Music has always been integral to the holiday season, so it’s no surprise that classic Christmas horror films often have memorable soundtracks. Sometimes the juxtaposition of cheery Christmas carols and onscreen mayhem is effective enough—think “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” droning on while Joan Collins furiously rubs blood off the rug in Tales from the Crypt (1972)—but some of the best holiday fright flicks feature original scores. With the vinyl revival, we’ve received releases of three of the all-time best.

Black Christmas (1974)

One of the most intriguing classic horror scores belongs to the original Black Christmas. Composer Carl Zittrer worked with sound mixers Bill O’Neil and Dave Appleby and sound supervisor Ken Heeley-Ray to craft the unforgettable soundscape for the movie—a huge part of what makes the film so effective (after all, the plot revolves around a series of creepy phone calls that seem to feature a bewildering symphony of voices).

Waxwork Records put out the first-ever release of the soundtrack in 2015; in the liner notes, Zittrer recalls, “I barely knew what I was doing. I began with a tip of my hat to [experimental composer] John Cage and scraped my piano strings with forks, combs, and screwdrivers; then manipulated the results by slowing down, speeding up, and stretching reverb chambers up to the boiling point.” The results are undeniably eerie, and blend with Christmas Carols, sound effects, and the multi-dimensional voice of killer “Billy” to chilling effect.

The Waxwork release is essentially a sound collage. Side A, “Silent Night,” and side B, “Evil Night” (the names reference the movie’s alternate title) jump all over the movie’s chronology and include both Zittrer’s cues and the various songs and sound FX that underscore Black Christmas. I have mixed feelings about the album, mainly because it’s pitifully short at just twenty five minutes total. But it’s a must-have for fans, with handsome artwork by “Ghoulish” Gary Pullin and Zittrer’s fascinating insights. Perhaps the wave of appreciation for Black Christmas ’74 that’s accompanied the 2019 reboot will lead to an expanded soundtrack; until then, at least we have this idiosyncratic little recording.

Gremlins (1984)

Thirty five years ago, Warner Bros. unleashed the perennial Christmas classic Gremlins on the public…in June. The curious timing didn’t stop the movie from becoming a huge hit, even if parents were taken aback by how gruesome it was. Legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith’s music captured the strange tone of the film— alternately creepy and heartwarming. According to the Gremlins Souvenir Magazine, written by Bob Woods, Goldsmith talked to Dante, “in order to determine what specific mood was needed.”

“I asked how serious do you want to play it, how scary, how humorous?” Goldsmith recalled. He felt the music, ultimately, was “very scary, but there’s a lot of strange humor in it, too.” The luminous, hopeful beauty that marks so many of Goldsmith’s scores is present, too, giving cuddly Gizmo his theme (“The Gift”) and striking just the right note for heart-tugging moments. There’s also a hilarious, pitch perfect theme for “Mrs. Deagle” and the instantly iconic “The Gremlin Rag.” The latter track and many of Goldsmith’s Gremlin cues (i.e. “The Pool” and “The Fountain/Stripe’s Death”) blur the line between music and sound design.

Growing up, I thought the vocals featured on the score were the voices of the Gremlins themselves, which was probably intentional. The original soundtrack contained just fifteen minutes of the score alongside pop tracks like Peter Gabriel’s “Out Out.” But Intrada released a complete score several years ago, followed by Mondo’s inevitable vinyl release (featuring gorgeous artwork by Phantom City Creative). Both are out of print, but worth picking up on the secondary market. The entire score is enjoyable, although the bonus tracks are mostly forgettable. (Did we really need “Gizmo’s Trumpet”? No, no we did not.) Still, the completest angle is admirable, and it’s nice to have a definitive release of one of the iconic Goldsmith’s best remembered soundtracks.

Krampus (2015)

You can trace a direct line from Gremlins to Michael Dougherty’s latter day classic Krampus, which strives for the same tonal tightrope between horror and sentimentality. Composer Douglas Pipes, who provided a terrific score for Dougherty’s previous holiday masterpiece, Trick ‘r Treat, does an even better job with this film. “Silent Night,” which was a recurring motif in Gremlins, also shows up here (notably accompanying a creepy jack-in-the-box), as does “O Tannenbaum.”

“The front end of the movie is a Christmas comedy/drama, so the music goes from being traditional, cheerful, holiday music that starts to turn dark, and then turns catastrophically dark when Krampus actually comes in,” Pipes states in Michael Mallory’s The Art of Krampus. That’s a very accurate description. “Family Reunion” is a light, whimsical underscore to the amusing early scenes, reminiscent of Gremlins. “The Wish” accompanies young Max angrily tearing up his letter to Santa Claus—and inadvertently summoning Krampus. A big, sweeping, chills-down-your-spine theme, it heralds the movie’s shift from drama/comedy to terror, setting the stage for overwhelmingly sinister tracks like “Into the Storm” and “The Snow Beast.”

Mallory writes that Pipes used “unusual instrumentation such as shakers, animal-skin drums, and hand-carved horns that emphasize Krampus’s medieval, pagan roots.” Once the scares kick into high gear, the score never really lets up until “Omi’s Story,” an appropriately poignant, melancholy track for the grandmother’s bittersweet recollection of her early encounter with Krampus.

[Spoiler alert if you haven’t seen Krampus, which you better take care of before he comes for you this Christmas.] “The Bell” at film’s end also offers a semi-respite from all the doom and gloom, although it hints at the truth behind the seemingly happy ending.[End of spoiler. Now go watch Krampus before you wind up on his naughty list.]

The album closes with the movie’s musical highlight: the epic, rollicking “Krampus Carol of the Bells,” first teased at the tail end of “The Wish” and performed by the Brea Olinda High School Singers. It wisely capitalizes on the inherent creepiness of the original song and puts the perfect final note on an endearingly scary/fun movie. The Krampus score was released digitally at the time of the film’s release and was later granted a vinyl album from Waxwork Records-the stunning artwork by Phantom City Creative’s Justin Erickson is actually superior to the theatrical poster. It’s a fittingly handsome package for one of the great new horror scores.