Halloween season is over, and it’ll soon be Christmas and onto some festive favourites, but which is the better season for film fans?
We’ve just seen out Halloween and for many, a month of bingeing on horror cinema, old, new, good and (enjoyably) bad. No sooner does the dust settle and the pumpkins are left to rot on the doorsteps, do we feel the impending awakening of Mariah Carey and Michael Bublé like festive kaiju. There’s Thanksgiving sandwiched in between for the American cinephile, but once December hits, it’s time to hit those Christmas staples.
Sure, other seasons and festivities have proved fertile ground for filmmakers. You have Easter movies, Spring Break/summer holiday movies, the tried and tested Valentine’s set rom-coms, and New Year’s movies, but really, when it comes to staple specialised cinema, it’s all about horror in October building to Halloween, or it’s about that build-up to Christmas. So, the question is, which is best? Halloween movie season or Christmas?
Halloween
Being as October is a long month (hell, we even have to endure an extra hour of the 31-day month) with a focus on horror cinema, it feels as if the volume of movies and sub-genres will certainly offer up more than you might get from the Christmas niche.
It’s also true that horror aficionados will tell you that horror movies are a 365-day-a-year deal and not just for those autumnal October days and nights. Most of this year’s cinematic horror hits came out in spring and summer, after all, so staple October horror releases aren’t as plentiful as they may have been, and the big-screen box office tumbled to a dismal low in the last month compared to the previous post-COVID years. As such, it may appear that even studios are wise to a box office lull in the autumn and have acted accordingly to target busier periods of the year. Horror at Halloween? To hell with it.
Still, outside of the big screen and horror lovers, October does see a huge uptick in casual viewers indulging in the genre more than usual. So you have fans taking 31-day challenges or simply watching well above their usual gruesome intake.
There is mostly a preoccupation with gore and horror, with occasional genre crossing with movies specifically about Halloween. Others may be more firmly in the comedy genre but will still dip a toe into horror.
The sheer breadth of horror options around also provides ample choice for whatever your preference is. Creature horror, B movie horror, slashers, psychological, cerebral horror or whatever takes your fancy. So whether you’re partying with Freddy, Jason or Ash at Camp Crystal Lake or the Overlook Hotel, there’s plenty to get out of horror to invoke scares, deeper questions, cheap thrills or laughter.
Christmas
What of the humble Christmas movie? Well, here’s where the festive season has one advantage: it’s a wider field of genres. Christmas action (Die Hard), comedy (Bad Santa), family-friendly staples (Home Alone), breezy Christmas rom-coms (Love Actually),, and Christmas horror, which can crossover between the two seasons (that’s not to say you’re barred from watching a Christmas horror film like The Mean One or Rare Exports in mid-March, of course).
Horror season certainly can have a communal element, a shared experience of watching Amsterdamned in a dark room (other horror films and venues are available), for example. Yet, it’s more consigned to film fanatic friends and predominantly between fellow adults. Christmas, meanwhile, can be a more family-oriented (from the kids up to great grandpappy) period built on wider nostalgia and festive traditions.
It might be that you can’t see out the season without everyone sitting down to watch The Snowman, or It’s a Wonderful Life, or Love, Lattes and Christmas Lights (written by yours truly…okay, that’s maybe not a staple). New traditions seem to be born every year over Christmas. Back upon its release, Jingle All the Way was considered something of a nadir for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now, however, it’s a seasonal must-watch for so many (myself included now) and magnetises new audiences every year.
Do we have annual staples over the Halloween season in the same way? I feel like we perhaps covet more new horror ground over those October days, with the occasional bow to routine/tradition. Yet with Christmas, it’s more heavy on nostalgic traditions and comforting annual viewings.
Likewise, Christmas as a season has often been a time when audiences harvest plenty of other cinema that ends up feeling inherently tied to the season. It could be based on tradition again, or nostalgic throwbacks to festive period TV schedules where not merely Santa-themed films played, but James Bond and Indiana Jones were almost always played over the Christmas holidays. As such, despite not being Christmas movies per se, they often feel (maybe more so for Brits?) inherently tied to Christmas.
The same might also be said of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, given for a three-year stretch, they were released over the Christmas period, and honestly, as far as essential December event movies, nothing on the big screen has come close since. A three-year run of exceptionally-well made blockbuster behemoths.
Who Wins?
It’s a tough call. It’s the pulse-pounding thrill and scares of horror for a month that culminates in candy overload, against a month that culminates in an overload in food, drink and merriment.
Yet there’s one key reason I feel increasingly drawn to the magic of Christmas movies. It’s the warm-hearted, feel-good escapism. The fact that horror has a more year-round appeal might just put the Halloween season at a slight disadvantage. Though we’re also a bit more forgiving of crappy horror during October, it’s also fair to say that there’s something enjoyable, even when it comes to hokey Christmas movies. Tales of hope with affable characters strike a chord.
Let’s be honest, in a fractured world, where the cost of living makes life difficult for everyone below a seven-figure yearly paycheck, feel-good movies are just the tonic. Yeah, I love horror as much as the next person, but it’s cinema with a pre-occupation with death. Christmas movies (bar of course action and/or horror cross genres) are preoccupied with life and joie de vivre.
What cinema season do you prefer? Halloween or Christmas? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Tom Jolliffe
