Why ‘A Christmas Carol’ is a Christmas horror
- Flora Irvine-Hall
- Dec 12, 2025
- 6 min read
By Flora Irvine-Hall
You’re saying A Christmas Carol isn’t a horror?? Bah humbug!
With Christmas just around the corner, us horror fans are looking for something to get us in the festive spirit and scare us shitless.
There are lots of great Christmas horrors. Films such as Black Christmas, 1974 (the other two versions can choke), Krampus and Gremlins.
However, one story that if often forgotten about when it comes to the Christmas horror genre is Charles Dickens’s, A Christmas Carol.
Some of you may be reading this and thinking ‘A Christmas Carol? How on earth does that count as horror?’
Well, I’m going to explain how. So keep reading!
For starters, many of the main themes in A Christmas Carol are very common in horror. Themes such as poverty, social injustice, family, and regret. Horror films touch on real life issues as a way to relate to the viewer. Dickens uses his novella to relate to the reader.
Another element of A Christmas Carol that makes it feel like a horror, is the main protagonist, Ebenezer Scrooge, who starts off like a classic horror villain. Just look at how he’s described:
“The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas.”
The time period of the story also helps to create a horror-like atmosphere. A lot of horror media is set in the Victorian era because it was an era that was filled with a lot of misery. With issues such as class division, disease and social decay, there are endless ways to create horror stories.
A majority of the story happening on Christmas Eve is genius in a couple of different ways. One, because snow, fog and cold weather all help to create an unsettling and chilly atmosphere and two, because Christmas is often associated with warmth and joy, so flipping this expectation on its head, and making Christmas scary, puts readers on edge.
The most obvious way that A Christmas Carol is a horror, are the supernatural elements of the story.
One of the most classic and haunting segments of the novella is when Scrooge’s deceased business partner, Jacob Marley ‘s face appears on the doorknob. This is excellent story-telling. It makes both Scrooge, and the reader think ‘Was that real?’
Marley’s first proper appearance in the story is particularly frightening. Dickens sets the scene by building it up and describing the sounds of bells swinging which immediately puts the reader on edge. Things get even scarier when Marley’s ghost actually appears, burdened with a long and heavy chain, made from cashboxes, ledgers and keys. This is a metaphor and an eternal punishment for his greed and cruel nature when he was alive. Even if Marley wasn’t a good person, the visual imagery of the heavy chains makes the reader cringe in discomfort.
In what is perhaps the most terrifying imagery of the story. Marley’s ghost removes the bandage around his head, making his jaw drop down to chest. This is a petrifying image and a classic body-horror like element of the story that really add to the horror atmosphere.
But that’s not even the most chilling part about Marley’s visit. Marley has come to visit Scrooge to warn him, warn him that if he doesn’t change his ways, he’ll be doomed to a life of eternal suffering and damnation. This is a terrifying and classic horror trope of having a terrible fate and trying to change it.
The Ghost of Christmas Past isn’t scary in the traditional sense, but he is still haunting. Having to look back at your past, at your mistakes, your regrets and your struggles is enough to make anyone’s blood run cold. Everyone has stuff from their past that they’d rather forget, so having to relive those memories would be terrifying.
Scrooge has to watch himself as he transforms into a cold, cruel and greedy old man. The thought of having to witness yourself be swallowed up by darkness is petrifying.
The Ghost of Christmas Present, while very jolly, is also terrifying. Because he shows Scrooge first-hand how much suffering and misery he has been causing.
When they go to visit Scrooge’s accountant, Bob Cratchit, Scrooge discovers how much he and his family are struggling, and that his youngest child, Tiny Tim, is very poorly. We all do things that unintentionally lead to another person’s suffering, and it’s easy to ignore because we don’t see it. But to actually see the consequences of our actions first-hand? That’s bone-chilling.
As if that wasn’t awful enough, Scrooge then has to experience the most universal frightening experience of all, hearing what others say about you behind your back.
Mrs Cratchit doesn’t hold back at all when it comes to her thoughts about Scrooge.
“It should be Christmas Day, I am sure,” said she, “on which one drinks the health of such an odious, stingy, hard, unfeeling man as Mr. Scrooge.”
What his nephew says however, is perhaps even more devastating.
“I am sorry for him; I couldn’t be angry with him if I tried. Who suffers by his ill whims! Himself, always. Here, he takes it into his head to dislike us, and he won’t come and dine with us. What’s the consequence? He don’t lose much of a dinner.”
The fact that Scrooge’s nephew pities him is gut-wrenching. Scrooge is resentful and unkind, but his nephew sees right through him. Having someone be able to see behind the façade you’ve put up is very unsettling.
And then, Scrooge meets Ignorance and Want, which is probably one of the most terrifying parts of the entire story. Even the way they’re described is enough to make your hairs stand on edge.
“Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish; but prostrate, too, in their humility. Where graceful youth should have filled their features out, and touched them with its freshest tints, a stale and shrivelled hand, like that of age, had pinched, and twisted them, and pulled them into shreds. Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked and glared out menacing.”
Ignorance and Want are used to represent all the poor children in society. They also act as a metaphor for Scrooge’s greed and selfishness. Having them look so monstrous forces Scrooge to see the ugliness of his actions.
At this point, the story has already had plenty of frightening elements, but it takes a particular dark turn when The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrives.
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come wears a long, deep black garment that conceals its face and head, making it look like the grim reaper. It never speaks, and instead, only uses one outstretched arm to point. It moves like mist and symbolises the unknown. Although the spirit is only in the story for a short period of time, it’s impact is bone-chillingly frightening.
Scrooge then has to witness the horrors of his future, or rather, lack of future. But this isn’t the scariest part. The scariest part, is hearing the way people speak about him.
“It’s likely to be a very cheap funeral,” said the same speaker; “for upon my life I don’t know of anybody to go to it."
The thought of being despised even when you’re when dead, is enough to make anyone’s blood curdle. Knowing that you’re so hated would paralyse you with fear.
Scrooge is terrified and falls into another classic horror trope, begging for mercy.
“Spirit!” he cried, tight clutching at its robe, “hear me! I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse."
Seeing your terrible fate, and the consequences of your actions, is terrifying. The reader can easily put themselves in Scrooge’s shoes, and feel his desperation.
Although A Christmas Carol does have a happy ending, with a redeemed Scrooge celebrating Christmas Day with his nephew and Bob Cratchet’s family (and the promise that Tiny Tim did not die) the novella certainly put the reader through the ringer. With it’s hard-hitting themes, haunting imagery and effective storytelling, A Christmas Carol is a classic for any horror lovers who want to get into both the Christmas the scary spirit.
And if you’re going to watch any adaptation, then it needs to be A Muppet’s Christmas Carol, because that’s the best adaptation by a landslide.