12 days of holiday horror: A Christmas Horror Story tells 4 terrifying tales

Before Violent Night was even conceived, A Christmas Horror Story introduced us to another bad a** Santa. This is a holiday horror anthology that definitely deserves a place on our list, and if you haven’t seen it yet, I want to know why not.

Most intertwining anthologies have a “wrap around” story, and this one involves an angry alcoholic radio DJ known as Dangerous Dan. Played by William Shatner, Dan keeps getting notices advising his listeners to avoid the local mall due to some type of disturbance. As he goes on verbal tangents and plays music, we are given four tales of holiday horror.

In the first one, a group of three students break into their school (which was formerly a convent) after dark, despite the fact that there were two students murdered in the basement last year. Of course, some pretty gnarly paranormal activity gets stirred up, and not all of the kids make it out of the school alive.

In our second tale, a police officer who was traumatized while investigating the murders of the students, takes his wife and son into the snowy woods to chop down a Christmas tree. The boy wanders off, but is thankfully found by his parents, who take him home. But something isn’t right with little Will.

Tale number three is a holiday horror story involving the legendary Krampus. A family is traveling to visit dear old Aunt Edda, and she tells them all about Krampus. When Duncan purposely destroys Edda’s Krampus figurine, the family is forced to leave, and ends up stranded in a remote area. As if that isn’t bad enough, they are also being stalked by you-know-who.

Our final tale is the one that features a very rough and tough Santa. I don’t want to give away too much, but suffice it to say that he ends up having to fight off zombie elves before coming face-to-face with Krampus.

The wrap around story is completed, bringing A Christmas Horror Story to a close. It’s a fun, often grisly film with entertaining stories and decent acting, and has become a holiday tradition for me. You can stream A Christmas Horror Story on Shudder, or rent it on Amazon Prime or Vudu.

What are your favorite holiday horror movies? Tell us all about your short list in the comments section.