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Holiday Horror Streaming Picks for Hulu, Amazon and Netflix

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Gremlins

With December finally here, it’s time to load up on the holiday horror. It’s the time to celebrate yuletide terror, killer Santa’s, and spilling massive amounts of blood in the snow. So I scoured Hulu, Amazon, and Netflix for your streaming horror watchlists to help you have a scary little Christmas. What I’ve discovered is that Hulu opts for surprising offerings, Amazon nails it on quantity, and Netflix really likes anthologies. There’s a surprising lack of a lot of definitive classics across the streaming platforms, though you can count on Amazon to offer micro-budget films like A Cadaver Christmas, or Krampus cash-ins like Krampus Unleashed. Luckily there’s enough selection to load up this holiday season, and here’s your guide on what to watch this holiday season:


HULU

P2

P2

Angela Bridges (Rachel Nichols) learns a harsh lesson of the importance of letting go of work and spending time with family over the holidays when she’s locked in the office garage by a psychopath on Christmas Eve. Written by Alexandre Aja (High Tension) and Franck Khalfoun (2012’s Maniac), who also directed, this is one holiday horror movie that deserves more love than it’s gotten over the years. I concede that it’s not necessarily the most memorable of plots; however, Kahlfoun and Aja have an uncanny knack for delivering tension and uncomfortable moments. Wes Bentley nails his character as the somewhat sympathetic psychopath obsessed with his prey. This one is also scheduled to leave Hulu at the end of the month, so jump on this.

ATM

ATM

Both the title and plot should indicate what kind of mindless B-movie this is, and that’s not always a bad thing. This Christmas time set thriller sees a stockbroker, David, taking his crush Emily and another co-worker, Corey, home from the office Christmas party. Corey forces David to stop by an ATM booth, where the trio gets trapped inside while a killer in a parka lurks outside, murdering anyone nearby. Yeah, it’s about as silly as it sounds. Which means it’s the perfect thriller to watch with a group of friends and spiked eggnog. The cast is surprisingly strong, like Alice Eve as Emily, despite a core of characters that make the dumbest choices. ATM isn’t the greatest holiday horror film by any stretch, but in the right setting it can be an entertaining watch.

New Year’s Evil

New Year's Evil

Originally released on December 26, 1980, this New Year’s Eve set slasher follows a Los Angeles radio DJ that receives a phone call from a killer who calls in to state they’ll be killing someone every time the clock rings in the New Year in a different time zone. A bit more sleazy and schlocky in tone, this slasher does take the Hitchcockian bomb theory approach in that you see who the killer is early on, setting up some great cat and mouse tension. It also offers a ton by way of gore and punk rock. Plus, with Christmas hogging the spotlight, New Year’s doesn’t get near as much love.


AMAZON 

Jack Frost 

Jack Frost

What if Jack Frost wasn’t the personification of ice, sleet, and freezing winter, but a serial killer on his way to his execution that crashes into genetic material, causing him to mutate and fuse with the surrounding snow? Intentional low-budget cheese-fest, Jack Frost opts for borderline offensive humor (I’m looking at you, sexual assault by carrot scene), silly humor, and over the top kills by a murderous snowman. Because of that, it’s the perfect antithesis to the holiday spirit. Really, though, it’s the definitive holiday horror film that has to be seen at least once to be believed. The special effects mostly fall in line with the small budget, but they do spend most of it on the gruesome, great transformation sequence of Jack Frost from human to snowman. If you’re team Jack Frost, Amazon also offers the non-Christmas follow up, Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman.

All Through the House 

All Through the House

A throwback to ‘80s slasher featuring a deranged Santa-masked killer, this micro-budget slasher should tick off a lot of boxes on the yuletide terror watch list. It’s not the most original, nor perfect, but it totally delivers on the gore. Slashing, slicing, dicing, and buckets of blood, this Santa delivers. All Through the House also nails the nods to other slasher classics, like Black Christmas or Deep Red. It may be low budget, but it doesn’t skimp on the practical effects. At least not with the copious amount of blood flow. If the concept of Santa getting brutal with his kills appeals to you, this should make your must list. This Santa loves hedge clippers and violence, to give you an idea.

Silent Night

Silent Night

Technically, this is only available on Amazon video through a Tribeca Shortlist subscription, but they offer a 7-day free trial, so there’s your loophole. This killer Santa slasher is a very loose remake of definitive holiday horror classic Silent Night, Deadly Night and features a horror worthy cast featuring Malcom McDowell, Jaime King (2009’s My Bloody Valentine, Sin City), and Donal Logue (Blade, Zodiac). McDowell plays the scene chewing Sheriff on the trails of the serial killing Santa on Christmas Eve, and Logue is the cynyical jerk Santa turned red herring. The movie doesn’t stick its landing, but it does make excellent use of a wood chipper, its killer Santa, and a ton of blood. The cast makes this loose remake a lot more fun that it probably could have been otherwise.


NETFLIX 

A Christmas Horror Story 

A Christmas Horror Story

A holiday-themed anthology that intertwines its stories via a radio DJ played by William Shatner, produced by the people behind the Ginger Snaps trilogy. As with nearly all anthologies, not all segments work, but for the most part this Christmas horror movie works. The segment featuring the changeling that’s swapped with a child during a family Christmas tree outing is surprisingly creepy, and the segment featuring Santa versus zombie elves is a lot of fun. Of course, having someone like Shatner tie the tales all together probably tells you all you need to know about this one.

Gremlins 

Gremlins

What else is left to say about Joe Dante’s classic, holiday and otherwise? It’s one of the absolute best, and thanks to Dante and practical effects, still holds up decades later. It’s a great gateway horror film for kids, making this the perfect family horror film for the holidays. Phoebe Cates’ Kate has a disturbingly dark background with Christmas, while Gizmo’s so adorable that kids won’t even notice the adult moments. For those that want their spiked eggnog and their cookies, Gremlins is the perfect pairing.

Holidays 

Holidays

This anthology covers a wide range of holidays, but it’s the last two segments that make this applicable to this list. Scott Stewart’s (Legion, Dark Skies) approach to Christmas sees Seth Green’s Pete contend with a deadly holiday gift of virtual glasses. The real highlight, though, is Adam Egypt Mortimer’s helming of New Year’s Eve, written by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer (Starry Eyes). Serial killer Reggie has the tables turned when he picks up an awkward girl for a New Year’s date on a dating website. Lorenza Izzo nails her awkward turned ruthless character, making this uneven anthology end on a strong note.

XX

XX

The first segment in this female-helmed horror anthology, adapted from a Jack Ketchum story by Jovanka Vuckovic, is set during Christmas time. A young boy, Danny, peers inside a man’s gift box while riding home on a train and what he sees causes him to stop eating. It’s unsettling, psychological, and delivers some jarring visuals. Not only is it arguably the strongest segment of the film, it’s also appropriately holiday themed for the season.

What’s on your Holiday watch list this season?

Horror journalist, RT Top Critic, and Critics Choice Association member. Co-Host of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast. Has appeared on PBS series' Monstrum, served on the SXSW Midnighter shorts jury, and moderated horror panels for WonderCon and SeriesFest.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

LEPRECHAUN

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

LEPRECHAUN RETURNS sequel

Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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