For.

Many, the holidays are for sitting in front of the fire and watching a.

Christmas classic like.

It's a wonderful life. Every time a bell rings, an angel.

Gets his wings.

But for others, the holidays mean horror and movies like It's a wonderful night.

I don't think, Jimmy Stewart ever thought anybody would make a movie like this. It's like I'm sweet and savory at the same time.

What do you want viewers at home to take away from watching this movie, especially if they think they're going in expecting something else.

If you have knife in the title, then I think you can expect a lot of knives.

The Christmas Slasher film starring comedian Joel McHale, known for the show Community. Could you imagine what seeing this could do to a person? Plays off the beloved classic.

It follows the same mechanism that It's a wonderful life used, which is seemingly a nice, charming movie. I give you Christmas. And then it turns into a film noir.

Everyone would be better off.

If I.

Was never born.

With the slasher, with a faceless angel running in and out of scenes, killing characters off.

From a killer angel to a chasing time to Christmas lights. It's a wonderful with the atmosphere of the season. The film is just one of dozens of slashers that you and your family can enjoy this festive season.

You'll be safe now.

Along with your turkey, you can be terrorized by an axe-wielding maniac in Thanksgiving. Place your bets on who will survive the night in Crancus, or sing along to your favorite zombie musical, Anna and the Apocalyptic. Allison Wilmore is a film critic for New York magazine and Vulture.

What is it about the holidays that make people want to be scared?

I think that just like we love that comforting feeling, sometimes we want.

The opposite. It's been 20 years since Will Ferrell warmed our hearts in Elf.

Santa's coming to town. Santa! Oh, my God!

I know him. The film becoming an instant classic.

I feel like big stars really used to be the face of a lot of these holiday movies that used to come out.

Yeah, you definitely used to see everyone from J. B. Stewart to Arnold Schwarzenegger would make a Christmas movie, and it was just part of something you could do in your career as a giant movie star. It's less the movie stardom of what they're offering and more just the volume, you can find so many.

Of them. Today's viewers have an abundance of choices. You can watch something warm and fuzzy from Hallmark like Everything Christmas. Chris Pringle at your service? Perhaps I can show you a faster way to yield.

Tide.

Springs. Let me tell you a story.

Or for something to make you scream, try The Sacrifice Game. It's going to be the best Christmas of your life. We need to hide. These movies are generating millions.

Are you a horror movie fan?

Diehardt. It's like my calling.

Sam Zimmerman is the VP of programming for Shutter, a streaming service entirely devoted to horror.

Is it subversive to release these movies during the most wonderful time of year? Well, I.

Guess I would say for who is it the most wonderful time of year? A lot of other people are feeling stress and anger or grief or all these other things. That's what a lot of Holiday horror confronts in a really.

Lovely way. Zimmerman says this time of year is actually perfect for horror.

It gets dark at 4:30. The wind whistles in your ear like a ghost. I mean, candles flicker, lights flicker. I think it's a creepy, eerie time, but in a cozy way.

Ghost stories have been a part of Christmas for centuries.

A Christmas carol in Charles Dickens, which you might not think it, but is the pre-eminent, most popular, most iconic Christmas horror story.

Humbug, I tell you. Humbug.

The Charles Dickens Classic was published in 1843. The first of many movie adaptations came out in 1938.

But this is not my end. Please.

But it was 1974's Black Christmas about a serial killer hiding in a sorority house that brought holiday horror to the masses.

Pulls on that old urban legend about the call is coming from inside the house. And that is always frightening.

There are no elements of Hallmark in that one.

No, Black Christmas is really scary. Billy, the killer you've never seen. He's really just like an eyeball and a creepy voice.

By the 1980s, the Christmas slasher had gone mainstream with the release of Silent Night, Deadly Night in 1984. You've made it through Halloween. Now try and survive Christmas.

That seemed like a watershed moment for this subgenre.

It was a big moment. It came at a time where a lot of things were converging because you had this idea of a Santa with an ax. He's killing people willy-nilly, the TV advertisements were famously run during football games and daytime TV, Little House.

On the Prairie. The film sparking a wave.

Of.

Protests.

Save Santa!

Save.

Our kids! Eventually, it was pulled from theaters.

Mainly because of this idea of what about the children? What about the children seeing Santa's arm with an ax? But really, it's a lot.

Of fun. What do you make of people who say these movies are ruining the holidays?

There's such this wealth of holiday content, it's hard to really object to there also being some of these action movies or violent movies, slasher movies, because it's not like there's a shortage of alternatives if you're looking for them.

But if watching a Christmas party turned into a massacre isn't for you, you can always turn to a classic. Joe, what is some.

Of your favorite holiday movies?

I think Home Alone is a perfect movie.

Hello.

Perhaps Baskin' the Glow of The Muppets Christmas Carol. There goes Mr. Humphuck. There goes Mr. Grim.

Michael Caine gives a totally straight-faced performance. You would think he was in the most serious BBC drama of all time, just happening to be surrounded by The Muppets.

How would the bookkeepers like to be suddenly...

Allen Floyd!

Or Revyl and the chaos of Remlands.

It's just a holiday classic, even though it is mean and chaotic and fun.

So from us here at Nightline to you, may the perfect holiday movie find you this season.

Hi, everyone. George Stephanopoulos here. Thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel. If you'd like to get more videos, show highlights, and watch live event coverage, click on the right over here to subscribe to our channel. And don't forget to download the ABC News app for breaking news alerts. Thanks for watching.