'Slay Bells Ring, Are You Screaming'

While some think of sleigh bells tinkling on the way to Grandma's house this time of year, others think about, well, things that would not put them very high on Kris Kringle's list of nice people.

Christmas is second only to Halloween when it comes to the amount of horror movies centered around it. There are some around Valentine's Day, but that's really it as far as holiday horror films go. Here are the top 10 horror movies that will have you running screaming through the snow.

10. "Don't Open 'Til Christmas" - While many Christmas-themed horror movies choose the obvious, though sometimes chastised, strategy of having the killer be someone dressed as Santa Claus, this one chooses a different tack. Here, someone in London takes Christmas so seriously he is killing anyone dressed up as St. Nick. High in gore and low in acting ability and production, it nonetheless is an original take on the holiday slasher film.

9. "You Better Watch Out" - Also known as "Christmas Evil," this is the first of the aforementioned killers dressed as Santa Claus. When Harry was young, he saw mommy doing more than just kissing Santa Claus, and now that he's grown up, and insane, he decides who's naughty and who's nice. Those that are naughty will wish for coal in their stocking, however. Sometimes referred to as the Christmas version of "Taxi Driver," it's not quite so much a horror film as it is a study in a deranged mind. Still, there's a tip of the cap to classic horror movies with a torch-carrying mob chasing Harry at one point.

8. "Jack Frost" - Don't expect to see Michael Keaton singing or playing in a rock band or coming back to life to make amends with his son. If that's the "Jack Frost" you're looking for, double check which one you check out. In the 1996 version, a psycho killer comes back to life as a snowman and goes on a murderous killing spree. It's B-movie guilty pleasure to the core, with cheesy one liners, decapitations, icicles as weapons and lots of fake snow. It's worth watching if you have an hour and a half to kill, pun intended, and have the ability to switch your brain off for that duration. There was also a sequel. It was also the first movie role for actress Shannon Elizabeth ("American Pie" and "American Pie 2").

7. "Night Train Murders" - An Italian film made in 1975, the premise is almost the same as the classic American horror movie "Last House on the Left," which was recently remade. Two young college girls are riding the train home for Christmas, but unfortunately for them also riding the train are some deranged killers. After the deranged do what the deranged do in these films, the men end up at the home of the girls. Tough to watch at times due to the depravity inflicted on the victims, it certainly doesn't skimp on the violence. It was originally rejected in the United Kingdom for a cinema certificate and was originally released there on DVD in 2008.

6. "Child's Play" - The original in a long stream of sequels in which each one is cheesier than the last, this horror movie introduced us to the Good Guys dolls that are all the rage during Christmas season in this flick. The dolls themselves, with their oversized heads and big creepy eyes, are scary enough, but when one, Chucky, is taken over by a serial killer and given to a little boy mysterious things begin to happens. There's not a lot of gore but there is plenty of suspense since during a large part of the movie Chucky creeps along in shadows, not yet the maniacal, joke-cracking knockoff he becomes in the sequels.

5. "Gremlins" - I never really thought of this as a horror movie originally, but all the elements are there: rules to live (or nearly die) by, sharp fangs and good versus evil. When a high school student's father gives him a unique creature called a Mogwai for Christmas, the gift comes with three simple rules: keep it away from bright light, don't feed it after midnight and don't EVER get it wet. When the kid breaks the last two rules, he inadvertently unleashes a horde of small monsters on the town. While Mogwai is certainly cute, the Gremlins are not for kiddies. Inventive, original and with animatronics ahead of its day (1984), this is a must see holiday horror classic.

4. "Black Christmas" - Released in 1974, this Christmas horror classic doesn't make use of a crazy Santa Claus, but it does involve a killer at a sorority house over Christmas break. Some have said this movie may have been a heavy influence on John Carpenter when he made "Halloween" about five years later. Starring Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder, the killer is not seen until the end and leaves the viewer wondering if they are ever really safe, even in a locked house.

3. "Silent Night, Deadly Night" - Full disclosure here, this is the first Christmas-themed horror movie I ever saw, so it has a special place in what's left of my heart. Unlike Harry in "You Better Watch Out," the little boy at the beginning of this 1984 slasher film watches as a man dressed as Santa Claus murders his parents. He survives and is sent to an orphanage. When he grows up, he dons a Santa Claus suit and begins punishing "naughty" teens using an axe, all the while crazily chanting "Naughty, naughty, naughty." Gleeful in its gruesomeness, it is a classic 1980s slasher film that was more than a little criticized in its day for having Santa as a deranged killer.

2. "Dead End" - This 2003 film is like almost nothing else on this list and because of its originality, superior writing and very good acting, it comes in second on the list. Not a slasher movie and with little blood and guts, "Dead End" tells the story of a father driving his wife, his son, his daughter and her boyfriend to his in-laws' house for Christmas. For the first time in 20 years of making this trip, he decides to take a shortcut. A woman in white, a mysterious black car with apparently no driver, road signs signaling destinations they never reach all combine to stretch the minds of the family members to their limits and beyond. Secrets begin to be revealed and all the while they have no choice but to continue to drive down the road to nowhere.

1. "Tales from the Crypt: And All Through the House" - This is actually one of several short stories included in the 1972 "Tales from the Crypt" anthology movie. However, it's better than most full-sized horror movies and stars Joan Collins as a woman who murders her husband on Christmas Eve. Before she disposes of the body, a media report is played that a very dangerous escaped mental patient is in the area. Of course, he appears at her house. She can't call the police because of her husband's dead body, so she has to spend the night trying to keep the killer, dressed as St. Nick, out of the house. The ending is classic "Crypt" material and one you'll remember long after the Yule Log burns out.

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