Christmas lights line the street. Jolly music plays in every store. Colors of the season are red and green and the red is not from blood. For us horror fans the winter holiday season can be a challenge. The macabre from October has disappeared. The skeletons have gone back into the closet. We crave the blood, the guts, and the fear. Fortunately if you look closely enough you can find plenty of Holiday Horror to chill the bones and satisfy that insatiable love for scary. We Are Indie Horror has compiled a list of the new independent holiday horror you can find this season!
First and the most obvious is the growing popularity in the western hemisphere of one such beast whom kidnaps naughty children on Christmas. He then takes them back to his workshop where in some legends grinds them up and eats them. We are talking about none other than the holiday devil himself, Krampus. 2015 will be known forever in horror history as the year of Krampus. Let’s take a look at the FIVE Krampus films to fill the month of December plus one extra special present left under the tree.
Krampus
In Theaters Friday December 4th
From the mind that brought us Trick R’ Treat, comes a holiday classic for all involving the anti-santa. Michael Dougherty’s newest story may be the most popular of all the Krampus films coming out this season. He has made a great reputation for himself with his indie Halloween anthology success. Universal Studios and Legendary have teamed up to bring the newest holiday classic to most major theaters. On Friday December 4th you will be able to catch Krampus in your local theater. Head on out and support an indie filmmakers who is allowed to make his own scary film within the studio system for a major release.
When his dysfunctional family clashes over the holidays, young Max (Emjay Anthony) is disillusioned and turns his back on Christmas. Little does he know, this lack of festive spirit has unleashed the wrath of Krampus: a demonic force of ancient evil intent on punishing non-believers.
All hell breaks loose as beloved holiday icons take on a monstrous life of their own, laying siege to the fractured family’s home and forcing them to fight for each other if they hope to survive.
A Christmas Horror Story
Available on All VOD Platforms Now
Besides Krampus, the horror genre in 2015 will be known for the absurd but wonderful amount of anthology horror films. A Christmas Horror Story combines both. In this horror anthology Santa is pitted against the the devil of Christmas. WAIH have yet to see the film but from what we hear it is a great addition to the holiday horror season. With William Shatner as your radio DJ host who links all the short stories, we are sure you are in for a good time.
Interwoven stories that take place on Christmas Eve, as told by one festive radio host: A family brings home more than a Christmas tree, a student documentary becomes a living nightmare, a Christmas spirit terrorizes, Santa slays evil.
Krampus: The Reckoning
Available on All VOD and DVD Now
Produced, written, and directed by Indie horror director Robert Conway comes another addition to the creature feature of Krampus season. After some research it seems as if it follows a generic monster storyline, which is not always a bad thing. Leave your brain off, grab a few friends and some spiked egg-nog and enjoy this yuletide monster flick.
Zoe, a strange child has a not so imaginary friend the Krampus who is the dark companion of St. Nicholas.
Krampus: The Christmas Devil
Available Now On DVD
Jason Hull helms this Krampus based flick that focuses more on the horror noir side. As Krampus continues to terrorize the city, a detective must stop the beast before more children go missing. Although released under the radar, the film has seen enough success to warrant itself a sequel in which Jason crowdfunded for. The sequel is titled Krampus: The Devil Returns. Before the sequel comes out check out the first one.
Jeremy, a local police officer leads a life of a confusing past, spending his current time searching for his kidnapper as a child. After other children begin missing, Jeremy pieces together the truth and realizes that his childhood kidnapper could be a creature of ancient yuletide lore, Krampus, who is the brother of St. Nick, and punisher of children who perform acts of unspeakable evil without repercussion. Can Jeremy kill Krampus and prevent more missing children?
Slay Belles
TBA (2016)
Spooky Dan Walker‘s first feature may not have an official release date yet, but We Are Indie Horror cannot wait for the FearMaker’s go at a slasher version of Krampus with a motorcycle riding Santa Clause played by the original asshole himself, Barry Bostwick. From executive producer Darren Lynn Bousman, we are sure in for a treat. When Candi Fear interviewed Spooky Dan, he gave us some insight into Slay Belles and the most interesting tidbit was where the film was shot. Central California used to be home to a Christmas themed theme-park which has been abandoned for many years now and offers the great eerie vibe that Spooky Dan was looking for. As more information is known on Slay Belles We Are Indie Horror will be sure to let you know. Unfortunately we may not get Slay Belles this year, but it is still worth a mention to keep on your radar.
Slay Belles is the feature film debut from director SpookyDan Walker. Santa and 3 hot girls in costumes team up to fight the devil of Christmas known as Krampus
All Through The House
Currently Traveling To Festivals
Yes Krampus has taken over the 2015 Holiday season, but that is not it for holiday horror. If you want something different Featured FearMaker of the week, Todd Nunes brings us All Through The House. Although you can only catch it in the festival circuit currently, it is worth the seek. This fun slasher throwback will sure be known as a Christmas classic for years to come, climbing the ranks and sitting nicely up there with Silent Night, Deadly Night and Black Christmas.
A deranged masked Santa-Slayer comes to town for some yuletide-terror. He leaves behind a bloody trail of mutilated bodies as he hunts his way to the front steps of the town’s most feared and notorious home.
If you are not one for Christmas themed horror, no worries. There will be plenty of other new horror hitting VOD and store shelves throughout the month. Tuesday December 1st sees the DVD/Blue-ray release of horror comedy Cooties and international sensation Goodnight Mommy. On the same day on VOD the reality star killer comes to your television in L.A. Slasher. If you are an Eli Roth fan and looking for a film that he helped produce which may not be gory but has plenty of sex involved, Knock Knock may be the film for you coming to Blu-ray and DVD on December 8th. A psychological horror film has caught the eye of WAIH that will be released on December 15th titled Madness of Many. The plot reads simply “This is a story about life and death and a girl named Victoria”. The cover art was enough to get us interested. And last but not least, the end of the month sees the physical copy release of the indie revenge flick Some Kind Of Hate which has been receiving generally positive reviews and has seen decent success via it’s VOD release.
That is it for the Holiday Horror round-up. Next year sees a ton of new releases and we are excited for December and then heading into the new year. If we missed any, let us know. We want to hear about them! Enjoy your Krampus filled season and if you are expecting coal on Christmas, we recommend you run and hide because the only coal you may be seeing is the the kind heating Krampus’ cabin.
