Revisiting A Christmas Horror Story: Holiday Horror Done Differently
The various subgenres of horror tend to offer very different types of returns. The easiest wins are usually slashers and sequels. Sequels benefit from built-in fanbases, and slashers can be made cheaply while following a nearly idiot-proof formula. On the other end of the spectrum are two of the hardest subgenres to pull off: anthology films and seasonal horror. Seasonal horror locks you into the four walls of a specific holiday. While those holidays are ripe for storytelling, you’re also pigeonholing yourself into a narrow time, place, and aesthetic. Anthologies, meanwhile, force filmmakers to tell compelling stories under strict time limits, often while tying everything together with a theme or wraparound narrative. The biggest problem with both seasonal horror and anthologies is simple: when they fail, they fail hard. With that in mind, let’s talk about a movie that is both of these things, and why A Christmas Horror Story is the black sheep of holiday horror.
Why This Movie Is Worth Talking About
Look, we can only talk about the same holiday horror movies from different angles so many times. I wanted to cover something a little different. A Christmas Horror Story isn’t completely unknown, and it’s not some shot-on-video obscurity you’d only see on The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs (although it has been featured on The Last Drive-In). It has a handful of impressive collaborators behind it, yet we’ve never covered it, and I’m genuinely curious what you all think.
There are far too many straight-to-video seasonal cash-ins, especially during December, but this one stands out as inventive, original, and, ten years later, deserving of a regular spot in any holiday horror rotation. Usually, seeing a movie with this many writers and directors is a red flag: too many cooks, rushed rewrites, or studio interference. Here, though, it works. As an anthology, the team functions surprisingly well, delivering a cohesive experience through both the individual stories and the wraparound narrative.
The Creative Team Behind A Christmas Horror Story
The writers include James Kee, Sarah Larsen, Doug Taylor, and Pascal Trottier. A quick glance at their resumes shows projects like Splice, Aftermath, The Colony, and Night of the Zoopocalypse. One thing ties them all together, though: they all worked on the TV series Darknet. The directors, Grant Harvey, Steven Hoban, and Brett Sullivan, aren’t household names either, but they also share deep creative roots. All three worked as writers, producers, editors, and directors on the Ginger Snaps films and, once again, Darknet.
This shared history may be the biggest reason the movie works. When you have eight writers and directors, it helps tremendously if they’ve collaborated for years and share a cohesive vision. The movie is fun, and this team clearly knows how to deliver that, whether through TV, film, or even video games.
Structure and Wraparound Story
The movie opens with a Hallmark Channel–style credit sequence, except it’s bloody, menacing, and unmistakably horror-themed.
The wraparound story kicks off hard, featuring Santa himself walking through his North Pole workshop, chatting with reindeer… until he turns around bloodied and ready for a fight. It’s a refreshing change from the usual “evil Santa” trope or the “crazy guy in a Santa suit” angle seen in films like Silent Night, Deadly Night or Tales from the Crypt. Well… kind of. More on that later.
We then meet William Shatner (yes, that William Shatner) as a radio DJ named Dangerous Dan, who guides us through the film. Shatner is exactly what you expect: a seasoned presence who’s been in the business for what feels like 80 years. Beyond Star Trek, he starred in one of the most iconic Twilight Zone episodes and the delightfully weird ’70s film The Devil’s Rain alongside Ernest Borgnine and a young John Travolta.
How the Anthology Works
The first story begins with teens watching police footage of a brutal crime scene so disturbing that the officer conducting the walkthrough takes leave. That detail matters, because the same cop stars in the next segment. It’s a smart way to tease and tie the stories together.
The DJ wraparound works similarly, placing all the stories in the same universe. What’s especially interesting is that the film doesn’t present its segments one at a time. Instead, it interweaves them, jumping back and forth without forcing direct intersections. It’s strong storytelling and a genuinely unique approach to the anthology format. The stories also don’t feel obligated to constantly be Christmas stories. They simply exist during Christmas, much like the undisputed best Christmas movie of all time: Die Hard.
The Stories Themselves
Story One: Teens investigating last year’s school murders become trapped in the basement, where one girl becomes possessed. The spirit is revealed to be a pregnant woman killed at the school, seeking someone to carry her child. When the possessed girl kills her friends, the cycle repeats until one survives by becoming pregnant.
Story Two: The cop from the opening footage spends Christmas with his wife and son while on leave. During a tree-shopping trip, their son is replaced by a changeling. The fake child kills the father, and when the mother returns to the tree lot, she uncovers the horrifying truth behind the grove hiding the creatures.
Story Three: A dysfunctional family visits an aging relative for the holidays. After a car accident, they’re stalked by Krampus. It’s revealed that Krampus isn’t just a creature but a manifestation of anger, passed from one person to another through resentment and cruelty.
Krampus only plays a side role here, which is notable given that Michael Dougherty’s Krampus also released in 2015. That bigger film is a major reason A Christmas Horror Story fell into relative obscurity, but the two don’t diminish each other. They should both be holiday staples.
The Santa workshop storyline stands apart as the only segment not grounded in the “real world,” even if the others involve supernatural elements.
Performances and Effects
The film delivers solid acting from a largely unknown cast. Zoé De Grand’Maison (an incredible name) would later appear in Orphan Black and Riverdale. Jeff Clarke, Michelle Nolden, Amy Forsythe, and others, mostly TV actors, do more than admirable work here. That TV background actually helps. Anthology horror follows similar constraints to episodic television, and these actors know how to sell characters quickly and effectively.
Veteran actor George Buza also stands out. Some may recognize him as the voice of Hank “Beast” McCoy from the iconic ’90s X-Men animated series, now revived on Disney+. He fully disappears into his role here and adds real weight.
Santa, Madness, and the Final Twist
The Santa storyline is easily the film’s highlight. We watch his workshop come under siege as he battles rage-filled elves and eventually Krampus himself. It’s the most effects-heavy and visually wild segment, and exactly what some horror fans are looking for.
Earlier, I mentioned appreciating that Santa is portrayed as a tough, heroic figure rather than a villain. That holds true… until it doesn’t.
The best moment in the entire movie comes when the veil is pulled back and we realize this surreal battle was imagined by an overworked mall Santa who snapped and killed multiple people. It’s tragic, disturbing, and brilliantly executed, grounding the madness in a painfully human breakdown.
Verdict: A Hidden Holiday Horror Gem
A Christmas Horror Story never received a theatrical release or the cult status of its 2015 counterpart Krampus. That’s exactly why it deserves attention. Movies like this need to be shared so they can find their audience. Hidden holiday horror gems, especially ones that buck anthology conventions, deserve it more than most.
Make this film part of your holiday horror tradition. Then pass it along like that mysterious, cool-looking gift under the tree on Christmas morning. This black sheep is no lump of coal.
A couple of the previous episodes of The Black Sheep can be seen at the bottom of this article. To see more, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
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