Christmas horror is a fiction genre and film genre that incorporates horror elements into the winter seasonal celebration setting.
Christmas horror is a fiction genre and film genre that incorporates horror elements into the winter seasonal celebration setting.
The genre is part of a seasonal tradition in the UK dating to prehistoric celebrations of the winter solstice . [1] [2] [3] Hollywood Reporter said it was part of an early tradition of associating the death of winter with the coming rebirth of spring, citing Shakespeare's 1623 The Winter's Tale as a precursor to the genre. [2]
Charles Dickens' 1843 A Christmas Carol is an early example of the genre in fiction, which according to the British Film Institute "forever tied the festive season to the genre". [4] : 9 [1] [5] [6] Dickens wrote other ghost stories with holiday settings, such as the 1866 "The Signal-man". [5]
M. R. James wrote ghost stories in the early 1900s which he read aloud to friends at Christmas time as part of a tradition of such holiday entertainments. [7] [8] In 1954 the American EC Comics published an edition of Vault of Horror titled "...And All Through the House" which featured a killer dressed as Santa. [4] : 3–4 [9]
Horror was present in Christmas-themed films dating back to the early 1900s. [4] : 3 Early examples include Wladyslaw Starewicz's Christmas Eve (1913), Victor Sjostrom's The Phantom Carriage (1921), and Christian-Jaque's Who Killed Santa Claus (1941). [4] : 3
In the 1970s, the BBC broadcast an annual A Ghost Story for Christmas based on James' short stories. [1] It later produced Christopher Lee's Ghost Stories for Christmas in which Lee played James reading his stories aloud, and then a reboot of Ghost Story for Christmas, both series airing in the early 2000s. [5]
The film genre fully emerged in the 1970s and generated controversy. [4] : 3 [2] [10] Early examples of the modern Christmas horror genre in film are 1971's Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? and the 1972 Silent Night, Bloody Night . [11] [2] 1972's Tales from the Crypt was adapted from the Vault of Horror "...And All Through the House" and was the first film to feature a killer dressed as Santa. [4] : 3 [2] 1974's Black Christmas is considered an influential classic of the genre [11] [2] [12] and according to Stephen Thrower generally regarded as an influence on the 1978 Halloween . [13] The genre faded for a few years amid a glut of slasher films in the late 1970s and early 1980s but was revived by Gremlins and Silent Night, Deadly Night , both in 1984, and revived from the late 80s through at least the late 2010s. [4] : 4
The genre typically juxtaposes horror elements with communal seasonal expectations of a period of peace and kindness. [4] : 3 [11] The genre is defined by a nostalgically Christmas-themed setting, typically with snow, iconic decorations and music, twinkling lights, and carolers, all intended to invoke a sense of peace before inducing a sense of terror. [4] : 5
Christmas horror novels and films are sometimes based on horror elements from a variety of Christmas storytelling traditions, including Krampus and Perchta of Central Europe and Icelandic folklore's Gryla, who punish miscreants, sometimes in cooperation with Santa Claus, and Kallikantzaroi of Southeastern Europe, who create general mayhem during the season. [1] Examples of the genre in which a killer is disguised as Santa are common, while those in which an actual Santa commits violence are rare but exist. [14] [2]
Paste connected the popularity of the genre to the juxtaposition of violence and fear with a season that is commonly regarded as a time when people are expected to treat one another with unusual kindness, saying that "Setting a bloodbath against the pristine, jealously guarded specter of Christmas, on the other hand, has always been angling for a certain level of purposeful offense, because there have always been folks who take the defense of the holiday’s image very seriously. Perhaps tearing down that institution (or at least gently ribbing it) is simply too tempting to resist." [11]
The Hollywood Reporter speculated that the genre's appeal was a reflection that "Christmas isn’t the happiest time of the year for everyone" and that it provided "a means to conquer and control some of the less delightful aspects that seep into the holiday". [2]
NPR said the relatability of the genre seemed obvious: "It's not too hard to make the case that Christmas stories can be scary ... that large man sneaking into your home at midnight after watching you all year. No wonder there's an entire genre of Christmas-themed horror movies". [15]
Matthew DuPée, author of A Scary Little Christmas: A History of Yuletide Horror Films, wrote that filmgoers "seeking an exhilarating alternative to the sickly sweet, feel-good Christmas movies found on the Hallmark Channel" explained the genre's popularity. [4] : 2
The genre has examples in multiple countries. Dick Maas' Sint (2010) was controversial among Dutch conservatives. Canadian films include The Brain, Decoys, and The Lodge. Unholy Night was Icelandic, and Rare Exports Finnish. Examples exist in the French, Spanish, Belgian, and Bollywood film industries. [4] : 299–300
While many critics denigrated the horror genre and in particular the slasher genre, Silent Night, Deadly Night's 1984 appearance, despite the release of other films including the same year's Don't Open till Christmas , drew protests sparked by promotional material, which featured a killer Santa with the tagline: "He knows when you've been naughty!" [16] [17] [18] Six versions of the television commercial for the film were submitted to the Motion Picture Association's advertising code administration before it was approved. [9]
The film also was unusual in that it fully integrated Christmas, and in particular Santa Claus, into the plotline. According to Fangoria editor Michael Gingold, the film, "in scene after scene, demonstrates a hatred for Christmas". [9]
According to Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film , a 2006 documentary, the movie "became the flashpoint, igniting protests across the nation". [18] The film was released in the East Coast and Midwest in November 1984 by TriStar Pictures, but the protests and their national coverage led to the film's removal from distribution a week later. [16] [17] Some theaters continued to run it, including in Buffalo and Boston. [9] The film was eventually rereleased by Aquarius Film Releasing with promotional materials that focussed on the film having been so outrageous that "parents everywhere" had "tried to ban it" and no images of Santa or references to Christmas. [9]
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
A slasher film is a subgenre of horror films involving a killer or a group of killers stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a generic term for any horror film involving murder, film analysts cite an established set of characteristics which set slasher films apart from other horror subgenres, such as monster movies, splatter films, supernatural and psychological horror films.
Christmas themes have long been an inspiration to artists and writers. A prominent aspect of Christian media, the topic first appeared in literature and in music. Filmmakers have picked up on this wealth of material, with both adaptations of Christmas novels, in the forms of Christmas films, Santa Claus films, and Christmas television specials.
Black Christmas is a 1974 Canadian slasher film produced and directed by Bob Clark, and written by Roy Moore. It stars Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, and John Saxon. The story follows a group of sorority sisters who receive threatening phone calls and are eventually stalked and murdered by a killer during the Christmas season.
The final girl or survivor girl is a trope in horror films. It refers to the last girl(s) or woman alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story. The final girl has been observed in many films, notable examples being Psycho, Voices of Desire, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Halloween, Alien, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, and Terrifier 2. The term "final girl" was coined by Carol J. Clover in her article "Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film" (1987). Clover suggested that in these films, the viewer began by sharing the perspective of the killer, but experienced a shift in identification to the final girl partway through the film.
Silent Night, Deadly Night is a 1984 American slasher film directed by Charles E. Sellier, Jr., and starring Robert Brian Wilson, and Linnea Quigley. The story concerns a young man named Billy Chapman, who suffers from post-traumatic stress over witnessing his parents' murder on Christmas Eve by a man disguised as Santa Claus and his subsequent upbringing in an abusive Catholic orphanage. In adulthood, the Christmas holiday leads him into a psychological breakdown, and he emerges as a spree killer donning a Santa suit.
Haunted Mansion Holiday is a seasonal overlay of The Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland that blends the settings and characters of the original Haunted Mansion with those of the 1993 film The Nightmare Before Christmas. Taking inspiration from "The Night Before Christmas", the attraction retells the story of Jack Skellington visiting the Haunted Mansion on Christmas Eve, leaving holiday chaos in his wake.
Motion pictures featuring Santa Claus constitute their own subgenre of the Christmas film genre. Early films of Santa revolve around similar simple plots of Santa's Christmas Eve visit to children. In 1897, in a short film called Santa Claus Filling Stockings, Santa Claus is simply filling stockings from his pack of toys. Another film called Santa Claus and the Children was made in 1898. A year later, a film directed by George Albert Smith titled Santa Claus was created. In this picture, Santa Claus enters the room from the fireplace and proceeds to trim the tree. He then fills the stockings that were previously hung on the mantle by the children. After walking backward and surveying his work, he suddenly darts at the fireplace and disappears up the chimney.
Comedy horror is a literary, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as having three types: "black comedy, parody and spoof." Comedy horror can also parody or subtly spoof horror clichés as its main source of humour or use those elements to take a story in a different direction. Examples of comedy horror films include Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), An American Werewolf in London (1981), the Evil Dead franchise (1981–present), Gremlins (1984), Shaun of the Dead (2004), and The Cabin in the Woods (2011).
Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker is a 1991 American science fiction horror film directed by Martin Kitrosser and stars Mickey Rooney, who had previously condemned the original film. It is the fifth film in the Silent Night, Deadly Night film series.
To All a Goodnight is a 1980 American slasher film directed by David Hess and starring Jennifer Runyon and Forrest Swanson. Its plot follows a group of female finishing school students and their boyfriends being murdered during a Christmas party by a psychopath dressed as Santa Claus.
Silent Night is a 2012 slasher film directed by Steven C. Miller and starring Malcolm McDowell, Jaime King, Donal Logue, Ellen Wong, and Brendan Fehr. It is a remake of Charles E. Sellier Jr.'s 1984 film Silent Night, Deadly Night and the sixth installment in the Silent Night, Deadly Night film series. The film was given a limited theatrical release on November 30, 2012, and was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on December 4, 2012.
All Through the House is a 2015 American holiday slasher film written and directed by Todd Nunes and produced by The Readmond Company. It stars Ashley Mary Nunes, Jessica Cameron, and Jennifer Wenger, and follows a masked killer dressed in a Santa Claus costume who terrorizes a neighborhood during the Christmas holiday. The film was shot in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Lake Arrowhead, California over a period of 21 days.
3615 code Père Noël is a 1989 French action-horror thriller film written and directed by René Manzor. It is noted for its similarities to the 1990 American film Home Alone, the makers of which Manzor once threatened with legal action on the grounds of plagiarism, alleging that they had "remade my movie."
Silent Night, Deadly Night is an American Christmas horror film series, consisting of six films. The first film in the series, Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984), originally titled Slay Ride, tells the story of Billy, a young man who experiences a psychotic break and goes on a murder spree dressed as Santa Claus. The film received theatrical distribution from TriStar Pictures, but was pulled from theaters in November 1984 after a series of protests against the film.
Billy Chapman is a fictional character in the Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise. Created by writers Paul Caimi and Michael Hickey, the character serves as the protagonist and antivillain of the first film, Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984), and is featured in flashbacks in the sequel, Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987).
Billy is a fictional character from the Black Christmas film series, first appearing in Black Christmas (1974) as a deranged murderer who taunts and kills a group of college students during the Christmas season. Created by Timothy Bond and A. Roy Moore, the character was partly inspired by the urban legend "The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs", as well as a series of real murders in Montreal during the 1943 holiday season.
Postmodern horror is a horror film related to the art and philosophy of postmodernism. Examples of this type of film includes George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead, Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre John Carpenter's slasher film Halloween and Wes Craven's Scream.
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