We all know the big ones… what’s a less famous one worth watching?
- Klaus (2019)
- The night before (2015)
- 8-Bit Christmas (2021)
- Red One (2024)
8bit Christmas was great for a child of the 80s like me. Violent Night is a guilty pleasure.
National Lampoon Christmas Vacation 2 Cousin Eddie’s Island Vacation
There’s a ton of versions of “a Christmas Carol” but Scrooged is absolutely worth a watch despite the age.
The ghosts are all fantastic and you can’t go wrong with Bill Murray
This may be too big: Arthur Christmas. It was made by Aardman (Wallace and Gromit, Shawn the Sheep) but using CG instead of claymation. I honestly don’t like the animation as much as their claymation, but they did a good job with it.
It’s the best representation of the “Christmas spirit” in my opinion. The story is great and the character arcs bring a tear to my eye.
Maybe this isn’t that obscure, but Klaus (2019) is an excellent Christmas movie. It’s become a yearly staple since the first time we watched it.
That’s one of my all-time favorite Christmas movies!
Great movie. I watched as just something to do with zero knowledge (not seeing a trailer etc) and was blown away at how good it was.
Forgot this on my list. Absolutely fantastic.
Lovely film.
I don’t know if it’s considered lesser known but I don’t hear enough about it so I think it is; While You Were Sleeping from 1995. It’s my absolute favourite movie.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Oh shit, I just grabbed that one from the thrift store since I haven’t seen it before, perfect timing to check it out then!
bad santa
Bad Santa is my favorite Christmas movie. Bad Santa 2, however, was kinda meh.
definitely gratuitous sequels
Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather is my favorite Xmas movie. It’s technically 2 90 minute episodes.
Red One was stupid and fun.
DreamWorks’ the Grinch is actually a fun watch.
I had been debating getting into Discworld forever and someone here recommended checking out the Hogfather movie as it was up on Youtube anyway, so I checked it out. Without having any context, I still really enjoyed it and the style of humor. Felt like a fun take on Nightmare Before Christmas, but perhaps even weirder.
A few months later I read Guards, Guards and loved that. Had to do some longer road trips this fall so I listened to audiobooks of Mort and Equal Rites and loved those, so at that point I decided I mat as well start from the beginning and just today started Witches Abroad. I’ve been hooked!
I didn’t know there was a hogfather movie . Thank you - I’m so excited to watch it now. I’m even going to wait for my daughter who’s visiting over Xmas as she and I read a lot of the TP books together.
Bear in mind this is late 2000s British satellite TV movie, but Pterry was involved and satisfied enough to let them do two more adaptations, and it has a strong cast.
He did cameos in color of magic and Hogfather. Probably going postal too, but I can’t think of where he is.
He’s the postman who delivers a message to Vetinari. Or Reacher Gilt.
As a huge fan of the books, they translate very oddly to film, so keep that in mind. Low expectations is a good thing, and you’ll have a good time
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang: Shane Black in high form writing Christmas comedy/action/noir. Pre-Iron Man Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer absolutely crushing it. All around great movie.
Santa Claus: The Movie: Santa gets the Superman: The Movie treatment. Possibly made inside of a bag of cocaine. John Lithgow devouring large sections of scenery.
The Lion in Winter: Set during Christmas. Basically a Shakespearean drama/comedy, but written in modern English. Peter O’Toole, Katherine Hepburn, Timothy Dalton, and Anthony Hopkins in his first film role, just an incredibly talented cast working with an amazing script. Bunch of royals all plotting and scheming each others’ downfall during a big Christmas get-together. Strong contender for my favorite movie of all time.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is an underappreciated gem. It’s minimally christmassy, but its a perfect distillation of Shane Black’s style of buddy cop story telling and humor. Almost a reflection on how everyone else directed his screenplays.
I’m adding The Lion in Winter to my list. Thanks.
Ernest Saves Christmas
Dang I had forgotten about the Ernest movies. I used to love them as a kid. Nice pull!
Anna and the Apocalypse has become one of my family’s traditions. Coming-of-age teen comedy set in the days before Christmas break, but also a zombie horror movie, and also a musical.
Kind of low-budget and some of the cast is shaky, but it’s incredibly ambitious and very fun.
The Holdovers (2023) is very good
Die hard 2
It may seem like I’m playing two sides here, but I’m of the opinion that Die Hard is definitely a Christmas movie, but Die Hard 2 is just a movie that takes place at Christmas.
The OG gives Christmas vibes, has lots of musical cues and small choices that play into that. I’m just not feeling it with the sequel.
Fully agreed.
Christmas is a central and recurring theme throughout Die Hard 1. From events happening at a Christmas party, to minimal staffing due to the holidays, to McClane’s presence in the city at all, to “Now I have a machine gun Ho-ho-ho”
