Sick of warm Hallmark stories and more easily predictable carol soundtracks? These Christmas movies launch snowballs at tradition. From gory slashers to weird dream worlds, each of these does what the holiday season does, but in a way that is something entirely different, frightening, and oddly fantastical. Pour some cocoa (or something else), the holidays are about to get merry in the strangest ways imaginable.
10. The Long Kiss Goodnight – Snow, Spies, and Explosions
Who tells us that Christmas can’t be accompanied by car chases and shootouts? The Long Kiss Goodnight presents us with Geena Davis as a middle-class suburban mom who awakens to realize she was once an extremely lethal government assassin. With Samuel L. Jackson as her street-smart sidekick, this wintry spy actioner makes the holidays an action playground. It has amnesia, pyrotechnics, and just enough tinsel to remind you that it’s actually still a Christmas film.
9. Anna and the Apocalypse – When Christmas Meets the Zombie Musical
Picture Shaun of the Dead crossed with High School Musical, topped off with a splash of holiday cheer. That’s Anna and the Apocalypse. This Scottish cult favorite consists of teenagers singing show tunes while zombies rampage through their teeny town during Christmastime. It’s gruesome, goofy, and unexpectedly sweet evidence that even in the middle of the apocalypse, you can still burst into song.
8. Black Christmas – The Original Holiday Slasher
Long before Michael Myers terrorized Haddonfield, Black Christmas frightened viewers into not picking up the phone. Released in 1974, this slasher film established the template for the slasher, trading in jingle bells for jump scares within a snowed-in sorority house. It’s spooky, suspenseful, and remains one of the most unsettling “holiday” movies ever produced.
7. Krampus – Naughty List Nightmare
Santa leaves gifts, but Krampus steals souls. This darkly comedic horror romps into the ancient European folklore of the horned monster who punishes naughty children. When one messed-up family loses its holiday mojo, they summon Krampus and his terrifying minions. It’s holiday mayhem with a mythological spirit, equal parts frightening, humorous, and strangely sentimental.
6. Gremlins – Holiday Havoc with Heart
Few films have warm and wild down to a science like Gremlins. It starts as a gentle tale of boy and oddball pet, then becomes a havoc-wreaking Christmas horror classic once those rules are transgressed (“Don’t feed them after midnight!”). The result is good old-fashioned 1980s chaos, half creature feature, half Christmas farce, and 100% timeless.
5. Rare Exports – Santa, But Make Him Frightening
If you imagine Santa’s just a jolly old fellow in red, think again. Finland’s Rare Exports reimagines Father Christmas as ancient, powerful, and very sinister. A group of townsfolk unwittingly dig up the “real” Santa, locked in ice in the Arctic, and all hell breaks loose. Dark, dryly funny, and unexpectedly clever, a Christmas movie for those who like their festive fun on the dark side.
4. The Nightmare Before Christmas – Burton’s Timeless Holiday Mashup
Is it Halloween or Christmas? Answer: both. Tim Burton’s stop-motion classic tracks Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, as he attempts to steal Christmas and put his own ghostly spin on the holiday. With spine-tinglingly gorgeous animation, catchy tunes, and gothic playfulness, it’s a great film for anyone who wants their holidays strange, beautiful, and a little unconventional.
3. Red One – Festive Action Mayhem
When you get Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans together in a Christmas film, you know you can expect something unconventional. Red One is a crazy mix of action, comedy, and fantasy. Imagine sleigh chases at high speeds, mythical baddies, and a Santa with some serious superhero swagger. Chock full of folklore references and absurd stunts, it’s the on-screen equivalent of adding rocket fuel to your eggnog.
2. Terrifier 3 – Deck the Halls with Blood and Fear
Horror enthusiasts received an early “gift” in Terrifier 3, introducing Art the Clown to the merriest time of the year. Honeymooned amidst Christmas, the movie makes festive decorations lethal traps and reshapes yuletide cheer into sheer horror. It’s gruesome, sickening, and outright extreme, a warped tribute to nostalgic holiday horror slashers that affirms horror and Christmas as unholy companions.
1. Eyes Wide Shut – A Christmas Film for the Adventurous
Stanley Kubrick’s last film does not necessarily shout “holiday,” but its location amidst twinkling lights, decadent parties, and consumerist indulgence provides Christmas as its ideal backdrop. Eyes Wide Shut is a man’s dreamlike journey into jealousy, temptation, and secret power, all presented in an unreal context of snow and confidentiality. It’s erotic, creepy, and boundlessly dissected the most unorthodox Christmas film ever produced.
So if typical holiday comfort films aren’t doing the trick, shake things up. These genre-bending darlings serve as evidence that Christmas films don’t need to be cheerful; they simply must be memorable.