It was in 1896 when the world would be given the first horror film entitled Le Manoir du Diable known in English as The House of the Devil. It was directed by George Melies, whose contributions to the world of cinema cannot be understated.
Fast forward to almost 100 years later in 1972 with the debut of Silent Night, Bloody Night, which would be the first Christmas horror film to be made. Given the cheerful nature of the Christmas season, it leads into the simple question of what makes anyone want to watch a horror film, let alone one set during the holidays at the peak of merry songs and family gatherings.
Differing Perspectives
Rather than trying to offer a complete rebuttal to that question, why don’t we first try to see this time of year from an alternative perspective. Peter Corupe, creator of Canuxploitation offers his take.
“Long, dark winter evenings have always been considered an ideal time for spooky stories, all the way back to the days of Charles Dickens and telling traditional ghost tales by the fire. These days, the Christmas season brings up a lot of conflicting feelings for many people, and modern holiday horror films can offer a necessary counterpoint to expectations of Christmas cheer. Nobody wants to go around insisting that they don’t always like the yuletide season, but watching a movie like Krampus or Silent Night, Deadly Night is a way to safely undermine the holiday spirit for an hour or two, to gently indulge our inner Scrooge. Horror films have always been somewhat subversive by nature–it’s definitely a big part of their appeal–and watching scary stories at the ‘happiest time of the year’ makes that contrast all the sharper.”
A Filmmaker’s Take
Next, what about the perspective of the filmmaker, Sean Donohue, who directed the holiday horror film Cannibal Claus found his inspiration through Christmas horror films more than Halloween horror films.
“Black Christmas and Silent Night, Deadly Night are probably the biggest influences on Cannibal Claus. I wanted to do a holiday themed horror film because I really enjoy those types of films and for marketability, I knew I could see it every year. They are controversial because you are taking something sacred and attaching violence and horror themed elements to them so people naturally will remember them.”
Most important of all, for him, it was fun to make. Perhaps from this viewpoint the ability to create something that is a fun endeavor with a high volume of marketability, the temptation for a filmmaker to want to create holiday horror the calling is just that strong. How can we break this down further, though?
What Does Psychology Tell Us
How can psychology aid in our understanding? Well, we can evaluate the strong psychological nature that holiday horror so wonderfully taps into. Speaking to Samuel Bolin, LCSW-C from ABHSM, he comments on the deeper meaning mentally behind everything. “People tend to be drawn to culture that connects to their intrinsic value system. They, too, tend to be drawn to activities that produce internal positive feedback, and in this case, we are referring to adrenaline. First, let’s focus on the cultural draw. As referenced above, horror movies in general go against societal values – we do not praise or teach murder – in fact, as a society, we punish it. Horror movies present a forum to subvert the norm without consequence. Thus, allowing those who are drawn to subversion to have a safe place to fantasize; what a better time of year to engage in something taboo than the December Holiday Season. Next, let us quickly examine this through the lens of the hormone feedback system. Adrenaline is directly related to your body’s fight-or-flight system – a survival mechanism – thus when you are startled or on edge awaiting the next “jump scare” your body is producing adrenaline, which is preparing your muscles and lungs for danger (Hormone Health Network. Adrenaline | Hormone Health Network, 2018). This type of reinforcement produces a cause-and-effect relationship, and could suggest that we become motivated to repeat the same or similar events to produce similar outcomes.”
It is this escapist nature that many people may find that appeal whether they innately understand it or not. Of course, the easiest predisposition to having a desire to watching films of this nature would be those who are already fans of horror films in general. Adding a layer of holiday shine as it were, only making the viewing experience that much more cathartic.
A Bloody Fanatic
Self-professed horror fanatic Niko Hubbell added “Holiday films to me are the encapsulation of what scares us. Even before the indulgence of now what seems to be a popular and stable sub-genre, holidays are fearful even before the first of these movies came out to connect the dots for us. Family time predicaments, sullen atmospheric tones with snow, darkness, etc. Black Christmas 1974 was the kick starter to my love for festive horror awakening! Let’s be real, horror is best before the big boo; the tension is what scares us. And Holidays are family time, which is ironically filled with tension for most people. We expect (opportunistically) it to be safe, fun; festive! Though it hardly ever is.”
Maybe we all just have those dark thoughts of seeing the more annoying members of our family go away in darkly gruesome ways or just having a reason to watch something that everyone can’t sit down to. Those frightful tales give us that jolt of warmth deeper in our bones more so than any fireplace can.
Filmmaker Coral Untalan gives her take. “I like the contradiction of something horrific at what is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year. The best one, in my humble opinion, is Rare Exports.”
This need for darkness has even bled over into the small screen with television shows like American Horror Story taking up the reins on giving the masses some holiday scares.
Writer John Dallas DeWeese gives his description “[It’s] an absolutely terrifying episode about a maniac who kills a mall Santa and then uses the disguise to trick children into letting him into their homes. He then murders the parents for ‘lying to their children’ about Santa and due to the horrible abuse, he received as a child.”
Breaking it all Down
One must ask now, though, if this is something that has created an over saturation of this style of horror, leading nowhere for the genre to go from here. Maybe so for the mainstream audience, but the community that has developed around horror is strongly dedicated.
Filmmaker and director of the film Bad Girls Christopher Bickel describes the sometimes-rabid fan base “I think what makes the horror community special is that they are very forgiving in terms of production value and acting ability. They’re here for the thrills and there’s a sense of bonding over the things that gave them frights, especially in their formative years.”
The flip-side of this being the monetary appeal for film studios to try to make money off of films that can be made on a low budget. Bickel describes this phenomenon. “I think the majority of ‘holiday horror’ films were simply cash-grabs riffing off of the success of Halloween and Friday the 13th (which was itself a rip-off of Halloween). Ironically, Halloween — depending on which producer’s version of its history you subscribe to — was inspired directly by the greatest ‘holiday horror’ film of all time, Black Christmas (1974).”
When the doors open up for one holiday to host the backdrop of a wildly successful horror film, the temptation would be too great to question which holiday would be next. What may have been Christmas in the 70s would pave the way to Valentine’s Day in the 80s, all the way to Thanksgiving with the wonderfully cheesy Thankskilling in 2008.
Conclusion
Whether you think the holiday horror films are in poor taste or let the bloody good times wash over you like a red nose to Rudolph, it cannot be understated the cultural impact on pop culture these films have left. They are here to stay and while many would argue their artistic merit, we should all celebrate the amazing escape that they give us in a time of year that we all want to be cheerful but more times than not leave us more stressed than what we ever asked to be.
Maybe for that alone it is worth reevaluating the important part that these films play into this most wonderful time of the year.
What are your thoughts? Are holiday horror films simple cash grabs or are they in poor taste? Do you absolutely love them or do you have a favorite? Let us know!