I’m looking for Christmas-themed films that are not the usual mainstream picks. No Hallmark-style movies, Home Alone, Love Actually, or Die Hard. I’m more interested in something unconventional, maybe atmospheric, slightly dark, melancholic, weird, or just different in tone.
Foreign films are very welcome as well.
I’m open to older or lesser-known movies as long as they have a strong mood and feel connected to the Christmas season in an unusual way.
UPD: Just wanted to thank you for so many suggestions!! I just hope I have enough holidays to watch all of the movies you've told me about xD
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)
Krampus (2015)
Klaus (2019)
Wow. A list (of three but still) that I can support 100%.
I think that is a first for me.
Klaus was such a nice surprise.
Wholesome is not a tag that usually works for me, but Klaus hit all the right notes
2nd Rare Exports
3rd Rare Exports
Klaus - best ever!
Impeccable suggestions. All three of these are absolute bangers.
Thirding Rare Exports. Love it so much
Tokyo Godfathers
My local cinema played that on Christmas Eve last year, what a beautiful movie ♥️
Loved this. Watched it a few days back on YT since Sony Pictures uploaded a dubbed version in my language.
This is the one.
Is The Ref mainstream? If not, The Ref (1994)
You’re husband ain’t dead, lady. He’s hiding.
Definitely not mainstream, but still great
Not mainstream, but an absolutely fantastic movie
Eyes Wide Shut
The Apartment. This one really captures the aura of what the holidays are like for lonely people.
Violent Night was great.
Great film, it's on my annual Xmas movie watch list. Hope the sequel next year is just as good.
The newest movie to be added to my family's Xmas list
Tangerine is a very unconventional Christmas film.
Jug-band Christmas!
And I assume you know A Christmas Story, right?
Emmit Otter’s Jug Band Christmas is a Jim Henson classic!
We just watched Uncle Otter’s for the first time the other night. Great stuff!
I’ve always thought of Edward Scissorhands as a holiday movie as a number of scenes in the film take place at Christmas, particularly toward the end, and it was originally released during the holidays.
The Shop Around The Corner (1940). Cute movie I watched last night on Hulu.
Remade into “You’ve Got Mail” (1998)
This is one pair that I really love both the original and the remake. Both different but in their own time.
The Ref
The Lion in Winter
+1000 for The Ref.
My go-to’s for this:
The Family Man (2000)
The Holdovers (2023)
Hugo (2011) - not christmas but it might as well be, it feels like a christmas movie
I second the holdovers
Third the holdovers.
It isn’t mainstream in the sense that it takes place at Christmas but isn’t wholly centered on Christmas and it isn’t a happy film. It centers on themes of loss, grief, identity, loneliness etc that the characters navigate throughout the Christmas season, a season that other movies portray as full of love/family/happiness/etc.
Also, the end of the film doesn’t wrap everything up in a warm, satisfying, conflict-free bow like almost every other Christmas film.
Don’t forget it’s laugh out loud funny in places as well as all of the above. It’s our new Christmas favourite
Yes! It’s not entirely bleak. It’s our new favorite too. We just had our annual viewing last night
The reason I like it as a Christmas movie is that I do feel the ending is warm and satisfying, but not in the way you would expect. I think it's a very emotional movie all around, but the way it wraps up is okay.
Love love love The Holdovers. I happened to catch it just before Thanksgiving in the theater again, but will absolutely be watching on Christmas Eve as part of a new tradition I started last year, haha.
The Holdovers has taken three years to become my favourite Christmas movie.
I’ve liked the storytelling from the beginning, but this year I watched it through the “Is this really a Christmas movie?” lens.
My god, is it ever!
SPOILERS
Where do I start?
Let's look at the main character's arc: He's spent his entire career teaching like the Old Testament, tough-love God, until a woman named Mary Lamb convinces him to act more like New Testament Jesus. As a result, he actually has an impact on a student for the first time in his career.
Then he sacrifices himself for the boy.
Paul keeps bringing up a quote from Cicero: Non nobis solum nati sumus. “Not for ourselves alone are we born.”Cicero was B.C., but that kind of describes Jesus, does it not?
Then you have the elite private school setting—ideal for exploring how indifferent the wealthy and privileged can be toward those who are poor and suffering (Kountze toward Mary, the Harvard plagiarist toward Paul). That's straight out of A Christmas Carol.
Jesus is the son of God, and father-son relationships are all over this movie. When Paul tells Angus, "You are not your father. You are your own man," he is really telling him to believe in something he can't see. So there’s the faith piece.
I mean, they even spend Christmas Eve in the infirmary because the dorms aren't available. Do I need to go on?
The Holdovers isn't mainstream? It was nominated for best picture.
Being nominated doesn't mean the movie is mainstream.
Then what does make a movie mainstream? It was a box office success, critical darling, it gets recommended constantly, and it has a whole wikipedia page for it's awards including 5 Oscar nominations and 1 win.
It's only mainstream among movie buffs. I am consistently bringing this movie up and people have no idea what I'm talking about. When I mention a boarding school and Paul Giamatti, some people vaguely remember seeing the trailer
"The Holdovers" made $47M (so like a dozen people saw the movie) off of a $13M budget. That's a small FINANCIAL success but hardly a box office success.
"Home Alone" made $467M at the box office (so more than a dozen people saw "Home Alone").
Now "A Christmas Story" as not a box office success. It made $19M and I was one of the 15 people to see that movie in the theaters.
"A Christmas Story" like "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" are played non-stop on cable TV around the holidays to make it "mainstream" "The Holdovers"? I'd bet 90% of the US population has never heard of the movie despite being a movie critics' darling.
It fits like 90% of the prompt, so why be butthurt about it? Get on with your life. Arguing semantics is rarely a good thing
The Apartment (1960)
Metropolitan (1990) is a little-known but classic holiday coming-of-age and romance about upper-class young NYCers during debutante ball season. It's fascinating, funny, sweet, and nostalgic.
Love this movie. Wish there were more movies with this style of comedy.
This may or may not fit your parameters, but I always liked Scrooged (1988).
Rare Exports
Was coming here to recommend this one.
One Magic Christmas. It's a Disney film from the '80s, but it's surprisingly dark and is certainly atmospheric.
Can confirm, just watched this one last night and loved it.
I remember this one from my childhood, but only vaguely. It was dark as a kid.
Trading Places
The Man who Invented Christmas - about Dickens writing A Christmas Carol.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Also Lethal Weapon for a nice Shane Black Christmas double feature
Throw in The Long Kiss Goodnight for good measure. He really does like using Christmas as a backdrop...
I think with the themes in Lethal Weapon it’s much more of a Christmas movie than Die Hard
Watched this on a date last night, I laughed harder than he did but this was a great suggestion, we both had a good time
The Ref
Life of Brian
There’s just no pleasing some people.
Since people already said Tokyo Godfathers and the Holdovers, Millions is Danny Boyle's odd little mostly soft, sometimes sad little Christmas movie.
Just discovered Repeat Performance and Blast of Silence this year. Both are existential noirs.
Repeat Performance is like "It's A Wonderful Life" but with murder and new years. Time loop kinda movie where the main character gets to live the year over.
Blast of Silence is kinda proto-Grosse Point Blank. A hit man returns home to Manhattan to do a job but gets re-entangled with his past. Awesome jazz score and shot on location
Oh also! AD/BC is a musical parody of Jesus Christ Superstar written and starring Matt Berry as the innkeeper and covering the events of the nativity. The songs are great and it's absolutely absurd. if you like Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and music you'll likely love this.
Santa Claus: The Movie (1985) is a lot rolled into one: atmospheric, hilarious, and dark. It's got a bit of a Willy Wonka feel at times.
Beautiful Girls and Feast of the Seven Fishes
Beautiful Girls is an interesting choice. Not so much a Christmas movie but a winter movie, and truly wonderful.
Anna and the Apocalypse
A zombie-apocalypse Christmas musical! What more could you possibly want?
This has quickly become a yearly must watch at Christmas in my house.
The songs are so catchy!
This one made it into my yearly rotation because of my horror-loving husband. The soundtrack slaps.
Oooh, 12 Monkeys might fit what you’re looking for
I adore this movie as a Christmas film. Great choice!
Definitely a top favorite movie of all time!
Terry Gilliam at his finest. Never thought of this as a Christmas movie, but I can totally see it now!
This isn't for everyone, but my daughter and I love watching the BBC production of "The Hogfather" at Christmas, based on the Terry Pratchett novel.
We're No Angels , 1955 Christmas adjacent, crime comedy, great cast
Fellowship of the ring somehow feels like a christmas movie for me. No idea why. Harry potter movies as well.
The Silent Partner
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Rare Exports!
It's such a great film
Rare Exports!!
The ref
Is there a fucking waste of life named Murray here?
The Ref
Great. I just beat up Santa Claus.
Joyeux Noel. It's about the 1914 Christmas truce. It's a war movie but no film exemplifies the Christmas spirit more. It's in several languages as well as English.
Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
The Green Knight
Thank me later
Gremlins... I know it's kind of popular but
Very popular
Meet John Doe (1941). It is classic Frank Capra movie. Its connection to Christmas is for the sake of the climax.
This is a sweet one, and quite frankly my favorite Capra. Great pick!
The Ice Harvest
Trapped in Paradise
Mothman Prophecies is a Christmas movie.
I can't post a link but search YouTube for "Connie asks John to spend Christmas with her."
“The Ref” is pretty funny and takes place at Christmas. Also “The Man Who Came to Dinner” if you like black-and-white films.
What are we girlfriends? Do I give a shit about this? No.
Friday After Next
Santa and the ice cream bunny. Free on Tubi. Watch the Rifftrax version.
Black Christmas, Eyes Wide Shut
The Day of the Beast aka El Die de la Bestia.
A Catholic monk and a metal head team up to stop the antichrist being born on Christmas Eve.
In Bruges
Night of the Hunter
Edward Scissorhands
Scrooged (the most true Xmas movie of these four, but I think the others still meet the OP’s request!)
I second In Bruges and of course Scrooged. Just watched it last night!
LOVE Night of the Hunter
Klaus!
Anna and the Apocalypse
The Ref.
@itsjustcinema on Instagram has been posting obscure and underrated Xmas movies for all 12days of Xmas. Here is what has been listed so far:
Morven Callar - directed by Lynne Ramsey (this one seems like it might fit your ask)
The Long Day Closes - directed by Terence Davies
Brazil - directed by Terry Gilliam
Blast of Silence - directed by Allen Baron
Go - directed by Doug Liman
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg - directed by Jacque Demy
A Tale of Winter - directed by Eric Rohmer
A Christmas Tale - directed by Arnaud Desplechin
The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales - directed by Benjamin Renner and Patrick Imbert
The Snow Queen - directed by Alec Atamanov
Less than Zero
Anna and the Apocalypse
Anna and the Apocalypse
Three Godfathers from 1948 is a western with John Wayne and Ward Bond. It’s about three outlaws who risk their lives to rescue a baby.
The great rupert. My favorite Christmas movie
"A Midnight Clear" A group of GIs think they'll spend Christmas just lounging in an Ardennes chateau.
Violent Night
Not sure if these count as mainstream or not... but some that come to mind
Fanny and Alexander (television version) - despite 'television version' it's basically a long film, and I think fits a lot of the criteria, atmospheric, slightly dark, and melancholic, kind of surreal in places, it's also a foreign movie, probably my favorite from Ingmar Bergman
Dekalog 1 - This is an hour long film, that's part of a series of ten films by Krzysztof Kieślowski (Double Life of Veronqiue, Three Colors Triology), again it meets the criteria of being dark, melancholic, and foreign
Night of the Hunter - This is a very famous movie, but perhaps not usually thought of as a Christmas film, but I think works as one, as has a Christmas ending, and it has a fairy tale aspect that fits the theme as well
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg - Again not a Christmas movie per se, but it has Christmas within the film, and it kind of fits overall, outside of a few, I'm not really into musicals but this is one of may favorite films of all time
Anna and the Apocalypse
The Merry Gentleman,
Reindeer Games
Mixed Nuts starring Steve Martin, about a group of crisis (ie suicide) hotline workers on Christmas Eve.
Thank you! I just remembered a friend recommended this last year. 😊
Danny Boyle's "Millions". it's magical.
The Man Who Came to Dinner is a scathingly funny black comedy that takes place during Xmas. Bette Davis is great in it.
Christmas Eve at Miller’s Point (2024)
Christmas, Again (2014)
Comfort and Joy (1984)
Dead End (2003)
Our go-to for this is Tangerine.
The War of the Roses (1989)
It’s one of those so bad it’s good movies. The Hebrew Hammer. About Santa’s evil son (Andy Dick) who wants to destroy Hanukkah.
Violent Night is fun.
Star Wars Holiday Special
Mon Oncle Antoine
The Long Day Closes
The Holdovers
Tokyo Godfathers
Eyes Wide Shut
The Ref
The Ref.
Every year I watch RENT, a year in the life that opens and closes at Christmas
The Baltimorons
If you're into horror at all, I recommend Black Christmas (1974), Krampus (2015), Anna and the Apocalypse, which is a zombie musical (2018), and Christmas Evil. Gremlins is also a great non-traditional Christmas movie.
The Ref is a funny Anti-Christmas movie. With Dennis O’Leary and Kevin Spacey.
Read through this sub - this is getting asked a lot with the same suggestions being made.
Just Friends. Comedy with Ryan Reynolds and Amy Smart
Tangerine
The family stone
A movie about truly awful people.
Trapped In Paradise
Gremlins
All Mine To Give
Mystery Science 3000's Santa Claus
Pee-Wee's Christmas Special
Batman Returns
Ollie The Other Reindeer
A Very Murray Christmas
A Christmas Story Christmas
edit:
Snowman
Bear
Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence
Tim & Eric Crimbus Special
All Mine To Give is a great pick. If you're a fan of the more tear-filled holiday films, Blossoms in the Dust is another forgotten classic.
Thanks for the rec! Been trying to watch more stuff from that era. All Mine To Give is one my mom stumbled upon years ago and we now watch at Christmas.
Absolutely echo anyone suggesting Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010), it's a winner. Tokyo Godfathers (2003), The Ref (1994), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), 8-Bit Christmas (2021), Joyeux Noël (2005), All Is Bright (2013), Better Watch Out (2016) best viewed knowing as little as possible, Deadly Games /Dial Code Santa Claus (1989), Trapped in Paradise (1994), Just Another Christmas (2020).
I just watched The Night Before for the first time last night and it was pretty damn funny.
Feast of the Seven Fishes (2019)
Funny Farm (second half).
A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas or Bad Santa
Joyeux Noel The Ice Harvest
Krampus
Violent Night
Christmas in August
Funny Farm
https://letterboxd.com/drewgsmith/list/gimme-all-your-christmas-all-your-toys-and/
Christmas Again. It's from 2015, about a guy who works at a Christmas tree lot in New York. It's great.
The House Without a Christmas Tree - old classic that's probably one of the darker holiday flicks from this era.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Last Christmas. The holiday with Queen Latifah.
Edward Scissorhands
29th Street is a little-known movie set around Christmas.
It's the true-ish story of "the world's luckiest man" played by Anthony Lapaglia and what happens when he buys a lottery ticket.
Surviving Christmas and Office Christmas Party
Fat Man it's definitely a darker version
Thanks for making this post, as I’ve been having a similar itch. I watched Serendipity last night, and it’s bookended by Christmas but isn’t seasonal, if you’re in the mood for a romantic comedy.
Nobody’s fool. (Not really Christmas but takes place during Christmas. I love the movie and book)
christmas evil
I really be like Klaus. I’m a bit of a Scrooge when it comes to Christmas movies, and this one is really good.
Unaccompanied Minors
You may appreciate A Very Murray Christmas.
Better Watch Out
The Christmas Toy.
I love Joyeux Noel.
It’s about Christmas Eve during WWII, when the soldiers defied orders and celebrated Christmas together.
Love and Peace.
There's Something in the Barn.
There's Something in the Barn
Mixed nuts! Rip rob and Michele
Larceny, Inc.
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Bad Santa is a good cult classic if you haven't seen it yet.
Gremlins
It Happened on 5th Avenue.
Christmas Bloody Christmas for a horror comedy b-movie.
Violent Night - 2022 - Stars Sheriff of Stranger Things as drunk grumpy Santa that runs into some thief's holding a family hostage in their mansion on Christmas. Turns out Santa is no Saint. Is a good one. Watch the Trailer.
Fat Man - 2020 - Mel Gibson - Walter Goggins - Walter hires a hit man to kill Santa because he got a lump of coal for Christmas. Watch the Trailer.
Both are very cute.
Mixed Nuts
The Advent Calendar
Child's Play (1988)
Dial Code Santa Claus
Christmas at Pee-Wee's Playhouse
Black Christmas (1974)
Body (2015)
Christmas in the clouds (2001). It’s not dark but it’s fun and different.
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"Santa Claus is a Bastard" and "Gremlins" are my favorites!!
I just watched the Trailer Park Boys Xmas special and it was very entertaining.
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Prancer
Annabelle's Wish
Christmas in Connecticut
Mixed Nuts. 1994 comedy. Very funny, great cast.