12 Alternative Movies We're Sick Of Hearing Are Set At Christmas

3. Die Hard

Die Hard might be set at an office Christmas party but there's very little you could call festive about John McClane dragging himself through air vents and walking barefoot over broken glass. Perhaps the explosions might count as cheerful after enough egg-nog. The setting of a Christmas party is pretty much a vehicle to get everyone in one place after hours so terrorists can attack and the plot can happen. Die Hard is, bar none, the Christmas movie we're sick of being told is a Christmas movie, through sheer repetition as much as an actual subject matter. No it's not: it's a thriller that happens to be set at Christmas and nothing short of a musclebound Santa infiltrating the building through the chimney, presenting John McClane with a rocket launcher (in cheerful giftwrap obviously) and smuggling out the remaining hostages in his sack will convince me otherwise. It only escapes a position at the top of this list because while it uses Christmas as a setting it doesn't deconstruct our ideas about Christmas by pointing out uncomfortable truths about the festive period.