We all know how it is every year with holiday movies, your parents or extended family all want to put on It’s A Wonderful Life or Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer and in your 25+ viewings of these movies, you pause from sipping on that strong-armed cocktail and think, there has to be more right?
The answer is, yes! The idea of the unconventional holiday classic popped up around a decade ago when the discussion of whether ‘Die Hard is a Christmas movie?‘ came up. The answer to all of these questions or arguments is, sure, if it brings you some joy and happiness during the holidays who’s to take that away from you? I don’t care how tangentially it connects to Christmas. You do you!
But that question led to a re-evaluation and appreciation of some movies that are similar to Die Hard. Some movies that walk off the beaten path and do something just a tad different. This is what this list is for. Movies like this year’s It’s A Wonderful Knife, show that the unconventional holiday movie is alive and well.
So in no particular order (you really should watch all of them though!), here’s the list! This will cross a few different genres but hopefully, you find something you enjoy.
Die Hard 2
While I love Die Hard and watch it every year. To me, Die Hard 2 is more of a Christmas movie; and doesn’t get the love it deserves being a sequel. It’s set during the holidays like the first film. However, you have a snow-blanketed airport as the setting and there’s just more of a general Christmas-y vibe to the whole affair. You get your (not so-standard) naked villains practicing kung fu, an airplane full of terrorists exploding, a great snowmobile action sequence, and way more one-liners than you can stomach. Still, Die Hard and Die Hard 2 make for a great Christmas double feature!
Gremlins
I wager to guess that Gremlins is for many people, one of the first Christmas-Horor movies you’ll watch in your life is Gremlins. The great thing is, it holds up. A classic Joe Dante flick, and arguably his best. The movie features a young man who receives a pet from his father who ends up having some specific requirements that when not met, spell disaster. The movie is at times charming, funny, and dark; but one thing it’s not is lacking in entertainment. If this isn’t in your holiday film rotation, it needs to be.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
This won’t be the only time you see a Shane Black movie on this list. The director loves to set his movies around the holidays, and while Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is known for many things, in particular for being a bit of a comeback movie for star Robert Downey Jr; it’s also a Christmas movie. Yes, it may rub some people the wrong way to have a sexy Virgin Mary or a nude woman in a reindeer outfit. But do we need a sexy noir murder mystery movie set during Christmas? Of course, we do!
Krampus
Michael Dougherty is set on slowly ruining holidays for people. First, it was Halloween with Trick r’ Treat and later Christmas wasn’t sacred with Krampus. What’s great about this movie is that not only does it have the scares, but it’s funny too. There are some great jump scares and one-liners to balance everything out. It also ends on a relatively down note with a meaningful message about accepting our family and loving them during the holidays.
Bad Santa
A holiday classic for those who need some vulgarity and multiple sex scenes with Gilmore Girls’ Lauren Graham in their holiday movies. The story of two thieves that masquerade as a mall Santa and his elf to get in close with a mall and rob them. The movie for its vulgar nature is also surprisingly sweet and heartfelt. You may be laughing but you’ll also feel a bit more in the holiday spirit.
The Day of the Beast
A very obscure cult classic, while it’s described as a ‘Satanic Comedy’ it’s also an unsung holiday classic. The story revolves around a priest who rallies together a metalhead and a fraudster to stop the birth of the Antichrist on Christmas Eve. If you’re ok with a bit of punk rock energy in your Christmas movies this might just be the dysfunctional classic for your holiday viewing.
Eyes Wide Shut
Stanley Kubrick’s last movie and one of the best movies of the 90’s. It’s also a movie set primarily around the holidays. Like Bad Santa, the movie has a lot going on that may offend some, and the unrated version of the movie has even more to raise an eyebrow at than the theatrical cut. However, in its own dysfunctional way, the movie has themes central to the holiday season. Although, wrapped in a very unconventional package.
Lethal Weapon
A holiday classic, the movie opens with Mel Gibson’s Martin Riggs taking down some drug dealers in a Christmas Tree lot. The movie references many other moments from the holiday and may be the most Christmas-y movie of Shane Black’s movies. Which, many of them are centred around the holidays. The Martin Riggs subplot does get pretty dark in spots but it ends up in an oddly heartwarming place in the end. All the while, the movie delivers thrills, laughs, and sharp dialogue.
Black Christmas
If there was a best unconventional Christmas movie, it’d have to be Black Christmas. It’s a movie that had many firsts. It’s lauded as one of the early progenitors of the Slasher sub-genre. It’s one of the earliest examples of an unconventional Christmas movie. It’s also inventive for its twist ending, which wasn’t as uncommon as most would think, but Black Christmas certainly popularized it.
Its cast is also great, including a pre-Superman Margot Kidder, John Saxon (Enter the Dragon, A Nightmare on Elm Street), and Keir Dullea (2001: A Space Oddysey).
It’s certainly a movie that you should put into your holiday rotation every year. Just do yourself a favor and avoid any of the reboots. They don’t match up to the original.
So what say you? What are some of your favorite unconventional holiday classics? Let us know.
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