Though they may seem light years apart, Halloween and Christmas have more in common than they appear. Crossover movies that work for both occasions have slowly proliferated over the years. It shouldn’t be surprising. After all, one of the most beloved holiday stories of all time — Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol — is also a ghost story. A number of filmmakers have emulated his example with Halloween/Christmas mash-ups that have turned into off-beat holiday classics. A list of the most notable follows in alphabetical order. Any or all of them make fine viewing in the period between Halloween and the end of the year.
The Addams Family Opens With a Ghoulish Christmas Gag
1991’s The Addams Family has become something of a holiday staple, despite the fact that the holidays are largely incidental to the plot. Indeed, according to its own timeline, the story takes place in late winter or early spring: well after the new year. But the film itself had a holiday release date — first hitting theaters on Thanksgiving weekend — which informs its status on this list. It marks the occasion with a showstopping opener as the Addams gleefully pour boiling oil on a group of Christmas carolers. The image comes directly from one of Charles Addams’s original cartoons: certifying its credentials as a holiday movie for people who hate the holidays.
Batman Returns Is a Christmas Comic Book Movie With a Terrifying Villain
Tim Burton’s name is almost synonymous with darker Christmas movies that bring a thick slice of Halloween to the holly wreaths and presents. It’s aptly reflected in Batman Returns, his flawed-yet fascinating sequel that has become an unlikely holiday cult classic. The whole film feels bleaker and colder than the 1989 original, but it’s Danny DeVito’s Penguin who brings the real scares: re-imagined as a circus “freak” raised in Gotham’s sewers and hatching a terrifying plan to murder all of Gotham’s children.
Black Christmas Is an Early Slasher Movie Trendsetter
Four years before John Carpenter’s Halloween rewrote the book on horror movies, Bob Clark’s Black Christmas set the pace. It tells the story of a killer stalking a sorority house during the holidays, drawing on urban legends of the “calls are coming from inside the house” variety. The Christmas setting and decorations gave it a visual distinctiveness, and while it wasn’t hugely well-received at the time, it has since been recognized as one of the key originators of the slasher movie.
Edward Scissorhands Is Another Gothic Holiday Movie by Tim Burton
Though far gentler than Batman Returns, Burton’s Edward Scissorhands carries the same Gothic trappings and fairy tale ethos. Like The Addams Family, it’s not specifically about Christmas, but it relies on unmistakably holiday visuals: notably in its conclusion when the titular artificial creation causes it to snow with flakes from the ice sculptures he creates. The remainder of the film cemented Burton’s singular vision in the public’s mind, and like The Addams Family, its holiday release in December 1990 firmly connected its story of a misunderstood misfit with Christmastime.
Gremlins Is a Beloved Example of Holiday Horror
Joe Dante’s Gremlins was originally intended for a Christmas release, which eventually changed to summer. Its holiday theme didn’t affect its box office, though its content was dark enough to help prompt the creation of the PG-13 rating. Its story — about a Norman Rockwell town overcome with scaly little monsters on Christmas Eve — works in part because it’s a spot-on metaphor for the stress many people feel over the holidays. The obligations of presents and cards and parties and decorations can feel like being eaten alive by a thousand little tasks. Dante’s tiny demons were a spot-on stand-in, and the film’s iconoclastic spirit is a balm for anyone who’s had their fill of the enforced cheer of the season.
Krampus Turns Holiday Dysfunction Into Literal Terrors
Most Christmas/horror mash-ups explore the shadowy side of the holidays, where the warm fuzzes turn sour (or at least exasperating). Krampus finds the ideal subjects: sending the titular monster to stalk a dysfunctional family whose son has renounced the Christmas spirit, forcing them to pull together as their home comes under siege by monster gingerbread men and evil toys. It’s as much a satire as a scare-fest, but Krampus himself remains utterly terrifying.
The Nightmare Before Christmas Is the Ultimate Holiday Mash-Up
No film more aptly captures the connection between Halloween and Christmas than Henry Selick’s stop-motion masterpiece about a skeleton who grows bored with scaring people on Halloween and decides to take over Santa’s gig. Produced by Burton from an original story of his and featuring songs by Danny Elfman (who also voices multiple characters), it finds the balance between scary and sweet: helping it join the likes of How the Grinch Stole Christmas as a holiday evergreen.
