating even John Carpenter’s landmark Halloween by a whole four years.

Nightmare Before Christmas
 

Not much of a horror, per say; yet it’s hard to omit the Tim Burton crafted, delightfully ghoulish holiday mash-up from a list of this nature. As Halloween Town’s celebrated Pumpkin King stumbles across all the pleasures of Christmas Town, we’re treated to each of his obsessive attempts to recreate the festivities in his own world.

From the invention of Sandy Claws to vicious toy ducks chasing children around their living rooms, Nightmare continues Burton’s own morbid fascination with the season, following on from the likes of Batman Returns and Edward Scissorhands.

The director’s association between the ghastly and cheerful seems to date back all the way to his childhood, imparting to the Los Angeles Times, “Anytime there was Christmas or Halloween, you'd go to Thrifty's and buy stuff and it was great. It gave you some sort of texture all of a sudden that wasn't there before."

Jack Frost
 

Parents, do not get this confused with the Michael Keaton schmaltz-fest of the same name. That’s unless you’ve been aching to have some very traumatised children on your hands. Michael Cooney’s preposterous, schlock horror turns your precious, magical snowman into a homicidal maniac; when a truck carrying an imprisoned killer crashes into a genetic research vehicle and fuses its passenger with the surrounding snow.

Your presumptions are correct; Jack Frost is uproariously awful, a series of brutal killings dotted with even more brutal puns. And a perfect example of horror’s love of taking all things pure and innocent and turning those very things against us. Corncob pipes and button noses included.

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
 

The Finnish-produced Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale expands its 2003 and 2005 shorts to a feature-length reimagining of Kris Kringle as the ancient demon with a taste for flesh who’s discovered after scientists open up the world’s largest burial mound. Unleashed onto the wintry landscape, he’s brought local children to feed on by his army of elves luring the innocent into traps.

Rare Exports off-the-wall concept works because it takes full advantage of that pitch black, yet wonderfully dry sense of Nordic humour. It’s not desperate to hammer home those punch lines but finds its glee setting out its own twisted game around those sacred concepts of Christmas magic. You’ll never leave milk and cookies out again…

OK, so this tale of a Santa-suited killer really isn’t that notable, but it does feature this iconic piece of bad acting. No one has ever screamed, “GARBAGE DAY” like this kid screams, “GARBAGE DAY”.

Follow Independent Culture on Facebook for all the latest on Film, TV, Music, and more.