The Big Picture

• Easter horror movies bring a dark and unique twist to the holiday, with mutated rabbits and vengeful killers wearing creepy bunny masks.
• Films like "Holidays" and "Resurrection" delve into sacrilegious themes and grotesque imagery, perfect for fans of disturbing and trashy horror.
• Despite varying levels of quality, Easter-themed horror movies offer a blend of religious symbolism, eerie creatures, and shocking plotlines for a twisted holiday experience.

Pumpkins and candy canes are beloved images of the two popular seasons that holiday horror frequently turns to. Halloween (Trick ‘r Treat) and Christmas (Krampus) are the big winners, two days that masked killers and supernatural monsters love to celebrate with jump scares and grisly carnage. But Easter eggs should be just as iconic alongside pumpkins and candy canes, especially when they're splattered with blood or cracked open from freshly born aliens. As limited as Easter-themed horror is, it does exist and that can only mean you should brace yourself for mutated rabbits, boiling chocolate, and blood so fake and bright, that it could be the color of the jellybeans in a candy basket. The following movies are not all made with the highest quality, in the script or monster designs.

Easter horror doesn't just stick to a killer who throws on a creepy bunny mask, although that is an option, it also brings out the most wild and bizarre of story ideas. There's a perverse take on religious roots that verges on being sacrilegious. A science experiment gone wrong turns one doc into a mutated rabbit-like vigilante. Coloring Easter eggs pose a major threat too, especially when there’s no yolk inside but a very hungry alien fur ball. If Halloween and Christmas have their claim to fame, Easter might just be the black sheep in the holiday horror family. On a line that places "shock" and "schlock" on opposite ends, these entries can range from disturbing to trashy.

'Holidays' (2016)

Director: Nicolas McCarthy

This anthology touches upon all the special days on the calendar. St. Patrick's Day and Mother’s Day get their time to horrify in Holidays, but the creepiest one goes to the Easter segment. It introduces a fear that isn’t so far-fetched. If the Bible says Jesus returned to life, isn’t there something unnerving about that ancient tale of the undead? One little girl (Ava Acres) finds out the hard way when she hears the Biblical roots of Easter and finds out her growing fears are justified. Director Nicolas McCarthy adapted his short film into the creepy feature, The Pact, so he has the horror chops to frighten everyone with the religious horror in this segment.

The monstrous hybrid that shows up to frighten Acres’ character, is something pulled right out of Hellraiser and the “glorious wonders” of its hellish, BDSM realm. The Holidays creature even seeks pleasure having its wound along his ribs touched. The segment is uncomfortable and doesn’t overstay its welcome. It’s perfect for horror fans who ever wondered what could happen when the Easter Bunny lore gets blended with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The result is this cruel treat. From what follows on this list, Easter horror should rise to the level seen in Holidays.

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Resurrection (1999)

Director: Russell Mulcahy

Chicago becomes the site of an unholy serial killer in this underrated horror-thriller. Two detectives (Christopher Lambert and Leland Orser) are put on the case, as victims turn up who are being targeted to reconstruct the body of Christ. Strangers, friends, and loved ones are not safe with this “pious” killer on the loose. All of this is taking place on the countdown to Easter Sunday, and the detectives race around the clock before the grotesque endgame. There is no fun and games here, no cute bunnies and candy baskets. And the premise of two cops trying to stop a bizarre killer will remind viewers of another ‘90s horror-crime classic.

Essentially, this is Se7en if it took place during the lead-up to Easter. In Resurrection, it rains constantly. The moody color correction is made to fit the gritty, sleazy tone, but maybe a little too forced at times. It can’t compare to the bleach bypass process used on Se7en, that’s for sure. The viciousness of the killer is on full display, with his victims alive while they suffer from being mutilated. It even has actor Leland Orser, an unlucky victim in David Fincher’s film, who ends up not faring any better as one of the leading cops in Resurrection. The ending isn’t as extreme as it could have been, but this one still leans on shocking its viewers.

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Critters 2: The Main Course (1988)

Director: Mick Garris

When a man in a bunny costume is attacked, galactic bounty hunters arrive to help and inevitably add to the chaos that follows. All of this takes place in the little town of Grover’s Bend, the kind of place where its residents have fallen into traditions. Nothing new ever happens here, but that’s all about to change this holiday season. Directed by Mick Garris, there's also horror veteran Lin Shaye among the cast, who picks up an ax for defense instead of her trusty lantern to enter The Further. While this is a sequel, you don’t have to see the first one to understand the mythology. By far, the best Easter-themed visual in this entry is the Critter eggs getting mistaken as Easter eggs.

They’re gathered for the upcoming egg hunt, and some kids take their time to carefully color the patterns on the alien shells, which will soon hatch into fur balls with red eyes and jaws of shark-like teeth. They are not to be messed with, not with their voracious appetite for human flesh — or cheeseburgers. And when a Critter ball forms from all the tiny alien bodies, the townsfolk had better start running away, unless they wish to be so cleanly devoured, only their skeleton is left behind. Critters 2 is closer to schlock, indulging in its B-movie story without shame.

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Night of the Lepus (1972)

Director: William F. Claxton

An overpopulation of rabbits creates a big problem for a ranch town. One solution is made to end this crisis, but not surprisingly, it causes a lot more trouble. Soon, the rabbits have mutated to enormous sizes, and they don’t want to eat carrots anymore. They want to bite into humans. Upon release, this movie was panned for its lack of scares, but it has since gained cult status precisely because of this criticism. It isn’t that scary. But before the movie’s “monsters” start hopping, there is a Hollywood star in the cast who isn’t headlined enough.

It’s none other than early Scream Queen, Janet Leigh, a few years before her daughter Jamie Lee Curtis would inherit the crimson crown. Leigh’s reliable enough in her role, even if she is stuck playing a worried wife and mother. In what appears to be the use of archival footage of a real rabbit overpopulation, there’s also an authentic urgency to this plot. What audiences really want to see though are the mutated beasts. Compared to other scary rabbits (looking at you, Twilight Zone: The Movie), Night of the Lepus isn’t nearly creative enough. Close-ups of the sharp chompers in their mouths are frightening. Wide shots of regular-size fluffy bunnies stampeding across miniature sets — not so much. That's this movie's schlocky charm.

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Easter Bunny Massacre (2021)

Director: Jack Peter Mundy

This is a more recent Easter horror flick that uses a slasher to get the blood flowing. A killer wears one creepy, mange-looking bunny mask, and brings together a group of friends with a plan to seek revenge on all of them. Revenge for what? In keeping true to its slasher genre, these friends have a secret from the past, and they have kept good on their promise to never speak about it, or so it seems. The other entries on this list might have tried to be scary with varying success, but Easter Bunny Massacre feels trashier. It could have gone under additional post-production tune-ups too. The score is overpowering, instead of building intensity, sometimes, the dialogue can’t be heard.

Which is kind of important when this movie focuses on a mystery behind the killer's identity. Slow burns can be awesome at creating dread or suspense, but when Massacre is part of the title, one should rightfully assume it will make good on the promise. That isn’t quite the case. What happens in the opening, and how it forces all the friends into making their pact of silence, is pretty clever though. Grab a snack to watch this one, but as boiling chocolate is used to blind a victim, maybe the packaged Hershey bunnies can be left for another time.

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Rottentail (2019)

Director: Brian Skiba

Adapted from a graphic novel, Dr. Peter Cotton (Corin Nemec) is bitten during a science experiment gone wrong. His hand transforms and then his whole body painfully turns him into his new identity of Rottentail. This man-rabbit hybrid has lightning speed and is frequently spitting out one-liners. When Rottentail crushes a victim’s head in, he yells, “That’s a lot of blood for an airhead!” As for his childhood bullies, Rottentail has vengeful plans in store for them. He doesn’t want apologies, he wants bloodshed. The story is as zany as the production value, resulting in a very campy horror movie.

Stylized neon lighting coats the sets, giving off reminders of Joel Schumacher’s Batman installments. Is it a laboratory Dr. Cotton works at, or a nightclub? Who knows, but at least it looks pretty. There’s a nice, comic touch when Cotton’s backstory is broadcast through footage on a projector. Lending more credit to its place on this list is the town Cotton grew up in, and where he plans to start leaving his path of carnage, named Easter Falls. The main bully (William McNamara) even heads a ministry enterprise, fit with a Jesus-centric jingle for TV commercials. Even the movie’s tagline doesn't hold back from letting everyone know the schlocky value on display: “Hippity. Hoppity. Homicide!”

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Beaster Day: Here Comes Peter Cottonhell (2014)

Directors: Zack and Spencer Snygg

A bloodthirsty, giant Easter bunny arrives in a town where victims won’t be running away fast enough. With a mayor unwilling to help the residents, that leaves a hopeful actress and an unhinged dogcatcher as the town’s only hope. When the credits finally roll, is it so bad, it’s good? Well, opinions will greatly differ, but at least it doesn’t wait for the monster reveal. The Beaster Bunny is seemingly a puppet that is digitally placed into the live-action scenes. The effect is off-putting and not in a scary way. The real bunnies in Night of the Lepus at least brought along some credibility in seeing them. What makes the deaths from the Beaster Bunny more awkward, is the poor editing that leaves out crucial moments of the attack.

In one scene, the monster bears down upon a victim, and then a sudden cut has the victim already dead. Beaster Day: Here Comes Peter Cottonhell is a creature feature with a tame bite. Then there is the scene where the Beaster Bunny rips off a woman’s clothes for blatant gratuitous nudity, although it still can’t outdo the trashy chase scene from My Bloody Valentine 3D (if you know it, you know it). For all the hell it unleashes, the Beaster Bunny has a weakness a little too easy to come by. Then again, this is the same movie where the town has a mental health facility promoting a discounted lobotomy and where the mayor (John P. Fedele) steals a kid's lollipop, only to be nice enough and return the empty stick. It’s very odd stuff, which means it’s the perfect schlock for those who want to experience it.

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