Dusk Till Dawn: Christmas
Horror marathons with a theme.
Welcome back to another Dusk Till Dawn, our (fictional) horror all-nighters. As Christmas approaches, this month’s horror marathon is all naughty and no nice.
Hot cocoa and egg nog served all night long, but it's only spiked until last call.
If you parked your car in the church parking lot, you might want to move it now. They will tow it in the morning.
We're watching all of the films on 35mm, of course. Unless we couldn’t get a print…
7:00p-8:40p: P2 (2007)
A businesswoman finds herself locked with a unhinged security guard in a parking garage after getting stuck working late on Christmas Eve.
trailers: High Tension (2003), Maniac (2012)
We're gonna start with a really solid warmup. Franck Khalfoun's directorial debut is about a woman trying to get to her family on Christmas Eve, but she's stalked by a parking garage attendant who has locked her in. It's essentially just a claustrophobic two-hander, which is good because we don't want to go too crazy just yet.
That's not to say that it doesn't have some thrills or solid gore, both of which come in good measure.
8:45p-9:55p: The Curse of the Cat People (1944)
Amy is a very imaginative child who has trouble differentiating fantasy from reality, and has no friends her own age as a result. She makes an imaginary friend though, her father's dead first wife Irena. At about the same time, she befriends Julia Farren, an aging reclusive actress who is alienated from her own daughter Barbara. (IMDB)
trailers: The Leopard Man (1943), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
While everyone is still awake, let's throw it back to the '40s and this classic chiller. A sequel to the 1942 film Cat People, all that you need to know is that cat people exist.
If it's not your thing, I get it. But I ask that you give it a fair shake. It's only 70 minutes! You can do it! We're even treated to a pretty spooky rendition of the Sleepy Hollow tale.
10:00p-11:40p: Black Christmas (1974)
A sorority house is terrorized by a stranger who makes frightening phone calls and then murders the sorority sisters during Christmas break.
trailers: Halloween (1978), A Christmas Story (1983)
In the primetime slot, we need to go with one of the all-time classics. Years before Halloween would kick off the holiday-based slasher craze and almost a full decade before director Bob Clark would make a family-favorite seasonal tale in A Christmas Story, he directed this sorority slasher that still works today.
I saw it on a big screen last year and already want to do that again, so here we are. Some people will leave after this one and honestly...I can't blame them. It's gonna get a little hairy after this.
11:45p-1:10a: Don’t Open Till Christmas (1984)
Somebody with very little Christmas spirit is killing anyone in a Santa suit one London holiday season, and Scotland Yard has to stop him before he makes his exploits an annual tradition
trailers: To All a Goodnight (1980), Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
We have to do two things before the night is done: we have to get sleazy and we have to go full-on terrifying.
As it ticks past midnight, let's get sleazy.
It’s an ‘80s slasher where the Brits do their best version of a giallo. It’s brutal, it’s violent, it’s naked - it’s schlock. It’s perfect for the midnight slot.
1:15a-2:40a: Dead End (2003)
Christmas Eve. On his way to his in-laws with his family, Frank Harrington decides to try a shortcut, for the first time in 20 years. It turns out to be the biggest mistake of his life.
trailers: Wind Chill (2007), Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
Now we have to get scary.
Dead End is a psychological horror flick about a family driving to a Christmas get-together, but the road they're on is never-ending. That's scary enough for me because I don't think I dislike anything more in life than a prolonged already-long drive. But it's what happens to them along the way, the sick, twisted, creepy detours and roadblocks that make this a living nightmare.
It's pitch black: both in that they are driving in the middle of the night and in the dark comedy, (is this movie a comedy?) It'll play perfectly in the middle of the night.
2:45a-4:20a: The Mean One (2022)
In a sleepy mountain town, Cindy witnesses the murder of her parents by a blood-thirsty green figure in a red Santa suit. Twenty years later, the Christmas-hating monster begins to terrorize the town once more. Cindy finds new purpose in stopping the creature and saving the holiday.
trailers: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)
We've gone classic, we've gone sleazy, we've gone creepy...
It's the middle of the night - let's get silly.
So many people will be asleep now, the few who stay awake will be treated to, what I called in my review, a Grinch movie that is “more like Die Hard or maybe Home Alone. It's horror with an action climax, not a Dr. Seuss clone.”
4:25a-6:05a: A Christmas Horror Story (2015)
Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy, peace and goodwill. But for some folks in the small town of Bailey Downs, it turns into something much less festive.
trailers: Scary or Die (2012), All the Creatures Were Stirring (2018)
This horror anthology is absolutely bonkers and will be the peak of insanity during this marathon.
As the sleepers begin to open their eyes, I love the idea of the first thing they've seen since Black Christmas being Santa Claus fighting Krampus.
Those who stay awake the whole time will be treated to a wraparound story featuring William Shatner as an alcoholic DJ stuck on the air during Christmas. He'll get drunker and drunker and we will get sleepier and sleepier...(and maybe drunker and drunker…)
6:10a-7:40a: Silent Night (2021)
Nell, Simon, and their boy Art are ready to welcome friends and family for what promises to be a perfect Christmas gathering. Perfect except for one thing: everyone is going to die.
trailers: Silent Night (2012), Silent Night (2023)
If you were there for our very first marathon, you know that I'm all about the final image the audience will be left with as they leave the theater.
Well, there's no better (or worse?) image to leave on than a promised apocalyptic farewell.
This movie is probably a cheat (not just because we're going over our time) because it's not really a horror movie, but instead a dark comedy with horrific elements.
But it has Keira Knightley. So it's worth watching.
Hope you had fun, folks! See you next time!
Credit: Each plot synopsis comes from Letterboxd via TMDb.