The Creepy Christmas of 2015

Well Christmas this year has been great for those of us who like our holidays a little more horrific. This year saw the release of Michael Dougherty's follow up to Trick'r Treat titled Krampus.

Krampus is an excellent combination of comedy and some tense horror moments. The opening sequence alone is worth the price of admission showing a juxtaposition of a classic Christmas song over top of a montage of the modern consumerism applied to the holiday. One of my favourite things about the film was just how dysfunctional the family of this tale is. No matter how many things go wrong and crazy or awkward you think your family dinners are they pale in comparison to an Engel family meal. What really takes this film to the next level is the creatures in it, they're charming enough for the average filmgoer to still be able to watch the screen, but sinister enough to engage the avid horror fan. In the end this certainly isn't your Grandma's feel good holiday affair and I mean that in the most positive way possible, definitely a new Christmas tradition for my household!

The next creepy Christmas treat of 2015 was a brand new video from my friends over at Luchagore Productions which combines some spectacular production design, sound design and one badass/disgusting prop to send chills down the spine of every person who suspects they may have wound up on the naughty list. You can check out this spooky short here on Vimeo and pray you avoid making it onto this Santa's list.

Now the last treat I got this holiday season isn't actually Christmas themed, but in a way it was a gift from one of my good friends in the way of a very insistent recommendation. She badgered me into finally listening to some of her favourite podcasts, which happened to be some unnerving mysteries. The first one I listened to was The Black Tapes Podcast. I finished all 12 episodes in one day. What can I say I had a ferry/bus ride to kill that got me on a roll. The series follows Alex Reagan as she helps a professional skeptic to investigate his unsolved mysteries that were dubbed "The Black Tapes" and things just get creepy from there.

The other podcast to catch my fancy thanks to my friend is called Limetown. It follows another journalist as she investigates an event where all of a sudden the population of a community in Tennessee called Limetown just vanished and no one knew why. Well our heroine finds out why and the truth is chilling.

Thanks to these I'm now giving podcasts a try and I'm loving them so far!

Hope you all have been having a spooky holiday season and may you have a chilling New Year!