News

Five Terrifying Holiday Monsters to Give Krampus a Run for His Money

Published

4 years ago

December 21, 2021

Let’s face it, parents will do just about anything to get their children to behave, but few, especially this time of year, are as effective as the threat of no gifts from Santa. However, there have been cultures that took that threat one step further by creating holiday monsters that stalk the night ready to whip, kidnap, and devour naughty children.

Everyone’s heard of Krampus thanks to his resurgence in popularity following the film that was released just a few years ago, but the list below contains holiday monsters far worse than the old Christmas devil.

#1 JÓLAKÖTTURINN

The Icelandic Yule cat, Jólakötturinn, is said to stalk the snowy countryside of the small island nation seeking out those who have not received new clothes as a gift by Christmas Eve night. The only way to receive new clothes was by finishing all of one’s chores!

How’s that for passive aggressive?

Get your work done, or the Yule cat will eat you! That’s right, Jólakötturinn won’t just scare you; he fully intends to eat the lazy kids who don’t obey their parents and do their chores.

#2 Hans Trapp

Leave it to the French to come up with a nightmarish scarecrow!

Legend says that Hans Trapp was a greedy, rich Devil-worshipper who was banished to the forests upon his excommunication from the Catholic Church. He disguised himself as a scarecrow and set about terrifying the local children.

He captured a young boy and was just about to eat him when he was struck by lightning and killed, but that didn’t stop Hans for long.

As Christmas approaches each year, Hans Trapp appears as a Scarecrow and stalks certain regions of France in order to frighten children into good behavior!

#3 Gryla

Gryla is an evil ogress said to live in the mountains of Iceland. She had three different husbands and bore 72 children in all.

Gryla’s legends are far older than modern celebrations of Christmas, and in fact, she only became associated with the holiday sometime in the 17th century. Before that time, she was more commonly associated with Yule, the celebration of the Winter Solstice and the longest night of the year.

Gryla, who by the way is the mistress of the Yule cat Jólakötturinn, has a bad habit of boiling and eating disobedient children, and her name definitely gets thrown around during the holidays to keep Icelandic children in line.

#4 Pere Fouettard

This guy’s name translates to “Father Whipper”. Need we say more?

Another French legend, Pere Fouettard was a butcher who developed a taste for the flesh of children. (What is it with all this cannibalism?!) He once captured three boys, and butchered and salted their flesh to preserve them for later.

When St. Nicholas discovered what he had done, he burst into Fouettard’s shop, resurrected the boys, and took the cannibal as his prisoner.

From that time on, Pere Fouettard worked for St. Nicholas punishing bad children.

Frau Perchta

Frau Perchta is the legendary witch of Germany and Austria who hands out both presents and punishment during the 12 Days of Christmas.

It’s her particular method of punishment that bought her place on this list, however. Upon finding a sinful, disobedient child, she’ll rip out their insides and fill them with garbage!

Gross, right?

You definitely do not want to be on Frau Perchta’s naughty list!

Have you heard of these fascinating holiday monsters before? Have one you think should be on the list? Tell us your stories in the comments below!

Header image is taken from Historycollection.com

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

You must be logged in to post a comment.

News

This Week in Horror: DC Goes Full Body Horror, A24 Has Its Chainsaw Man, and The Bone Temple Is Finally Yours

Published

1 day ago

April 24, 2026

Luna Gray

Good week. The Clayface trailer dropped and made DC relevant to this website for the first time in a while, A24 put a director on the Texas Chainsaw Massacre reimagining, and we got some interviews worth reading. Here is all of it.

Clayface Has a Trailer, and It Is Exactly What You Want

The Clayface trailer landed Wednesday, and it is DC’s first real horror film. Not horror adjacent. Not dark. Horror. Tom Rhys Harries plays Matt Hagen, an actor whose face gets disfigured by a gangster. He turns to a scientist, played by Naomi Ackie, who transforms his body into clay. Then the body horror starts.

James Watkins directed, which is the right choice. He made Speak No Evil and before that The Woman in Black, and he understands how to make dread feel physical. The screenplay is by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini. That combination should tell you everything about the tone they are going for.

A24 Has a Director for Texas Chainsaw Massacre and His Last Film Cost Under a Million Dollars

Deadline confirmed that Curry Barker is writing and directing A24’s reimagining of the 1974 original. Barker made Obsession for under a million dollars. Focus Features paid north of fifteen million to distribute it. It sits at 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. A24 hired him before it even opens, which opens May 15.

Kim Henkel, who co-created the original with Tobe Hooper, is executive producing his own creation’s reimagining. That is either a blessing or a haunting. Probably both.

Astrolatry Is Going to Cannes and We Talked to the Actor Who Faced the Creature

Astrolatry is heading to the Frontières Buyers Showcase on May 16-17. The film has a sentient severed penis that grows into a ten-foot practical creature with spiky teeth. We interviewed star Ethan Daniel Corbett about what it was actually like to act against it. Short answer: genuinely terrifying. Long answer is on the site.

The Bone Temple Is Home

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple hit 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD on Tuesday. If you held out from the digital release in February, now is the time. The 4K presentation is supposed to be great. Extras include audio commentary and a deleted scene. If your gonna watch The Bone Temple, why not watch it where the snacks are better.

News

Astrolatry Built a Ten-Foot Practical Penis Scorpion

Published

1 day ago

April 24, 2026

Luna Gray

A sentient severed penis grows into a ten-foot creature with spiky teeth. Genre cinema is doing fine.

Astrolatry follows Elliot, played by Ethan Daniel Corbett, who is every ingredient for quiet catastrophe assembled in one man. Socially isolated. Physically isolated. Craving dopamine and finding it in the wrong places. The romance guru pipeline, followed to its logical conclusion. Elliot does not just spiral. He loses a piece of himself, literally, and that piece does not cooperate.

Corbett described it as “a horror satire, a trippy mind-fuck roller coaster” and “a modern retelling of Maniac,” both of which are accurate and neither of which adequately prepares you. Director David Gordon is making his feature debut after shooting 14 films as a cinematographer and he is swinging for the fences.

The Creature

The effects company behind the creature has festival circuit work Corbett had already seen before signing on. He knew what they could do but he was not ready. “When I saw it in person it was kind of mind-blowing,” he said. “Everything that you see in this movie is practical. Very, very little else. It was genuinely terrifying to have a ten-foot creature coming at you with a big mouth and spiky teeth.”

A CG creature asks an actor to imagine something. A ten-foot physical creature on a set asks nothing. It just arrives. The fear on Corbett’s face in those scenes is not a performance. It is the normal reaction to a scorpion dick with sharp teeth.

Elliot

Corbett went into the character through the body. “I mainly focus on the physicality of it. Who this character is and who he is wholly. I strive in those kinds of moments as an actor.”

Gordon was explicit about the concept, the “nice guy” archetype and the overtly toxic one are the same problem, both aimed at the same object. That reading lands because Corbett does not play it as a reading. Elliot is not a symbol. He is a person.

Where It Is Going

Astrolatry is heading to the Frontières Buyers Showcase at Cannes on May 16-17. “To be able to get into that kind of room on David’s first feature is incredible,” Corbett said. “To be in front of buyers and to showcase the film and potentially get distribution through that.” Frontières is the correct room. It is full of people who understand that the most extreme premise, executed with precision, is not a punchline. It is an argument.

News

ShoStak Opens the Door for Filmmakers to Build and Own Their Stories

Published

2 days ago

April 23, 2026

Anthony Pernicka

A new player is stepping into the space, but ShoStak is making one thing clear right away.

It is not trying to be the next Netflix. It is not chasing TikTok.

“Cinema does not need another platform. It needs a new model.”

That idea sits at the core of what ShoStak is building. Not just a place to watch content, but a system where creators and audiences connect in a way that feels very different from what we are used to.

The First 150 Competition Is Already Underway

ShoStak is kicking things off with its First 150 Competition, giving filmmakers a chance to present their story worlds and compete for the opportunity to move into production.

Projects are introduced as series concepts or pilots, then advance through multiple stages. Audience voting plays a role, but it is only part of the process.

Selections are ultimately shaped by a mix of audience engagement, creative execution, and overall project readiness. It is not just about popularity. It is about building something that can actually move forward.

For creators, it is a rare chance to get in front of both an audience and a structured development path at the same time.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dunedin Int. Film Festival (@diffestival)

One Platform, Built Around a New Model

Everything now lives under ShoStak.tv, where both creators and audiences come together.

Creators can sign up, develop their projects, and begin building their audience. Viewers can discover new series, follow story worlds, and engage with projects as they evolve.

ShoStak describes this as a cinematic ecosystem. Stories are not treated as disposable content designed to spike and disappear. They are built to grow over time.

And that growth happens in public.

Ownership Without Losing Structure

One of ShoStak’s core ideas is giving creators more control over what they build.

Filmmakers are positioned to:

Retain ownership of their intellectual property
Build direct relationships with their audience
Grow projects based on real engagement

At the same time, this is not a free-for-all.

There is still structure. Projects are evaluated, developed, and refined through a process that blends audience input with creative and strategic decision-making.

Instead of removing the system entirely, ShoStak is reshaping how creators move through it.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @shostak.tv

Development Happens in Public

This is where things start to separate from the traditional model.

Instead of developing behind closed doors, ShoStak allows projects to evolve in front of an audience.

Creators introduce their ideas, build a following, and expand their worlds over time. As engagement grows, so does the project.

It is less about waiting for approval and more about proving momentum.

Over time, that turns the platform into something larger than a development program. It becomes an open ecosystem where creators and audiences push stories forward together.

More Than Just Testing Ideas

Micro-series are a big part of ShoStak’s approach, but they are not just a testing ground.

They can be the final product.

The format allows creators to:

Tell complete stories in shorter form
Build long-term story worlds
Expand into larger projects when it makes sense

It is not about proving an idea and moving on. It is about giving that idea room to grow in whatever direction fits.

Why This Matters for Horror

Horror has always thrived outside the system.

Some of the most memorable films in the genre came from creators taking risks, working with limited resources, and finding their audience without waiting for permission.

ShoStak’s model fits naturally into that mindset.

It gives horror creators a space to:

Build original story worlds
Connect directly with fans
Grow projects without losing control

And with early content like Civilian and Liminal already rolling out, it is clear the platform is aiming for more than just quick-hit content.

A Different Path Forward

ShoStak is not trying to compete by doing the same thing better.

It is trying to change how stories are created, developed, and sustained.

By combining creator ownership, audience engagement, and a structured development path, it offers something that feels closer to a creative ecosystem than a traditional platform.

Whether it works long-term is still unknown.

But for filmmakers looking for a new way in, it is opening a door that has been closed for a long time.