All the Horror You Need to Stream in December 2021

Welcome to Horrorscope, a monthly column keeping horror nerds and initiates up to date on all the horror content coming to and leaving from your favorite streaming services. Here’s your guide to all the horror streaming in December 2021.

Hear me out: I’m pretty sure December is the best month for movie-watchers. The cold makes leaving the comfort of your home feel like the wrong move. The sun setting at 4 PM means that you can easily chip away at your watchlist without feeling like you should be outside doing something else. And if there were a more seasonally appropriate time to rally the household to share in a communal experience, I certainly can’t think of it.

And listen up horror fans, we’ve got it extra good. Not only is Christmas horror its own bonafide sub-genre, but there’s also a whole host of snowy, ice-coated non-Christmas flicks that are sure to put you in a wintery — and spooky! — frame of mind.

Be sure to peruse the complete list below, calendar in hand, for a full picture of what horror movies are coming and going from your favorite streaming services in December 2021. Keep in mind that all dates listed below may not apply to viewers outside the US.

December 2021 Horror Streaming Cheat Sheet

• If you’re a fan of the Underworld franchise, hit up Hulu before four installments of the series go the way of the dodo.
• Last year’s critically acclaimed The Invisible Man is leaving HBO Max on December 18th.
• If you’re a fan of Alfred Hitchcock‘s more horrific offerings and are a subscriber of both The Criterion Channel and Peacock, you can marathon Psycho, The Birds, Frenzy, Rear Window, and Vertigo on December 1st.
• With Scream 5 just around the corner, get re/acquainted with the rest of the Scream franchise over on Paramount+, where the first three movies are streaming as of December 1st.
• Spooky 2021 releases hitting streaming services this month include The Whole Truth, Two, and The Guardian — all on Netflix — and The Advent Calendar and Death Valley, both on Shudder.
• Holiday-themed horror films are peppered throughout this month’s releases. If you want to get real sleazy with it, though, I recommend 1997’s Jack Frost, which is on Peacock, three late-franchise Silent Night, Deadly Night VOD releases, on Shudder, and the 2006 version of Black Christmas, on Tubi, if you’re feeling especially nasty.

Horror Streaming Highlights for December 2021

Pick of the Month: Troll Hunter (2010)

Synopsis: A group of Norwegian university students set out to make a documentary about a suspected bear poacher named Hans. Despite local testimony hinting that something else might be afoot, the students hound Hans until they discover his dark secret: he’s a troll hunter.

An originator of the “found-footage monster movie” subgenre as well as one of the few top-tier shaky-cam horror flicks that delivers thrills instead of nausea, Troll Hunter is one of a kind. This is especially true when you consider its extra special wrinkle. Namely, that it’s a comedy that houses worker’s rights and Norwegian folklore under the same roof.

Directed by André Øvredal (who would go on to direct The Autopsy of Jane Doe), Troll Hunter is neatly assembled, brimming with atmosphere, and genuinely hilarious. The twisting mountain roads and lakeside villages of the Norwegian countryside are almost as beautifully rendered as the trolls.

Do not be fooled by its B-movie trappings, this right here is one of the most imaginative entries in a genre hard-pressed to turn out bangers this entertaining.

Available on HBO Max starting December 1st.

The best (and spookiest) rendition of A Christmas Carol

Synopsis: The year is 1860, and it’s Christmas. But one man does not share in the festive merriment: Ebenezer Scrooge, a curmudgeon, a humbug, and a hater of all things merry and bright. On Christmas Eve, he encounters the spirit of his deceased business partner, who warns his associate to repent before he, too, is condemned to a hellish afterlife for his grumpy ways. As the night progresses, Scrooge is visited by three ghosts who offer him different perspectives on the most wonderful time of the year.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “Eh, I know this story, I’m going to pass,” I hope you enjoy that fat lump of coal in your stocking this year. Directed by Ronald Neame (The Poseidon Adventure, Golden Salamander), the 1970 adaptation of A Christmas Carol — retitled Scrooge — is by far the best and the most disturbing iteration of Charles Dickens’ tale.

Starring the great Albert Finney as the titular miser and Alec Guinness as Jacob Marley, this film is both a musical and an existential nightmare. It is bananas, balls-to-the-wall, and as genuinely frightening as it is sentimental. The scene where Scrooge goes to Hell is an all-timer and a yet-to-be-matched sequence in the adaptation gauntlet.

Available on The Criterion Channel starting December 25th.

Have a Holly Gialli Christmas!

Synopsis: “Giallo,” the Italian word for “yellow,” describes the color of the lurid, murderous paperbacks that inspired one of the most violent, stylish, and influential genres in history. In this excellent 2019 documentary, directed by Frederico Caddeo,  we move through the evolution of the genre with interviews from masters including Daria Nicolodi, Lucio Fulci, Sergio Martino, and others.

There’s some kind of dark, lurid synergy between the candy-apple-red blood of the giallo genre and the holidays. So if you’re feeling a little burnt-out on all the possessed snowmen, Krampus carnage, and killer Santas in your December horror, the world of giallo is always a safe(ish) haven to retreat to.

If you’re an ARROW and/or a Shudder subscriber, you’re going to die and go to giallo heaven with stab-happy classics like Knife of Ice, So Sweet…So Perverse, A Quiet Place to Kill, and other new additions hitting both streaming services this month. In addition to a fair degree of cross-over, both platforms are also adding the 2019 documentary All the Colors of Giallo (mentioned above), so if you want to get an early start on your New Year’s resolution to bone up on the genre, that’s a great place to start!

Arriving on Shudder and ARROW throughout the month.

A rootin’ tootin’ holiday special from the horror host with the most

Synopsis: Iconic beer-swigging horror host and foremost expert on drive-in fare, Joe Bob Briggs, returns for a holly, jolly horror double bill. Just in time for Christmas, no less! Premiering live on Shudder TV (available to all, not just subscribers), the annual tradition of Joe Bob hawking memorabilia from his 35-year career for charity continues. 

In what is quickly turning into a yearly routine for those of us with a penchant for holiday sleaze, “Joe Bob Ruins Christmas” is set to slither its way down our ethernet cables and delight us with all manner of holiday horror shenanigans. Beginning all the way back in 2018, past Christmas specials have included the Phantasm films, Black Christmas (1974), Jack Frost (1997), Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987), Dial Code Santa Claus (1989), and Christmas Evil (1980).

What’s in store this year — other than a lump of coal for all us perverts and blood-hounds — remains to be seen. But the big man in the bolo tie promises us “genre-bending choices” guaranteed to elicit a “Huh? What? Explain that one again.”

Streaming on Shudder TV on December 17th at 9 PM ET. Available on demand beginning December 19th.

Streamable Horror Incoming This Month

Horror Titles Expiring from Streaming Soon

Related Topics: Horrorscope

Based in the Pacific North West, Meg enjoys long scrambles on cliff faces and cozying up with a good piece of 1960s eurotrash. As a senior contributor at FSR, Meg's objective is to spread the good word about the best of sleaze, genre, and practical effects.