Why do so many of us love – and even look forward to – holiday horror films? Is it because we’ve always known there was something off about Santa? Maybe we’d rather scream than sing a carol, or boring feelgood Christmas films make us feel stabby?Or is it because the holidays are horrific all on their own?

In this special episode we talk about why people love holiday horror, especially us, and why we see holiday horror as much entertaining and enlightening as it can be a form of self-care. We’ve been looking forward to this show all month, we got all dressed up for you, and we handpicked a selection of films to keep you creeped out long after the creatures stop stirring. Enjoy!

EPISODE FILMS

RICHARD: Hosts, You Better Watch Out, A Christmas Horror Story

VIOLET: Rare Exports, Christmas Bloody Christmas, Violent Night

And we had to add: Anna and the Apocalypse

Find all our links on our Raised By Horror Linktree (including YouTube, Apple, Spotify, and more). Theme song: Pop Goes the Weasel by Kevin MacLeod [Wikimedia Commons].

About: Richard Kadrey. About: Violet Blue. Support us on Ko-Fi!

In a previous episode we talked about movies and TV that seared some of the scariest onscreen moments into our heads as young horror fans. Here we talk about a few (but not all) of our top-tier scariest film and TV we've seen as adults.

Some are new titles and some are older, but either way these managed to do something most horror can't -- they scared us. And we loved it!

EPISODE FILMS

VIOLET: The Haunting of Hill House (Mike Flanagan; 2018), HOST (2020), Talk to Me (2023), Hereditary (2018).

RICHARD: Audition (1999), Wolf Creek (2005), Martyrs (2008), Haze (2005).

Find us on Ko-Fi, iTunes, YouTube, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Libsyn, and Raised By Horror dot com. Now go smash those subscribe buttons -- and don't blow out the seance candle! Theme song: Pop Goes the Weasel by Kevin MacLeod [Wikimedia Commons]. About: Richard Kadrey. About: Violet Blue.

Richard Kadrey and Violet Blue bring you into the world of Raised By Horror -- its origins, why we love the art of horror, how dated storytelling often fails horror, how horror is good for us, upcoming episodes on truly scary (or darkly heartwarming/delightfully bonechilling) films and books, why horror boundaries are important, what to expect with difficult content snd spoilers, and so much more.

Upcoming shows we talk about include: Films that scared the shit out of us as kids, films that truly scare us now, horror films to watch with friends who don't like horror, and our extra special holiday horror episode!

Video version of this episode is on our Raised By Horror YouTube channel. On this episiode we have guest showrunner Scotland Symons.

Richard Kadrey is the New York Times bestselling author of the Sandman Slim supernatural noir series. Sandman Slim was included in Amazon’s “100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime.” He’s been nominated for the Locus and BSFA awards. Kadrey has also written for comics, film, and video games.

Violet Blue is a six-time award-winning author and journalist, having bylined for CBS News, CNN, Engadget, Financial Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Popular Science, and more. Her books have sold over 2.2 million copies and translated into five languages.

Support this labor of love on Ko-Fi!

Raised by Horror logo by Quirky Circe. Theme song: Tenebrous Brothers Carnival by Kevin MacLeod

What is horror when you’re young? Werewolves and ghosts? Or is it more complicated than that? Maybe it’s more a fear of the unknown. The new and the strange. When you don’t know anything about the world, an open door or sudden shadow can be as frightening as any vampire. In this episode, we explore how we found our way into horror and it how it shaped (or deformed!) us into the obsessive fans we are today.

There are films many of us saw as kids that scared us, which we consider beloved classics, like Alien and The Thing. But there are certain films that left a mark on us when we were little, even if just one scene we still see in our heads today. That's what this episode is about.

VIOLET: Invasion of the Saucer Men (1967), Salem's Lot (1979), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), The Legend of Hell House (1973).

RICHARD: Tarantula (1955), The Horror of Dracula (1958), The Haunting (1963), Night of the Living Dead (1968).

Video version of this episode is on our Raised By Horror YouTube channel. On this episiode we have guest showrunner Scotland Symons.

Richard Kadrey is the New York Times bestselling author of the Sandman Slim supernatural noir series. Sandman Slim was included in Amazon’s “100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime.” He’s been nominated for the Locus and BSFA awards. Kadrey has also written for comics, film, and video games.

Violet Blue is a six-time award-winning author and journalist, having bylined for CBS News, CNN, Engadget, Financial Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Popular Science, and more. Her books have sold over 2.2 million copies and translated into five languages.

Support this labor of love on Ko-Fi!

Raised by Horror logo by Quirky Circe. Theme song: Tenebrous Brothers Carnival by Kevin MacLeod