With the beginning of December comes many annual traditions: eggnog drinking, kissing under the mistletoe, baking gingerbread men and a plethora of others. One inescapable tradition is the holiday movie. Most channels on TV will be showing countless classics like It’s a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, the Rankin & Bass stop-motion specials and many timeless others all the way up to December 25th. But, this Yuletide, we here at WhatCulture would like to give you the chance to branch away from the norm and introduce into your annual tradition some movies that are either a little off-kilter, may not be quite suitable for the little ones, or that you didn’t even know had anything to do with Christmas.
Here’s a list of not-so-traditional Christmas flicks for those a little tired of Charlie Brown and friends.
10. Gremlins (1984)
If this was a list of my personal favorite Christmas films, Gremlins would be the undisputed champion. While it has taken a while to get the recognition it deserves around this time of year, Joe Dante’s madcap horror-comedy finally seems to be joining the illustrious ranks of the Grinch and the Muppets, and it rightly deserves it. The tale of the adorable mogwai Gizmo and his owner/friend Billy is one of the best films to come out of the 1980′s and easily one of the best movies to show to a kid in an effort to get them into horror films.
While the titular creatures are often terrifying, they are also unabashedly silly and offer the audience as many laughs as they do screams. This is one the whole family can enjoy, if your family finds a miserly old woman being rocketed out of a window as funny as mine does.
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12 Comments
lacy chaubert isnt meg from family guy fool. that’s mila kunis
She actually has done Meg’s voice for a number of episodes, but yes, she is not the credited actress for the majority of Meg’s appearances.
Link for verification: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000327/filmoseries#tt0182576
Still, she’s hardly recognized as THE voice of Meg. I would’ve cited Her role in Mean Girls or Party of Five, which most people would know Lacey Chabert for.
No Die Hard 1 or 2? christ!
As stated in my #5 listing, I think “Die Hard” is a perfectly acceptable movie and a great movie for the season, but it has become the ONLY action movie set during Xmas that anyone seems to mention nowadays, making it a more traditional choice. That’s why I went with “Lethal Weapon” which should be just as heralded as “Die Hard” is, if not more. I think “Lethal Weapon” is a better movie due to the performances of the lead actors and the overall tone of the movie. The entire death wish arc for Riggs is a ballsy one for a mainstream action movie set during the holidays, while John McClane (undisputed badass that he is) doesn’t really have an arc as much as he is just the ultimate bad guy destroyer. “Die Hard” and its sequel are terrific fun and more than appropriate viewings for the season (I do watch “Die Hard” every December), but I feel like it’s become too obvious a choice so that’s why I didn’t include it.
Very grim indeed…
Yes, but it’s all in a spirit of fun. I recommend lots of eggnog for at least 60% of the movies listed here. Then, they won’t be so grim as much as they’ll be a hoot.
Nice list Drew.
I would add Trading Places, The Long Kiss Goodnight and RED.
Thank you! I debated putting one of Shane Black’s other movies (it basically came down to a coin-toss between Lethal Weapon and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) and Trading Places on there. I need to watch Trading Places again though. I haven’t seen it in years.
Rare Exports is a bloody masterpiece!
.” by Samuel Butler.|”Life is full of obstacle illusions.” by Grant Frazier.|”It’s easier to put on slippers than to carpet the whole world.” by Al Franken.|”Just because you’re miserable doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy your life.” by Annette Goodheart.|”In giv
Good list.
I would have loved to see “Bad Santa” on there though.
I don’t think you’ll ever see a non-Traditional Christmas movie with as much swearing, berating of a fat kid, and anal sex jokes.
Happy Holidays indeed!