Nov. 25, 2025
This Week in Horror History | Misery, Scrooge & Violent Night
This Week in Horror History connects Misery, Scrooge & Violent Night through release anniversaries, creators, cultural context, and the continuing influence of the featured horror titles. This Week in Horror History is your winter horror watchlist,...
This Week in Horror History connects Misery, Scrooge & Violent Night through release anniversaries, creators, cultural context, and the continuing influence of the featured horror titles.
This Week in Horror History is your winter horror watchlist, breaking down Christmas horror movies, winter thrillers, and classic ghost stories for the week of November 26–December 2. In this episode of the Weekly Spooky horror podcast, host Henrique Couto revisits Misery (1990), Scrooge / A Christmas Carol (1951), Violent Night (2022), deep-cut sequel The Descent Part 2 (2009), and cult anthology Deadtime Stories (1986) to help you build the perfect cold-weather horror marathon.
We start in the snow with Misery (1990), Rob Reiner’s adaptation of Stephen King’s cabin-fever nightmare. A bestselling author crashes in a blizzard and wakes up trapped with his “number one fan,” Annie Wilkes, whose devotion turns surgical. It’s tense, wintry, and weirdly cozy in that “stuck inside with the storm howling outside” way—perfect for the dark days after Thanksgiving.
How to watch (U. S.): You can see it for free on Tubi, or rent it wherever you like to do that sort of thing.
Then we slide straight into holiday hauntings with Scrooge / A Christmas Carol (1951), one of the most iconic Christmas ghost stories ever filmed. Alastair Sim’s Ebenezer Scrooge is dragged through past, present, and a terrifying future by rattling chains, graveyards, and skeletal specters. It’s gothic, eerie, and still strangely comforting—a reminder that Christmas horror began with moral dread and vengeful spirits long before killer Santas.
How to watch (U. S.): You can watch it free on Tubi, on Plex, or wherever you rent your movies.
From there we jump to modern holiday carnage with Violent Night (2022), where Santa picks up a sledgehammer and goes to war with mercenaries during a Christmas Eve hostage situation. It’s loud, cathartic, funny, and surprisingly sweet at its core—ideal Black Friday recovery viewing when you want bloody Christmas action, tinsel, and a very bad night for the naughty list.
How to watch (U. S.): It’s streaming on Peacock, or you can snag it anywhere you rent digital movies.
The Deep Cut Spotlight crawls underground with The Descent Part 2 (2009), the much-maligned cave sequel that deserves another look. Sarah is dragged out of the caves amnesiac and traumatized, only to be pressured into leading a rescue team back into the darkness. What follows is a brutal, grim follow-up packed with creatures that feel a little too plausible—perfect “cozy nightmare fuel” as you settle into your turkey coma and wonder what’s lurking just beyond your flashlight beam.
How to watch (U. S.): It’s free to watch on Plex, or rentable wherever you normally pick up digital horror movies.
To cap the episode, Henrique recommends Deadtime Stories (1986), a trashy, off-the-wall horror anthology movie that leans into fairy-tale weirdness and late-night TV vibes. It feels tailor-made for cold-weather sleepovers: campy, bizarre, and just dangerous enough to feel like you shouldn’t be watching it right before bed.
How to watch (U. S.): You can watch it free on TubiTV, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Fandango at Home Free, and Plex, or with a subscription on Amazon Prime Video and Sling TV.
Along the way, we roll through the Birthday Roll, raising a drumstick to horror favorites like Peter Facinelli, Joe Dante, and Nestor Carbonell, and talk about how Christmas horror has evolved—from the moral reckoning of Scrooge to Santa as bruised action hero and the creeping dread of being trapped, whether you’re snowed in or sealed underground. If you’re hunting for winter horror movies and Christmas horror classics to plug into your December calendar, this week’s horror history has you covered.
This episode is sponsored by Cozy Earth — ultra-soft, temperature-regulating bamboo sheets, comforters, and loungewear that keep you warm without overheating while you binge scary movies. Get comfy, my spookies! 41% off at https://cozyearth.com/discount... with code SPOOKY — supports the show!
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WEBVTT
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Late November is a strange stretch of the calendar. My spookies.
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The pumpkins are fully rotten, the Christmas lights are about
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to be plugged in, and the weather can't decide if
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it wants to rain, snow or just blow leaves directly
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in your face. It's the season of leftovers, hangovers, and
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that uncanny feeling that the year is almost over but
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not quite yet. In horror history, this is exactly when
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things get weird. Cabin fever, best sellers get locked in
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the snow, miserly old ghosts come calling, Santa picks up
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a sledgehammer, and deep underground, a group of very unlucky
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explorers realize the monsters didn't stay buried in the first movie.
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Welcome to This Week in Horror History for November twenty
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six through December two. I'm Enrique Kuto, and this is
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the show where we rummage through the genre calendar, pull
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out the best anniversaries and deep cuts, and give you
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a spooky little guide to what was happening in horror
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this week in past years, because of course, the past
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never stays buried. Tonight, we're talking snowbound Stephen King, the
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Definitive Christmas ghost story Santa Versus Mercenaries, a much maligned
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cave sequel that deserves another look, and one perfectly chilly
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recommendation to end your night. So let's dig in. First up,
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we're heading to the snowed in roads of Coloradi. For Misery,
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released November thirtieth, nineteen ninety, Rob Reiner adapts Stephen King's
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novel into a brutally simple setup. Best selling author Paul
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Sheldon crashes his car in a blizzard and wakes up
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in the home of Annie Wilkes, his self proclaimed number
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one fan. What follows is a two person pressure cooker
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of escalating dread. James Kahn sells the trapped, increasingly desperate writer,
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while Kathy bates Annie sweet one second, dead eyed the next,
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earned her a very well deserved oscar. This is another example,
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by the way, of a film that is clearly horror
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being labeled a thriller so they can hand it an oscar.
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But who am I to pick apart how a bunch
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of rich people hand other rich people little statues. Misery
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was made for roughly twenty million dollars and went on
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to earn sixty one million at the box office, A
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very solid hit for an R rated film that was
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mostly one location. Misery proved you don't need a dozen
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kills or gallons of gore to make audiences terrified, just
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a sledgehammer, a typewriter, and the fear that your biggest
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fan might never let you leave. Misery is one of
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my all time favorites, especially when it comes to Snowbound Horror.
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Snow is one of my favorite elements in a story,
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whether it's a novel or a movie or a television series,
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because snow is beautiful. It makes you think of Christmas,
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it makes you think of the holidays. It makes you
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think of getting cozy in your couch. But snow is dangerous.
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Snow can isolate you, Snow can make you trapped. But
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before it does that, it's so beautiful, wistful and fun.
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That's why I love Snowbound Horror. And if you want
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something tense and wintry that still feels weirdly cozy, this
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is the perfect late November rewatch. You can see it
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for free on twob or rent it wherever you like
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to do that sort of thing. Next, we drift into
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holiday mode and join Scrooge. Now I know what you're thinking. Yeah,
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it's a ghost story. It's just become so commonplace you
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so easily forget. Released in the United States as a
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Christmas Carol, which premiered in New York at the end
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of November nineteen fifty one and rolled out more widely
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on December, tewod Alistair Sims Scrooge is for a lot
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of horror fans the definitive version of Dickens's ghost story.
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The London streets are damp and miserable, the shadows are thick,
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and the spirits feel closer to Gotha horror than some
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cozy family special. Chains rattle, graveyards loom, and the ghost
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of Christmas yet to come points straight at a lonely
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grave that might still be avoided. The film did modest
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business in the United States, but became a staple thanks
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to years of television airings and of course home video.
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Now it materializes on multiple channels and streamers every December,
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proof that Christmas ghost stories never really left. In fact,
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that's something I always found really amusing about A Christmas Carol.
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It was actually just one of many ghost stories told
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at Christmas time, but this one happened to take place
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on Christmas and be to some extent about Christmas, which
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led to it becoming a major part of the zeitgeist.
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But hey, whatever gets you to enjoy ghost stories during
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the holidays season, I'm happy about, no doubt about that.
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That's why Weekly Spooky brings you nearly a dozen holiday
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horror stories every single December. So make sure you're subscribed.
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And if you like your holiday viewing with genuine supernatural
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menace and a side of existential dread, this is your
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yearly appointment. You can watch it free on two B
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Plex or wherever you rent your movies, and you should
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rent your movies. Don't let no streaming service decide what
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you watch and where and how. Now, for a more
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recent addition to the holiday bloodbath genre, we jump to
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December second, twenty twenty two for Violent Night, the movie
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that asked what if John McLean from die Hard was
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Santa Claus. David Harbor of Stranger Things Fame plays a
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burned out, boozy Santa who's very very much over modern Christmas.
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Unfortunately for a crew of heavily armed mercenaries, he happens
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to be on the premises when they take a wealthy
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family hostage on Christmas Eve. What follows is a gleefully
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nasty cocktail of holiday movie siege thriller and cartoonishly bloody action,
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complete with candy cane shives and one extremely overworked warhammer.
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Violent Night was produced for about twenty million dollars and
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racked up roughly seventy six million worldwide, A clear hit
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for an R rated ultra violent Christmas action horror hybrid.
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Say that five times fast and strong enough that a
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sequel moved into development almost immediately and is expected at
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Christmas time twenty twenty six. I really enjoyed Violent Night.
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It's it's a bit more of a bloody action movie
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than a horror movie, but horror should be inclusive, so
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I'm including it. And by by the way, if you
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want a really great dark Christmas Santa Claus focused film,
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head over to Netflix and watch Fat Man. It's a great, wild,
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fun and fascinating take on Chris Kringle himself, starring, of
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all people, Mel Gibson as the titular fat Man. Trust me,
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you will not be mad if you check out Fat Man.
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Even though it's not horror. Go to Netflix and watch
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Fat Man. Add it to your list. You'll be happy
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you did. But as far as Violent Night Goes. If
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you want something loud, cathartic, and surprisingly sweet at its core,
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this is a perfect Black Friday recovery watch. It's streaming
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on Peacock right now or wherever you rench your movies.
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And remember Santa Claus is coming in a sequel in
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twenty twenty six. Speaking of bad nights. After the break,
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we're our helmets and switching on the headlamps and taking
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a second trip into one of the most claustrophobic horror
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universes of the two thousands. But before we get to that,
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I want to say a huge thank you to Cozy
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Earth for sponsoring tonight's episode of This Week in Horror History.
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a great discount and support the show. But before we
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can get cozy, let's put on our coveralls because we're
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going splunking. What a word as we make our own descent.
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See what I did there? Right after this, don't go anywhere,
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not that there's anywhere left to run. Welcome back to
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this week in horror history. You've had your stretch, You've
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refilled your drink. Now let's crawl back into the dark.
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Tonight's deep cut Spotlight takes a cave dwelling second look
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at The Descent Part two, which opened in Ireland and
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then across the United Kingdom on December two, two thousand
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and nine. The original Descent is rightly hailed as one
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of the best horror films of the two thousands, and
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I cannot state that enough. And all female casts suffocating
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in caves with creatures that feel a little two plausible.
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Directed by the incomparable Neil Marshall, the sequel had an
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almost impossible task following that act while answering what happened next.
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Directed by John Harris, who was the editor on the
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original Discent, Part two picks up almost immediately after the
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first film, an amnesiac, traumatized Sarah is dragged out of
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the cave system, and instead of being helped, is pressured
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by authorities to go back underground with a rescue team
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to show them where her friends are. It's a grim
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bid of institutional cruelty that sets the tone nobody down
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there is really safe, neither physically or emotionally. The movie
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was produced for about ten million dollars and only scraped
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together about seven million worldwide, with a very small United
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Kingdom theatrical run and a straight to video release in
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the US. It was written off by many as a
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flop and for a lot of people an unnecessary sequel,
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But I'm gonna have to disagree. There's a lot of
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good stuff to enjoy in the dark. The film leans
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into procedural horror, using the team's gear and tactics to
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give the first act a grounded, almost documentary feel. Before
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everything collapses. The creature work remains strong, but instead of
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a slow reveal, the movie assumes you already know what's
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down there and pushes straight into brutal, action oriented territory. Thematically,
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it doubles down on the idea that human systems can
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be just as cruel as the monsters below, Sarah survives
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the unthinkable, only to be sacrificed to bureaucracy and disbelief.
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It's not as elegant as the original, but as a grim, muddy,
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monster filled epilogue, it's a fascinating curiosity and an absolutely
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solid late night double feature partner when you want to
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stay in the caves for a little while longer, don't
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listen to the haters. It's a perfectly fun outing when
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you want a monster romp in the caves and a
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little bit more of that main character from the first film. No,
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it's not as good as the original, but honestly, name
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a couple of movies that are better than The Descent,
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You probably can't come up with that many. It's such
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a solid film, and having a follow up to head
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back into the caves is just the kind of cozy
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nightmare fuel you need as you settle in for your
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Turkey coma come Thanksgiving. It's free to watch on Plex
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or rentable, wherever you do that kind of thing. Now,
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let's raise a drumstick for some birthdays. First up is
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Peter Fassinelli born November twenty sixth, nineteen seventy three, known
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for being doctor Carlyle Cullen from The Twilight Saga, the
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surprisingly warm patriarch of the Sparkly Vampires. Joe Dante born
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November twenty eighth, nineteen forty six, the director of Gremlins,
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The Howling and some of the most gleefully wild horror
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comedies ever made, and honestly one of my favorite films
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of his, which is tough to say because you've got Gremlins,
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The Howling, the Burbs. There are so many films to love,
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but my personal favorite is Matinee. And I know you
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might be thinking, what is Matinee? Well, it's a nineteen
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ninety three love letter to the b movies of the
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nineteen fifties and sixties, starring John Goodman as a kind
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of William Castle type, and it's available to watch wherever
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you rent your movies. Check it out if after you
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Carve the Bird you need a little family fun. And
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we wrap up with Nestor Carbonel born December one, nineteen
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sixty seven, a familiar face from Bates Motel, Lost and
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the Dark Night films. One of those Oh it's that
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guy presences who keeps sneaking into your spooky favorites. He
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belongs to that class of actor we lovingly call that
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guy who was in that one thing, And I've heard
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a rumor we'll be seeing him in the sequel to
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Ready or Not titled Ready or Not Here I Come,
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which is just perfect coming out in twenty twenty six.
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So raise a glass, a slice of pumpkin pie, or
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a blood red holiday cocktail in their honor for are
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Then and now, let's take a look at Christmas horror
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and how it's evolved between the aforementioned Scrooge in nineteen
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fifty one and the more recent and wild Violent Night
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from twenty twenty two. In Scrooge, the horror is moral
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and spiritual. The ghosts of Christmas past, present and yet
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to come terrify one man into changing his ways. The
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imagery graveyards chains, skeletal specters is unnerving, but the endgame
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is redemption. Horror shows up to save your soul. Jump
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ahead to Violent Night and Christmas horror is much more physical.
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And I suppose you could say cathartic Santa isn't here
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to frighten you into goodness. He's here to beat the
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ever loving hell out of the bad guys on your behalf.
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The monsters aren't ghosts of your own greed. They're mercenaries
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and corrupt billionaires. The fantasy isn't I'll change. It's someone
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magical and very angry will show up to protect me.
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Both stories use Christmas as a stage for judgment, but
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they reflect completely different anxieties fear of damnation versus fear
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of a broken world. I know, right, it's pretty heavy.
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Somewhere between those two poles lies the whole history of
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Christmas horror, from ghost stories whispered by firelight to blood
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spattered action comedies you stream with leftover stuffing in the waiting.
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This week's recommendation is a deep cut, but one that's
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close to my black heart and hopefully yours too, especially
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if you love horror. A little trashy and fun. Opening
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in the United States on Thanksgiving weekend, specifically November twenty eighth,
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nineteen eighty six, after an earlier regional rollout in the Southeast,
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I'm talking about Dead Time Stories from nineteen eighty six.
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It's a low budget horror anthology where an exhausted uncle
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tries to get a hyper kid to go to sleep
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by telling him three wildly inappropriate bedtime stories. You get
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witchy Mayhem involving a fisherman's son and two sisters trying
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