The 10 best unconventional Christmas films

The Christmas movies are a must during the holidays, a manifestation of a common sentiment capable of renewing itself every year. Over time, however, even Christmas storytelling on the big screen has adapted to a series of quite repetitive and cliché clichés. For those looking for a different, less predictable, less banal Christmas, the following is a ranking of films that deviate from the norm to discover. Action, horror, comedies, and auteur films that have something capable of surprising you and giving you a different Christmas than usual. 

Here, then, are 10 alternative Christmas films not to be missed.   

10. Scary Christmas (2016)

For those who love scary Christmases, you can't start without Scary Christmas by Chris Peckover. A young babysitter and two kids who are nothing short of pests are all you need for a memorable Christmas Eve. Scary Christmas is a horror-thriller where we find not only the distortion of Christmas as a holiday but also a whole cinematography that, between comedy and children's films, has often made the narration of this day a monument to boredom. Here, there is no boredom at all, with references to Home Alone and many iconic domestic horror classics. 

9. The Family Man (2000)

A tasty fantasy comedy that combines many elements from It's a Wonderful Life by Frank Capra and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, The Family Man by Brett Ratner stars the wealthy and lonely Jack Campbell, played by Nicolas Cage. Thanks to an elf named Cash (Don Cheadle), Campbell finds himself in a parallel reality where he never left his high school girlfriend Kate (Téa Leoni), has become a father, a moderately successful but rich lawyer full of love and human warmth. The Family Man is not a film with a revolutionary plot, but it stands out for its characterization and atmosphere, simultaneously fierce and melancholic, with an intriguing anti-capitalist message. It reminds us that Christmas is a time for reflection, a moment to realize what one has built in one's life.

 8. Office Christmas Party (2016)

 

Christmas also means office parties, an event that we all fear and often try to avoid with the most absurd excuses. Office Christmas Party by Will Speck and Josh Gordon is a zany and raunchy comedy, perfect for spending Christmas Eve laughing even at one's own misfortunes. The protagonists are Josh, played by Jason Bateman, Clay (T. J. Miller), and Olivia Munn as Tracy, three employees of a company that threatens to fire half of its employees for low productivity. The party they organize to try to persuade magnate Walter Davis to help them will be a marvel of chaos and destruction. 

 

7. Krampus (2015)

The Krampus, for those who don't know, is a demon who, according to tradition, accompanies Santa Claus on his journey to punish naughty children. That's exactly what Michael Dougherty does in 2015, making it the nemesis of a strong horror, where a family will try as best they can to survive the monster's persecutions, furious at their selfishness and superficiality. Krampus is one of the best variations on the theme in recent years, but it doesn't shy away from considerable doses of black humor, using the most famous Christmas elements to provide scares and laughs in equal measure. Despite the tight budget, it is also visually very satisfying.

 

6. Spencer (2021)

 

Pablo Larrain's biopic dedicated to Lady Diana is set during the Christmas holidays of 1991 when the royal family gathered at Sandringham, Norfolk. Kristen Stewart was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of the unfortunate Lady D, in a film where the Christmas atmosphere gradually gives way to a sort of psychological thriller, where family as a refuge becomes a trap and cage. Extraordinary from an aesthetic point of view, Spencer is a mix of fantasy and analysis of the oppression of the female figure from a historical and family perspective, where even Christmas gifts and festivities represent an enemy for the unfortunate Princess.

5. Silent Night (2022)

If you're looking for a Santa Claus different from the norm, Silent Night by Tommy Wirkola is what you're looking for. The protagonist is David Harbour, in the role of Santa Claus who, after many years, has lost enthusiasm for his job. On Christmas Eve, while about to deliver a gift to little Trudi, the house is invaded by a group of criminals led by Mr. Scrooge (John Leguizamo). From that moment, Santa Claus will stop taking care of reindeer and gifts, dispensing blows, blood, and revenge. Silent Night is the perfect dark action comedy to literally shred Christmas, now turned into a consumerist and vulgar event, here parodied in an exaggerated yet satisfying way. 

 

4. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

The last masterpiece of the great Stanley Kubrick, Eyes Wide Shut, is a disturbing and fascinating examination of human relationships and, above all, on hypocrisy in society. On Christmas Eve, Dr. Bill Harford and his wife Alice, played by Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, confess their unsatisfied fantasies and forbidden dreams. It will be the beginning of a hesitant and disturbing journey into perdition and the forbidden for Bill, in a New York where the Christmas atmosphere is swept away by secret societies and promiscuity. Disturbing and enchanting, Eyes Wide Shut reminds us how often Christmas celebrations are empty ceremonies, covering anxieties, fears, and regrets of lives that have never truly been fulfilled.  

 

3. Klaus (2019)

Among the most beautiful Christmas animated films of all time, Klaus by Sergio Pablos deserved more success at the box office, given its extraordinary visual beauty accompanied by an original and very pleasant narrative. The protagonist is the young and spoiled Jesper who, not to lose a rich inheritance, is forced to accept working as a mailman on a frozen island at the North Pole. It will be he who convinces Klaus, a local woodsman, to give toys to local children. Klaus is a Christmas origin story very different from the norm, where themes like altruism, selfishness, and the birth of the holiday as a collective phenomenon are fused together in perfect harmony. 

 

2. Die Hard (1988)

The film by John McTiernan that started the legendary saga of agent John McClane and launched Bruce Willis is set on Christmas Eve in Los Angeles, in a skyscraper owned by a Japanese multinational. McClane, there to try to mend his relationship with his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia), will find himself facing a group of heavily armed terrorists, led by the cold and cruel Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman). Die Hard is not only the best action film of the '80s but also a perfect film to have a much more adrenaline-filled and fun Christmas than usual, thanks to the incredible charisma of Willis and the magnetism of Rickman, who gave us one of the greatest villains of all time. 

 

1. Bad Santa (2003)

An unmissable cult for anyone who values an alternative view of Christmas, Bad Santa by Terry Zwigoff follows the adventures of an alcoholic and unreliable Billy Bob Thornton, in the role of Willie, a petty thief who, along with partner Marcus (Tony Cox), pretends to be Santa Claus in shopping malls and then robs them big time. Willie's journey of redemption, trying in some way to leave crime behind, is one of the most irreverent, entertaining, and vulgar ever seen. Bad Santa tops our list also for the complexity of the atmosphere, dominated by a vein of melancholy like any respectable zany comedy.