10 Best Alternative Christmas Movies
3. Gremlins
Isn't there just a little part of you that wants to go wild amongst the decorations and insanely-grinning family members, breaking up the cosy conformity and delivering a big fat middle finger to Santa Claus and his remorseless money-extracting holiday? Of course there is, and wily director Joe Dante partly catered to that urge with Gremlins, a creature feature that stomped all over Christmas like a horse on a hamster.
The It's A Wonderful Life-inspired setting of Kingston Falls was soon besieged by grotty green mini-monsters, causing chaos and committing mass murders in every street. Emerging from the unlikely form of a cuddly mogwai, the Gremlins are the festive equivalent of receiving a teddy bear as a present, only to find it stuffed with maggots instead of sawdust. "Sleigh bells ring, are you listening...?" Not really, I'm busy blowing myself up in a microwave!