Editorials
Christmas Playlist: 8 Holiday Songs for the Horror Fan!
Horror fans love the holidays too, if the ever-growing catalog of holiday horror movies is any indication. But the endless loop of the same holiday songs playing in the department stores has long grown stale, and it lacks that macabre twist anyhow.
Specifically for horror fans, here are 8 songs to add to your holiday playlist!
Misfits – “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”
The original song was created for the 1966 cartoon based on Dr. Seuss’ book How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Seuss wrote the lyrics himself. I suppose a family Christmas cartoon doesn’t exactly scream horror, but the lyrics are one endless stream of insults. Catchy and mean! It’s even catchier as a cover by horror punk band Misfits, released on their EP Horror Xmas.
Christopher Lee – “Jingle Hell”
At nearly 92 years old, horror icon Christopher Lee became the oldest living performer to enter the Billboard music charts, and with a heavy metal take on a Christmas classic no less. His second Christmas album A Heavy Metal Christmas Too, features another round of rousing metal covers of well-known holiday songs, but “Jingle Hell” is a great place to start. Lee began his music career singing on The Wicker Man soundtrack, but who knew he’d eventually melt Santa’s face off with heavy guitar riffs?
Tales from the Crypt – “Have Yourself a Scary Little Christmas”
Remember when the Cryptkeeper released a holiday album, titled Have Yourself a Scary Little Christmas? Released in 1994 and now long out of print, it was full of spoofs and puns of popular holiday songs sung by John Kassir as the Cryptkeeper. This means that the entire album is appropriate for your holiday horror playlist, but this song in particular features a dramatic reenactment over the song of horror comic story “And All Through the House” that accompanied the comic reprint in the CD’s booklet.
Anna and the Apocalypse – “It’s That Time of Year”
The entire soundtrack for this Christmas set zombie musical is worth a listen, but “It’s That Time of Year” sung by actress Marli Siu is a holiday standout. It’s a tongue-in-cheek Christmas song in the vein of “Santa Baby,” and it’s dripping with sexual innuendo. Once you see it performed in the film, the comical number will forever be etched in your brain.
Krampus – “Karol of the Bells”
Composer Douglas Pipes gave a haunting twist to popular Christmas song “Carol of the Bells” for the holiday horror-comedy’s end credits. But director Michael Dougherty wanted to include a children’s choir so he added lyrics that served as a cautionary tale and called upon his nephew’s show choir at California’s Brea Olinda High School to record it. Thus, “Karol of the Bells” superior horror twist to a familiar Christmas tune was born.
A Christmas Horror Story – “It’s Christmas Eve”
Alex Khaskin’s opening theme to holiday horror anthology A Christmas Horror Story begins as seemingly normal Christmas music, with saccharine vocals and light-hearted instrumentals. Even the lyrics are traditional. But then the music gets heavier and more ominous, and the chanting kicks in. The lyrics also take a decidedly dark turn, making references to the changelings, demons, and dark spirits in the film.
The Nightmare Before Christmas – “Making Christmas”
Tim Burton’s stop-motion animation feature that sees the gothic, monstrous residents of Halloween Town attempt to take over Christmas is a holiday classic. It helps that the music by Danny Elfman is extremely catchy. “Making Christmas” perfectly encapsulates the spooky holiday tone, in which the town gets to work creating creepy holiday toys and décor. As an alternative to the movie’s version of this song, Rise Against covered the song for Disney’s cover album Nightmare Revisited.
The Gremlins – “The Gremlin Rag”
One of six songs composed by Jerry Goldsmith for the soundtrack, “The Gremlin Rag” is the main theme song to this seminal holiday horror movie written by Chris Columbus and directed by Joe Dante. The theme will embed itself in your head on its own, but this clip from the movie that shows the pint-sized terrors caroling to their own theme song is the best.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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