15 best scary Christmas movies to watch this holiday season

TIM BURTONÕS THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS - Why celebrate the spookiest time of the year for only 13 nights when you can celebrate for 31!? Freeform has expanded their annual Halloween programming event to "31 Nights of Halloween" bringing more thrills and chills to the entire month. From Oct. 1, the network will be invaded by everyoneÕs favorite witches, a murderous barber, out of control dinosaurs and everything else that goes bump in the night. (DISNEY ENTERPRISES, INC./ABC)JACK SKELLINGTON (CHRIS SARANDON) /

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Gremlins

Some may argue that Gremlins isn’t a holiday movie, but if you’ve seen this movie before then you know that the town where it takes place is all set up for the holidays. It’s A Wonderful Life is playing on the television screen and carolers are making their rounds in the neighborhood.

In fact, even the scary little titular creatures are first introduced to us through a Christmas present given to one of the characters. At first glance, the Mogwai species looks precious and cute, but by the end of the movie they will carry out an evil holiday rampage across town.

The scariest things about the Gremlins is that they reproduce every time one of them gets wet! Little fuzzballs pop out of the wet Mogwai’s back and just like that, there’s more of them. The same thing happens if they are in sunlight or get fed after midnight. It’s all very disturbing. Gremlins definitely make appearances in my nightmares.

Set against a Christmas backdrop, Gremlins is one of those scary holiday movies that has some layers to it. It’s not just about creepy little creatures taking over the town, but a satire of American consumerism. A father’s desire to make up for his absence results in him getting the best gift he can find, which doesn’t work because presents can’t make up for the love a father can give his child.

Gremlins is available to stream on HBO Max.

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