The Dead of Winter: Beware the Krampus and Other Wicked Christmas Creatures

by Sarah Clegg

It’s often said that Christmas is a celebration of the light – a way of driving out the darkness of midwinter, but I think we want to celebrate the darkness as well, to plunge ourselves into it, use it to make things as excitingly horrifying as they can be, to fill the night with monsters and scares that take full advantage of the longer, deeper darkness, and enjoy all the terrifying possibilities it brings, knowing deep down that it’s a horror of our own making, and can be – just about – controlled. This is horror as entertainment – horror to be relished. There’s too much fun in the monsters for them to be solely representations of a genuine fear, too much joy taken in the subversive excitement of rampaging through the night, whether as a witch, Krampus or snapping monster, too much laughter mingling with the screams that echo through the centuries.