Twenty Frightfully Fun Holiday Horror Shorts

Are you looking to cram in as much holiday horror as you can but short on time? We’ve got you covered with 20 short but satisfying films.

Hopefully, our faithful readers already know how much we love horror shorts here at Morbidly Beautiful. A criminally underrated art form, there is something so impressive about a filmmaker who can tell a complete and compelling story in such a short time — sometimes in just a couple of minutes — and something so satisfying about being able to consume so much content variety with a minimal time commitment.

Knowing how much we celebrate the art of the short, we couldn’t let the holiday season wrap up without sharing a rundown of some of our favorite holiday horror shorts of recent years. Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, and whatever the season means to you, we’re sure you’ll enjoy these genre gifts, and we hope you can take time to enjoy some killer horror in those brief moments between all the holiday chaos.

From us and your entire Morbidly Beautiful family, we hope your holidays are bloody bright and your new year is full of onscreen fear and offscreen cheer. 

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PETER’S RECOMMENDATIONS (SHORT HORROR EDITOR)

Christmas is a special time of year when families come together to watch holiday-themed horror films in the wake of Halloween, which means plenty of shorts are on offer. I’m sure I’m not alone in making sure I watch Treevenge every year, a festive short that has become a massive cult hit over the years; however,  if you are like me and always looking for more shorts, I’ve got plenty of festive frights to keep you entertained this holiday season.

1. ZOMBIE MUSICAL (17 minutes)

Anna and the Apocalypse has become a cult holiday horror favorite since its release in 2017, and there’s a very good reason for that.

Everything it does, it does with 100% commitment. It’s a musical, it’s a zombie horror, it’s a comedy, and it’s got a lot of emotion and heart. No one of these elements outshines the other. The songs are catchy and fun, the gore is OTT, the comedy is perfectly timed, and the emotional scenes pull on the heartstrings.

Zombie Musical is the short that later became the brilliant Anna.

While the songs are not quite as catchy, and the emotions don’t run quite as high, they still have all the same enthusiasm of the feature it was destined to become. The ingenious brainchild of a Scottish film student named Ryan McHenry, Zombie Musical went on to win a BAFTA, the British equivalent of the Oscars, and helped secure a feature film debut.

Tragically, the 27-year-old rising star McHenry passed away from bone cancer in 2015 before he and his team were able to finish production on Anna. Fortunately, others picked up the mantle and carried on McHenry’s vision for the film, resulting in the magnum opus we have today. Like Anna itself, it’s a tale of the triumph of the human spirit amid heartbreaking tragedy.

If you are a fan of Anna and the Apocalypse, you should go back and check out where it all began, and if it is all new to you, then this is a perfect starting point.

2. SLAY BELLS (5 minutes)

For horror fans, the slasher genre has always gone hand in hand with Christmas, so it’s no surprise that many of the festive holiday horror shorts fall into that category.

Slay Bells is a fast-paced, gory slasher short that really packs a punch. It doesn’t waste any time getting to the action, and the kills will leave any slasher fan howling and screaming for more. R.A. Mihailoff (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3) plays the slay-happy Santa in this twisted tale.

You’ll not see anything brand new here, but that’s not usually what slashers are about. They are intentionally formulaic for a reason; the formula works!

As long as there are inventive kills, the slasher fan is kept happy, and there is plenty here from one of our favorite multi-hyphenate creators and filmmakers, Ama Lea, to keep a smile on your face.

3. THE LAST CHRISTMAS (11 minutes)

 

The Last Christmas tells the tale of an 8-year-old girl who, after being bullied for believing in Santa, tries to get proof of his existence, with disastrous and bloody consequences. This twisted comedy horror directed by Ryan Port premiered at Screamfest in 2022, and it’s absolutely delightful!

The girl who tries to capture Santa is a foul-mouthed, wise-cracking sociopath reminiscent of the kid from Psycho Goreman, and it really makes this short all the more entertaining. The eleven-minute runtime feels like the perfect amount of time to flesh out this story and make it feel completely self-contained without overstaying its welcome.

It’s one of my top holiday horror shorts of the year, and I can’t recommend The Last Christmas enough. 

4. HELLF (3 minutes)

 

A little girl is woken up on Christmas night to something in her room. She soon realizes it is not her cat, but could it be Santa?

The acting ability of the child in this short is stellar and helps create tension in the isolation of her room as an unseen creature terrorizes her.

At just three minutes, this satisfying short from David McCracken (host of The Stephen Kingdom on YouTube) could be perfect to watch on the go or while doing all the queuing that comes with holiday shopping!

This little slice of holiday terror works with an unnerving score and sound design to create a truly eerie viewing experience.

5. A VERY ZOMBIE HOLIDAY (3 minutes)

 

A Very Zombie Holiday is a fun, feminist spoof 1950s instructional video demonstrating how to keep a festive home while warding off hoards of the Undead.

The setup is a how-to video for the 1950s American housewife and uses the expectations of women of that era as the comedy jumping off point to a zombie invasion. This lighthearted short from Team Unicorn, written and directed by Sean Becker, is creative and clever, delivering some real laugh-out-loud moments throughout.

This one is the most jovial and light short I’ve watched this year; fun for all the family!

6. THE WINTER STALKER (2 minutes)

 

This is an extremely creepy and intense holiday horror short that really does a good job of getting under the skin straight away.

This stylish and unsettling short from Stephen Reedy plays on the more sinister side of the Santa myth, exploring how unsettling it is that “he sees you when you’re sleeping” — and what ending up on his list means.

The stylized, jarring camera work adds a layer to this short film that is not often seen outside of features.

The Winter Stalker manages to do so much in such a short span of time, combining dizzying sights and sounds to cause tremendous unease.

7. DEATHLY PRESENTS (5 minutes)

 

Part of the Bloody Cuts series, an anthology of short horror films presented online as a free web series, Norfolk filmmakers Ben Franklin and Anthony Melton bring viewers a devious holiday horror delight.

Deathly Presents builds the tension when a mysterious gift is discovered under the tree on Christmas Eve.

This short does a really good job of building to what is now a very common jump scare payoff in the world of shorts. A series of bad decisions, a mysterious box that any horror fan knows is better left alone, and some brief but outstanding creature effects make this one a brief but satisfying watch.

Although the jump scare short is ten a penny these days, it’s always fun to see when it’s done well, and Deathly Presents certainly delivers!

8. MIDNIGHT CLEAR (8 minutes)

 

Directed by award-winning filmmaker Joe Russo, Midnight Clear sets an uncomfortable mood right from the beginning, as a seemingly unstable husband and father try to ensure all the family’s Christmas traditions are covered on Christmas Eve.

This holiday horror short effectively creates a large amount of tension because of the implied domestic abuse, which makes it the most unnerving short I’ve watched this year.

The ending throws in a real curveball and seriously subverts your expectations, turning this entire short on its head and bringing additional pathos to an already dark and twisted tale.

It’s not what you think it is and is well worth a watch for the stellar performances, taut tension, and great cinematography, but a trigger warning may be needed.

9. LA NORIA (11 minutes)

 

This animated short, written and directed by seasoned animator Carlos Baena (ILM, Pixar) — and funded by a crowd-sourced community of over 100 people) — is a step away from anything else on the list. It is a haunting and tragic tale about a young boy dealing with grief during the festive period, only to be terrorized by nightmarish creatures.

Everything about La Noria is expertly crafted.

The animation is gorgeous, and although the story is more tragedy than horror, the giant monstrous creatures stalking the boy through the house are truly horrific and add a layer of tension that gets your heart pounding.

It is easy to see why this animated short is an award winner, so if you’re looking for something outside of the usual festive horror shorts, then this is highly recommended.

10. SHREDDERS (17 minutes)

 

Shredders is a British comedy horror film directed by Darren A. Furniss and written by Michael James Dean that pays loving homage to 80s creature features.

The short is set during an office Christmas party when the building is overrun by vicious creatures dubbed as Shredders. In true British style, the humor is irreverent, silly, and, at points, quite dark. Needless to say, I had an absolute blast with it.

It leans heavily into its 80s influence with a synth score, and although the viewer never actually sees the Shredders, it does well in keeping you invested throughout.

Even though I’ve branched out a bit this year with the types of shorts I’ve been watching, horror comedies are still my favorite and what I gravitate toward most on my personal watchlist and when covering film fests for Morbidly Beautiful. Thus, it’s not hard to see why Shredders has become a top pick for me this year.

If you only have a chance to watch one or two shorts this festive period, I’d strongly suggest that one of those be Shredders.

 

STEPHANIE’S RECOMMENDATIONS (EDITOR-IN-CHIEF)

I had a f*cking festive delight unwrapping as many new holiday horror shorts as I could to bring you this top ten list for your viewing enjoyment. I even included several absolute gems that are only a couple of minutes long each. So, there’s no excuse not to fit in some great horror, no matter how busy you are. You can binge every single short on my list in just over 100 minutes, less time than it would take you to watch one feature. And I promise you will leave feeling as spoiled as a kid on Christmas morning.

1. Milk & Cookies Supercut (11 minutes)

 

From the twisted minds at Crypt TV, Milk & Cookies is the sinister seasonal gift that keeps on giving. This eleven-minute supercut includes the original, very funny two-minute holiday horror short that became a sensation, Milk & Cookies: Naughty List, and the fantastic sequel Milk & Cookies: Walter’s Revenge.

First, we are introduced to a father, played by genre staple Sean Whalen (The People Under the Stairs), as he warns his young daughter not to eat Santa’s milk and cookies, or she might end up on Walter’s naughty list. Who is Walter? He can best be described as a nightmare-inducing cross between Santa and Krampus — a horrific, child-eating monster who chomps on a candy cane topped with a human finger and turns tiny tots into lumps of coal.

A year later, Walter returned in the sequel, where a pre-teen enlists the help of her friends to take down the menacing monster who killed her sister six Christmases earlier. A playful spin on the heist movie combined with a gory creature feature, it’s a little bit Home Alone meets Monster Squad, and it’s as wickedly funny as it is demented.

If you’re craving more of Wicked Walter and the Milk & Cookies universe, check out Christmas in July, a delightfully gruesome Creepypasta-style animated short that significantly ramps up the unabashed horror of Walter’s exploits.

With outstanding makeup effects, a mischievous sense of humor, and a wildly fun concept, Milk & Cookies is not to be missed. 

2. WHITE ELEPHANT (10 minutes)

 

Written and directed by Ko Massiah, White Elephant is a dark comedy short film about a Christmas Eve gift exchange party on Big Bear Mountain.

It brilliantly satirizes millennial trends and identity obsessions in these weird modern times, including fad diets, cryptocurrency, competitive parenting, astrology, and new-age spiritual healing.

Featuring a game cast playing the most insufferable people on the planet and a witty homage to a Fincher classic, White Elephant is an original and amusing treat. 

3. IT’S A WONDERFUL KNIFE (10 minutes)

 

Though a well-received feature film of the same name was released this year by director Tyler MacIntyre just in time for the holiday season, It’s a Wonderful Knife is an unrelated 2015 short film from director Nick Lines and writer Seth Sinclair.

Blaming him for her tragic existence, a heartbroken ex-hooker named Kitty kidnaps Santa Claus to exact revenge for what she perceives as years of neglect and disappointment.

As her quest for revenge turns into a journey of self-discovery, she learns the secret of Christmas and unwraps her destiny.

While Jack McGee plays a convincingly beleaguered and grizzled Santa fighting for his life against his crazed captor, Kate Ward as the kickass Kitty is an absolute delight. I desperately need a feature-length adaptation featuring Kitty as the Christmas Avenger, balancing the scales of good versus evil by punishing the naughty.

With an exceedingly fun and perverse premise and two stellar leads, this surprising dark comedy/fantasy horror short is a must-see for those who enjoy the darker side of the festive season.

4. KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT (9 minutes)

 

In Dan Roe’s gruesome and witty Christmas morality tale, a man faces dire consequences for his inability to keep his word.

While hanging Christmas lights on his roof, a man witnesses his neighbor being shot in his car by an unknown assailant. The killer agrees to let him live if he promises not to tell anyone what he saw.

After narrowly escaping death, the man makes his way to a bar and wastes no time telling the bartender and a couple of patrons all about his misadventures, embellishing the details to make himself look more heroic, before heading home to tell his partner an even more elaborate tale. It isn’t long, however, before his lies catch up to him.

Keep Your Mouth Shut is a clever commentary on man’s innate human nature and our relentless desire to share what’s supposed to be secret, weaving fantasy into reality, as part of our need for validation and acceptance. 

5. WARMTH (9 minutes)

 

In an effort to complete his thesis, Doctoral student Christopher Walton spends the night at the home of a woman named Emily while she stays at her mother’s house. He’s there to investigate Emily’s claims of unexplained sinister activity in the home, originating from the chimney during Christmastime. 

From student filmmaker Chandler Thornton, Warmth was the winner of the Best Student Film at the Southern Shorts Awards in Spring 2022. It was also selected for several film festivals across the country. 

Warmth is a simple concept, executed with minimal resources, but it’s incredibly effective in the way it creates tension and builds anticipation for its chilling climax. 

For most of the nine-minute short, we get a quiet, slow-burning film as Christopher waits — along with us, the viewers — for something to happen. The methodical pace of the film works to keep us on edge and sets the stage for a very effective jump scare and gnarly reveal. 

This short is a great example of accomplishing a lot with very little, and it’s always fun to see a new generation of up-and-coming filmmakers just starting to make their mark.

6. INVADERS (13 minutes)

 

This live-action/3D-animated dark comedy is a treat for my fellow sci-fi fans, a whimsical but demented cross between Star Wars and Home Alone from Daniel Price.

While investigating a human home on Christmas Eve, three UFOs engage in harmless mischief. But an unexpected encounter with Santa ends in disaster. While it may spell the end of Christmas on Earth, it’s a wonderful new beginning for one young UFO.

With no dialogue, Price’s wondrous creation evokes the magic of Wall-E and effectively conveys the spirit of the season. He tells his nostalgia-fueled ode to early Amblin and other 80’s classics through stunning visuals and a spectacular score that will make you feel warm and cozy while watching.

However, an incredible twist ending reminds us that this charming and endearing film — one that feels right home alongside the best of Pixar’s heartwarming offerings — hides a devious little horror heart.

Price explains his vision for this remarkable short that features jaw-dropping 3D effects created in Maya and Nuke:

“[I was really] hoping the outcome would be something my 10-year-old self would want to watch, but at the same time to appeal across a broad range of ages.”

Unlike anything you’re sure to see this holiday season, Invaders is engrossing and unforgettable, with impressive visual effects and a pitch-perfect blend of holiday/sci-fi wonder and just a hint of the naughty to appeal to genre lovers. 

7. SNOW GLOBE (8 minutes)

 

One thing you can always hang your stocking on is when it comes to horror shorts, ALTER is sure to deliver.

Snow Globe, directed by Christopher Ryan Laughter and written by Michale Wielock, is one of the shorts featured on the platform’s “Slay Bells” 24-hour holiday horror live stream. The entire lineup is a treat, including several must-see shorts we haven’t covered in this year’s roundup.

However, as much as I’d argue there’s not a dud or a disappointment in the bunch, SNOW GLOBE stood out for being especially stylish, sinister, expertly crafted, and extremely memorable.

With a beguiling retro aesthetic, this captivating tale begins with the dulcet tones of a butter-voiced narrator, filmmaker/actor/video game voice talent Beau Marie, reciting an original poem — reminiscent of the classic A Night Before Christmas with a much darker bent.

Marie evokes the great Boris Karloff narrating The Grinch Who Stole Christmas or Vincent Price narrating an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

The latter serves as a bit of plot inspiration for this cynical re-imagining of the holiday’s most familiar and recycled morality tale. 

A beautiful woman (Candice Moll) dressed to the nines, twirls around a pristinely decorated home, seemingly consumed by merriment as she prepares for the arrival of her personal Santa, her darling husband (Dylan Rourke).

A moment later, three gifts appear to have been magically placed under the tree, each bearing handwritten labels: past, present, and future. At first delighted as a young child on Christmas morning, she drops to the floor to open the gifts, pulls out a cigarette, and dramatically shifts her tone and demeanor.

Suddenly, she confesses with undertones of rage and disgust, “Actually, I hate Christmas.”

To reveal more would be a disservice to this cleverly woven yarn, but I assure you it culminates in a twisted and oh-so-satisfying end — with nary a dull moment between the first and last frame. 

8. THE HO HO HOWLING (10 minutes)

 

As a young girl goes to sleep on Christmas Eve, eagerly awaiting Santa’s arrival, her parents are awakened by the sounds of a home invader only to discover it’s good ol’ Saint Nick stuffing presents under the tree. It turns out Santa is real, and he’s got a few tricks up his sleeve.

Directed by Andrew Neill and written by Marcus Mann and Eric W. Carlson, The Ho Ho Howling answers the age-old question about how Santa manages to be nearly godlike in his magical abilities, seemingly omnipresent and immortal, and it’s definitely not what you expect.

This playful subversion of the classic werewolf tale also challenges our expectations of the typical evil Santa we’ve come to expect from the holiday horror subgenre, asking, “What if Santa were both jolly AND bloodthirsty?”

Charming, creative, and devilishly dark, The Ho Ho Howling stirs up a fright with an extremely clever concept and a nasty twist ending.

9. DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE? (14 minutes)

 

Written and directed by Justin McConnell and Serena Whitney, Do You See What I See? easily tops my list of most-recommended holiday horror shorts.

One uptight sister, Jessica (Jorja Cadence), anxiously tries to plan the perfect ugly sweater Christmas party while her put-upon husband, Chris (Adam Buller), commiserates with her polar opposite sister, Sloan (Caliegh Le Grand). Sloan is annoyed by all the hoopla surrounding the festivities, which she finds “pretentious and elaborate” (as described by one partygoer).

With one sister forced to participate in a grating social event she can’t stand as another obsesses over being the perfect hostess, the two sisters are at odds most of the film, exasperated by Jessica’s attempt to play matchmaker for Sloan.

Even before things take a sinister turn, when an uninvited guest wearing a ski mask and glasses makes his appearance, I was instantly drawn in by just how gorgeous the film looked. Beautifully shot with an exceptional eye for set design (thanks to production designer Darryl Shaw) and lighting, it’s inviting and atmospheric. Jessica’s immaculately decorated home looks so perfectly Christmas… for someone who takes Christmas very seriously.

The performances are stellar, and we’re treated to a great mix of subtle comedy and human drama, with plenty of believable interactions and situations that will feel very relatable to anyone who’s ever been forced to participate in an uncomfortable social situation.

Though it takes its time unleashing holy hell, the payoff is more than worth it, as the filmmakers do not hold back when it comes to blood and brutality.

The original score by Sean Motley is outstanding and works hard to create ample tension toward the end of the short when the intruder begins to make his presence known.

There’s an impressive amount of carnage delivered with speed and savagery, including a particularly gnarly kill scene in the bathroom that showcases some excellent effects and is so convincing it will make your stomach turn.

I loved seeing the sisters set aside their differences and immediately band together when faced with real danger, and watching them fight back with ferocity was so satisfying. I wish I could tell you about the ending because it packs quite a punch, delivering quite an unexpected and successful twist.

An intense, brutal, and effective slasher with old-school sensibilities and considerable style, Do You See What I See? is a feature-quality film that’s creative, gruesome, and flawlessly executed. 

10. GREMLINS: RECALL (10 minutes)

 

It’s hard to deny what a quintessential holiday horror masterpiece 1984’s phenomenon Gremlins is.

Written by Chris Columbus (who would later go on to write another 80’s pop culture staple, The Goonies, and direct another Christmas classic, Home Alone) and directed by legendary filmmaker Joe Dante (Piranha, The Howling), this comedy horror film drew on legends of folkloric mischievous creatures that cause malfunctions (“gremlins”) to warm hearts while warning us about the dangers of Christmas commercialism and the evils of corporate culture — including man’s desire to control nature.

An unofficial fan film from writer-director Ryan Patrick, Gremlins: Recall begins with an infomercial that makes it clear we humans never seem to learn from our mistakes, especially when there is money to be made and innocence to be exploited.

Despite the significant risks associated with mogwai ownership, one company, the Wing Corporation, continues to sell the sought-after breed to the public.

It employs handlers like Owen to keep the population under control — through force if necessary.

When Owen shows up for a late-night meal at a diner, followed by a brief slumber in his truck out in the parking lot, a waitress takes offense to his methods but can’t resist the allure of his adorable mogwai.

OF COURSE, she can’t resist a mogwai’s cries for a post-midnight snack, and OF COURSE, things quickly go to hell in a handbasket.

Using entirely practically created puppets to recreate the magic of the adorable mogwai and the havoc-wreaking gremlins, Patrick nails every aspect of the film he pays loving homage to.

From the visuals to the soundtrack, it’s all pitch-perfect and remarkably well-executed.

It’s hard to imagine fans of Gremlins, especially children of the 80s and 90s, not smiling from ear to ear while watching Gremlins: Recall.

If you only watch one new holiday horror short this year, I suggest you make it this funny, campy, and wonderfully nostalgic new take on a concept that never gets old. 

STEPH’S BONUS PICKS; TWO-MINUTE TREATS

In addition to my “top ten” holiday horror shorts list, here are some fun bonus picks worth checking out if you want to stuff your stocking with a few more short but sweet treats this holiday season — each at a brisk two-minute runtime.