Have Yourself a Scary Little Christmas: Essential Holiday Horror Reading

Ahhhhh, the holidays.

That wonderful time of year when it’s twelve degrees outside, you’re forced to see all those relatives who forward you AI slop videos, Mariah Carey takes up residence inside your brain, and you pretend to have watched A Christmas Story but realize you’ve only seen the part where the kid gets his tongue stuck to a flagpole. 

Admit it!

But fear not, dear reader, for I have a list of spooky festive novels that make for perfect companions this time of year. So, while the normies are off wrapping presents and stuffing stockings, you’ll be scratching that persistent horror itch with some truly gnarly books that will make your holiday experience seem not so bad by comparison. After all, I’m here to inspire.

Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito

Get ready. I am a professional(ish) author with a degree in English and have spent most of my adult life writing content in its many forms, and I am about to showcase my mastery of language when summarizing my thoughts on Victorian Psycho:

This book freaking rules.

There. Impressed?

Victorian Psycho may not seem like a Christmas horror novel at face value, but it wears its devious pride for the holiday on its evening frock’s sleeve. 

Most of the events take place over Christmas, the weather is cold and dreary, there’s a big party, a massive holiday feast, the theme of found family, and the unwrapping of a giant, albeit strange, present. 

Honestly, this was my favorite read of 2025, and nothing has come close to it since. It checks all my horror-loving boxes: the perfect mix of dark humor, shocking moments, immersive atmosphere, a pitch-perfect gothic setting, and an unreliable narrator that you don’t necessarily root for, but from whom you can’t look away.

If you read one holiday horror novel this season, make it Victorian Psycho. 

But don’t read just one! Where’s the fun in that?

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

When you read any Joe Hill book, you know you’re in for a wild ride. With NOS4A2, you’re strapped into a 1930s Rolls-Royce with a one-way ticket to “Christmasland,” a truly horrific place that would make you beg for dinner at your mothball-smelling grandparents’ house.

Hill’s ability to combine beautiful prose with a breakneck plot full of twists and turns is nothing short of masterful. He takes the time to properly set up his characters, immerse you in the setting, and then break your heart into a million pieces before putting it back together again, kind of. He also has a keen ear for writing child dialogue, which is NOT easy to do.

NOS4A2 is the longest book on this list, but don’t let that scare you! Once you start, you won’t be able to stop.

Candy Cain Kills & Candy Cane Kills Again by Brian McAuley

You can’t have a Christmas horror list without, arguably, the most popular sub-genre of the sub-genre. I’m talking, of course, about the Christmas slasher.

And this is the rare recommendation that’s a 2-for-1 special! You’re welcome.

I would argue that nobody has as much fun leaning into slasher tropes as Brian McAuley. His love for the genre oozes from every page of his work, and the Candy Cain books are no exception. 

Complete with an isolated, snowy setting, well-drawn characters, awkward family dynamics, gruesome kills, and some Christmas puns to boot. These two books are one-sitting reads that will leave you begging for a third entry.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

I mean, I had to.

No list of Christmas horror would be complete without the OG, the original title of which was A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas.

Adapted a million times over, even by the Muppets (with Michael Caine), A Christmas Carol is as influential as it is life-affirming, complete with Dickens’s signature humor and beautiful prose. 

If you’ve never read A Christmas Carol or if it’s been ages since your last read, I highly recommend taking a journey back in time, arguably, to the book that started it all.

It also has, for my money, the greatest opening line in the history of literature. Eat your heart out, “Call me Ishmael.”

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

Surprise! I’ve included a movie on this list because I’m three eggnogs deep and feeling feisty. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale is a Finnish film that came out in 2010 to, from what I can tell, little notice. However, over the years, it’s become a bit of a cult classic that shows up on most Christmas horror lists, and this one is no exception. 

With good reason!

This movie is a blast. Set against a frozen tundra, it has memorable characters you can’t help but root for, an adorable father-son dynamic, and one simple question at its core:

Where did the Santa Claus legend really come from?

As it turns out, the true origin is much darker than anyone might imagine. This is the first film I remember seeing where Santa himself was treated as the main antagonist. Not Krampus, not a killer dressed like Santa, not an evil snowman, not a robot Santa, not a mall Santa. No, the actual jolly old big man himself. 

Except, perhaps he’s not so jolly.

This is the movie that planted the idea in my head, what if Santa Claus was actually evil? It’s safe to say that my debut Christmas horror novel, ‘Twas the Night, would not exist had I not sat down to watch this movie years ago. 

If you haven’t seen it, please do so, lest you end up on the naughty list.

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