This Christmas Netflix has announced it will be adding Black Mirror‘s dreary Christmas special “White Christmas”, in anticipation for all new episodes. If you’re unfamiliar with the BBC show I recommend you check it out immediately. It’s pitch black satire is probably one of the most relevant things on TV today, but I digress. We’re here to talk about the very special Christmas episodes of our favorite spooky shows. After all, telling scary stories is an age-old Christmas tradition that seems to be forgotten.
“A Very Supernatural Christmas”: Supernatural
While I’ve grown weary of Supernatural over the years, I do still enjoy a re-run from time to time. “A Very Supernatural Christmas” aired as the 8th episode of the third season. The Winchester brothers are off on a monster-of-the-week hunt when they run into two pagan gods who commit blood sacrifices for the holiday.
This was one of the more serious brotherly episodes, being that Dean was meant to be dead in a year. But the message of Christmas shines brightly in this episode and adds a nod to the original Pagan lore. The episodes deliver one of it’s more gruesome scenes and quite a bit of the goofy humor I’ve grown to miss in these later seasons.
“Christmas With the Addams Family”: The Addams Family
I’ve been a fan of every incarnation of The Addams Family that has ever been on screen, big or small. While doing some research on episodes for this list I came across “Christmas With the Addams Family” and realized I had missed out on it as a kid. In this particular tale, Wednesday and Pugsley are sad to find out there might be no Santa Clause thanks to some shitty neighbor. To try and get the children’s mind off of it, each member disguises themselves as Santa.
You can guess what family-friendly antics occurs from there, I’d highly recommend this one for spooky Christmas of the family kind. However, this show still holds up even as an adult. It’s still funny, Gomez and Morticia are still the sexiest and best TV couple around, and the DVD set I have looks great!
“Unholy Night”: American Horror Story: Asylum
American Horror Story has become known for its Halloween-themed episodes, but I’ve often wondered why they don’t cash in on Christmas more? Asylum (which Trace liked way more than I did) is the only season to really go all out for the Christmas season. There’s really no wonder why this is probably my favorite episode of the season, it was written by James Wong.
“Unholy Night” is a somewhat one-off episode that actually ends up setting the entire story in a different direction. Leigh Emerson is a psychotic killer who shot a man dressed as Santa one evening and stole the costume. From there he went on a murder spree declaring he had lost his Christmas spirit, these days he’d probably just turn into a Krampus. I love this episode for a couple of reasons. First, it’s a downright nasty and gritty episode given the juxtaposition of Christmas flare and grisly murder. Second, this episode is what really breaks down Sister Jude and when she comes crashing down it’s a glorious tragedy.
“Seasons of Belief”: Tales From the Darkside
As a kid I LOVED Tales From the Darkside, I watched reruns on TV all the time but the only thing that ever stuck with my was the title sequence. As an adult, I’ve rewatched the series and realized that the title sequence is really the only memorable thing about the show. I still enjoy it for a nostalgia and cheese factor, but overall it’s pretty bland. And then there’s “Seasons of Belief”.
Starring E.G. Marshall post-Creepshow and absolutely no one else you’ve ever heard of, this tale is set on Christmas Eve. Marshall and his wife must keep their aggravating children in line when they start questioning the actuality of Santa Claus. Thus, the story of The Grither is born, which is basically a Krampus punk wannabe. So the myth goes, if you say its name it will hear you and grow bigger and bigger with each utterance of its name. The worst of it is if you don’t finish the story The Grither will find and kill you. Obviously, Marshall never finishes the story, in fact, he brushes it off as fiction once the kiddies get scared, and that is his downfall.
Most episodes are forgettable, but this one stands out among them. For one, it’s much more animated than any others, The Grither’s arms bursting through the windows is a fun scene and scaring kids for Christmas is just good fun.
“And All Through The House”: Tales From the Crypt
On the polar opposite side of Tales From the Darkside, we have Tales From the Crypt HBO’s blood-drenched, pun-spewing contribution to anthology TV. This specific episode was one of very few that were adapted from the Tales From the Crypt Amicus anthology. This particular segment originally starred Joan Collins and was directed by Freddie Francis (Evil of Frankenstein) but for the show they brought in Fred Dekker to write and Robert Zemeckis to direct, Mary Ellen Trainor replaces Joan Collins.
“And All Through the House” is one of the first episodes of the first season and it’s loved by most horror fans, I know it’s a tradition in my house every year. On Christmas Eve, a fed up wife clobbers her husband to death with a fire poker, only to learn that an insane man dressed as Santa is roaming her neighborhood. Out of all the episodes listed here, this is by far lacking the most in the spirit of Christmas. Oh sure, Christmas is splayed all through the episode visually but whereas the others sort of end on a happier note, we can pretty much assume Mary Ellen Trainor and her daughter are reindeer food. And maybe that’s why I like it so much.
