9 Un-Orthodox Christmas Movies To Liven Up Your Holiday

8. Die Hard (1988)

You knew this one was coming, didn't you? It's probably blasphemy to write a list like this and not include this classic action flick somewhere. This, after all, is the film that defines the "un-orthodox Christmas movie" genre. The '80s was probably the best decade for action flicks in the history of cinema. Consider the array of guy-movies that were released during that ten years: Lethal Weapon (another classic un-orthodox Christmas flick), The Terminator, Predator, etc. Die Hard, however, stands above them all. No film defines what made '80s action flicks great better than this 1988 John McTiernan flick. It contains all the elements that made '80s guy-flicks great: a likable hero, John McClane in this case (Bruce Willis), an intense villain (Alan Rickman), an army of tough-looking but ineffective henchmen, another army of equally ineffective cops (with the exception of one), inventive killing methods, and a screenplay full of stupid-but-catchy one-liners. This movie uses all those conventions better than any of its contemporaries, making it one of the best action films ever made. The film is also one of the most exciting Christmas movies ever made. What's surprising is that this fact has only had this reputation for only the last few years. What makes this so surprising is the fact that the filmmakers milked the Christmas aspect of the movie just as much as they did the action. Watching the original trailer, it's easy to see that the marketers were actually pushing this film as a Christmas flick. The first part of the trailer is scored with Christmas music, and the voice-over guy takes care to specifically mention the holidays. On top of that, there's the fact that Christmas music makes up half of the movie's soundtrack and it's enough to make you wonder how we missed the fact that Die Hard is a holiday flick for so long. Oh, well; all that's in the past. All that matters now is the movie. Die Hard is so different from most Christmas flicks that it's impossible to watch it during the holidays and not feel refreshed. Spending a couple hours with John McClane is a perfect way to cap off an un-conventional Christmas Eve.