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Looking for some seasonal sounds that are both naughty and nice? Load up the sleigh with these five Christmas horror soundtracks that slay!

If you need to fill your ear holes with something other than Mariah Carey this holiday season — and, let’s face it, we ALL need that — we’ve got five of the most sumptuous seasonal soundtracks to spin while you get in the Yuletide spirit. From holiday horror classics to the best in modern seasonal slays, these original soundtracks are sure to get you in the mood for decking the bloodied halls.

1. Slay Belles (2018) OST

Directed By: Spooky Dan Walker
Music Composed By: Scott Glasgow (Slayer: The Repentless Killogy)
Label: Fourteen Kings Music – Scott Glasgow
Album Artwork: Theatrical Poster

Slay Belles is available as an MP3 on Amazon, Spotify, and Apple. This is one original soundtrack to procure.

Slay Belles has been a favorite in my household for OST soundtracks to chill and blend with the Krampus spirit. Starting with the Nutcracker Mini Overture, the Sugar Plum Fairy moves into a dark and menacing techno mix with the Nutcracker March, livening up the traditional holiday scores. Light xylophone-like tones glisten in The Police with a perfect buildup of mystery.

Magic Caldron, Naughty or Nice, and Skewered Boyfriend are eerie and rhythmic, from a choir mid-range to several instrumental twists and turns.

Overall, Glasgow’s work on Slay Belles is a superb and mischievous yuletide time!

2. Krampus (2015) OST

Directed By: Michael Dougherty
Music Composed By: Douglas Pipes (Trick ‘r Treat)
Label: *Waxwork Records
Album Artwork: Justin Erickson of Phantom City Creative
*Waxwork Records reissued a 180-gram colored vinyl “Candy Cane” (white and red splattered) deluxe edition last Christmas.

 

Krampus is the type of film I would love to watch while Douglas Pipes conducted a live orchestra, bringing all the elements of Christmas innocence and a much sinister build-up together.

It’s hard to single out tracks as this soundtrack needs to be enjoyed from beginning to end. Dear Santa brings a creepy horn, string, and base intensity. Who doesn’t need a piano solo of Auld Lang Syne? The Wish is a snowy mystical foreshadowing of orchestrated dreams.

That’s just the beginning of the soundtrack. Dark, luminous, and suspenseful with light Christmas musical cues, this vast range of orchestra and choir takes you on a wild ride.

Krampus is some of Pipe’s finest work ever!

3. Christmas Evil (1980) OST

Directed By: Lewis Jackson
Music Composed By: Don Christensen, Joel Harris, and Julia Heyward
Label: *Death Waltz Records
Album Artwork: Nick Percival
*The 2014 LP title is extended to its original title Christmas Evil (You Better Watch Out), and taken from the original negative M&E track.  Limited to four hundred copies on satin pearl white vinyl exist, with liner notes from Lewis Jackson and John Waters, a very rare pressing.  Sold out and hard to find but available on bandcamp.com as an MP3.

With twelve sequences, this is a simple and short soundtrack with sound bites from the film.

It’s fun for background ambient noise in between your Christmas Horror marathons this month. Reminiscent in some areas of Angelo Badalamenti’s work on Twin Peaks, I love the repetitious piano key chords drawing in darker and lighter tones like a toy piano being bashed.

Light and deranged, Christmas Evil brings out the synthesizing tones of Harry’s (Brandon Maggart) will in showing the world that Santa Claus, in fact, is watching!

4. Black Christmas (1974) OST

Directed By: Bob Clark
Music By: Carl Zittrer (A Christmas Story)
Label: *Waxwork Records
Album Artwork: Ghoulish Gary Pullin
*Waxwork Records released the first-ever pressing of Black Christmas, mastered from the original tapes, this 180-gram “Blood and Garland” colored vinyl is a must!  There’s a wonderful inside-liner backstory from Carl Zittrer, and Gary Pullin’s silhouette artwork of Billy on the cover is phenomenal.

The Silent Night Side: Takes in many sounds from the film, intercut with the choir singing “Silent Night, Holy Night.” Mix in Billy’s psychotic babbling and vulgar phone calls, the hallowed tones, and the creaking rocking chair, and it steadily becomes more menacing. With the choir blaring “O Come, All Ye Faithful”, Billy is just getting started in the peace of the Christmas season.

The Evil Night Side: A sporadic piano number, very unedged, with the sounds of murderous screams and windows crashing, Billy amps up “the voices” and the chaos. Various Christmas carols blend in together quickly throughout the B side. Ending on the telephone ringing and ringing, with a reprise of “Silent Night, Holy Night’, we hear, “Agnes, it’s me, Billy.”

Clark would collaborate with Zittrer again a decade later with the 1983 classic, A Christmas Story. 

This 1974 Canadian slasher classic is timeless, celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2024, and it still captivates new audiences to this day.

5. Anna and the Apocalypse (2017) OST

Directed By: John McPhail
Music By: Roddy Hart and Tommy Reilly
Label: Interscope Records
Album Artwork: Dina Hovespian

The vinyl is clear with red splatter and in CD format as well. Both can be found on Amazon, Tower Records, and various independent online record sites. It is also available as an MP3 on Amazon, Spotify, or Apple.

Some of my favorite numbers from this British zombie comedy musical are the upbeat title song “Christmas Means Nothing Without” by musical director Shonagh Murray.  “Turning My Life Around” — sung by Anna and John — is probably the funniest number from the film. The cast ensemble of “Human Voice” is harmonious. “Soldier At War” (sung by Nick) reminds me of a sports film montage.

Scottish singer-songwriter Ryan Joseph Burns ends the film on a jazzy note with the song “What A Time to Be Alive.”

There are very few Horror Musicals out there, and Anna and the Apocalypse is a one-of-an-undead kind.

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