Bonus video! Are the holidays a horror film?

I’m fine with Christmas... It’s a lot, with all of the family, and forced cheer, and just people around all time, but it’s fine. One way that I’ve used to get through it though, is to seek out at least one film during this time that takes the iconography of Christmas and twists it into evil. I’m sure that says something about me psychologically, but I don’t even try and justify to myself at this point. I also need to make it clear that this must be a Christmas Horror film to qualify, and not just a horror movie that takes place in the cold and snow like “30 Days of Night” or “The Thing”. Luckily, there is always at least one offering every year at this time, and this just past year, it was the modern remake of a truly awful 80s slasher “Silent Night Deadly Night” where a psycho in a Santa suit punishes “naughty” people with a giant ax. I will say that this current remake actual put a really clever spin on the story, as it brings in some pretty cool supernatural elements, and subverted a lot of genre expectations. For instance, the prototypical “final girl” was a bit of a psycho herself and was in several ways much scarier than the killer, and the movie was legitimately really funny (unlike the original, which was only ironically so). It actually was just as good as 2023’s It’s a Wonderful Knife (Yes – that is seriously was the name of an actual movie, and it was good, and also benefited by being super gay to boot :). It wasn’t quite as a smartly twisted as 2016’s Better Watch Out though. That movie.. wow… it takes a turn midway through that still leaves me breathless when I think about it…. However, this new film did have considerable charm, and so I would put it head and shoulders above the 1974, 2006 and 2019 versions of Black Christmas. In walking home from that movie, I was thinking about horror movies in general, and in particular, the 2025 crop of them. I have seen a lot of horror movies in my life – it likely is my favorite overall genre of film. The reason being is because it is so versatile. When done well, it can combine perfectly with literally any other genre – you can have perfect horror-comedies (like “Shaun of the Dead”), horror family-dramas (like “Heredity”), horror thrillers (like “A Quiet Place”), horror Sci-fi (like “Alien”) and even horror for kids (like this year’s “Dust Bunnies”). Just within the horror genre itself there is a myriad of sub-genres, with all the supernatural films featuring ghosts or devils, to creature features, to slashers to body horror to mind-based psychological horror. It really is a whole universe to itself, and it makes me sad that so much of the viewing public walls themselves off from the horror genre because they don’t want to feel scared. It’s kind of the same way that I feel about people who wall themselves off from the entire genre of musicals just because they say they can’t stand to listen to people sing in movies. (and the people who hate both should really stay away from 2018’s “Anna and the Apocalypse” which is a horror musical while also being a super sweet Christmas movie all in one). Horror can be really fun if you give it a chance (I mean, why else do people go on roller coasters?) but not only that, it can be cathartic. Experiencing horror through the relative safety of a movie screen can steel you against some of the real-life horrors that come through the T.V screen – and unfortunately those horrors just seem to be increasing exponentially. Horror also allows filmmakers to reveal truths, explore themes and tell stories in super honest, sometimes shocking ways – ways that can speak to us on a truly visceral level as human beings. They can cut (sometimes literally) to who we are and what we truly want. Sometimes those explorations are ugly, but you know what? Real life can be ugly too and at least in most horror movies, the horrors are often vanquished – and when they are not, well, that’s at least being honest to the reality of the world. In terms of 2025, I have to say, that this has been one of the absolutely best years for horror that I’ve ever experienced as a fan. We start off the top with the ever inventive “Sinners” and “Weapons”, who told dynamic and gripping stories, contained edge of your seat sequences of startling beauty and terror, had some of the best jump scares I’ve seen in a long time (especially in Weapons), and also had some of most amazing acting I’ve seen this year (especially in Sinners). I will also say that both movies had the most epic conclusions of any films that I’ve seen this year period. 2025 also breathed new life into what had been dead or stagnant franchises, with Final Destination Bloodlines, which was hands-down the best film of a 25 year old series, and 28 Years Later, which was actually 2 films in the one, the first being a nod to the franchise as it has been and the second being a truly moving mediation on the nature of death and the cherishing of remembrance. 2025 also took the haunted house movies to fascinating new heights, with “Presence” which told a ghost story from the visual point of view of the spirit itself, and “Good Boy” which told a possession story from the point of view of the possessed man’s dog named Indy (And Indy was indeed a very good boy during the film). In terms of one of the most terrifying and genuinely disturbing films I’ve seen in quite a while, that’s spot was taken by this year’s “Bring Her Back” which is truly not for the faint – or even really for the normal of heart. “The Long Walk” was an extremely successful re-telling of Stephen King’s first novel, and one of the best dystopian horrors I’ve seen since 2009’s “The Road”. “Together” was an absolutely fantastic body horror film that rivaled last year’s “The Substance”, while also being a very clever meta-commentary on the unhealthy co-dependence of straight millennial relationships, and “Clown in a Cornfield” was a surprisingly insightful teen horror slasher, which some surprisingly decent social commentary of its own on supposedly “small town values”. All in all, 2025 was a unique year for horror films in terms of the sheer quality on offer. That’s not to say that there wasn’t some massive disappointments too (I’m looking at you “Fear Street: Prom Queen”!), but overall, if 2026’s crop of horror films are even able to match half of what 2025 was able to accomplish? Horror fans like me are going to be more than pleased. And for those of you who say that you would never see a horror film because you don’t like to be scared… I get it, but still, you’re missing out on a whole world of exciting, insightful and groundbreaking films that constantly surprise.