piefed.zeromedia.vipWhat's a lesser known Christmas movie worth a watch?
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LadyButterfly she/herWe all know the big ones… what’s a less famous one worth watching?
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.
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
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.
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.
Lovely film.
Forgot this on my list. Absolutely fantastic.
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.
That’s one of my all-time favorite Christmas movies!
Rare Exports
Nice one!
I was scrolling to see if anyone put this up.
Great movie, I haven’t seen it in some years so it is time to watch it again.
Ernest Saves Christmas
Dang I had forgotten about the Ernest movies. I used to love them as a kid. Nice pull!
Love Ernest! There is a new comic coming out soon that’s a kinda-sorta sequel to Ernest Scared Stupid
The Holdovers (2023) is very good
The Long Kiss Goodnight.
Peak form Geena Davis as an amnesiac housewife who slowly remembers that she’s actually a government assassin. Samuel Jackson is the comic releif.
“I am on the PTA!”
“Then quit!”
So many great scenes.
Shane Black & Renny Harlin bringing the business!
It’s the #FridayThrillerClub watch party movie on Mastodon tonight, starting at US Eastern 19.30.
https://eggplant.place/collection/0GucpByyRr4oSccNXROVYr
bad santa
Bad Santa is my favorite Christmas movie. Bad Santa 2, however, was kinda meh.
definitely gratuitous sequels
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.
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
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.
Holiday Mismatch came out on Hallmark last year and was pretty good for a Hallmark movie. Reuniting the actresses from Sabrina the Teenage witch was the main draw for me.
Not sure on everyone’s definition of big, but lesser known and not obviously Christmas themed would include:
Trading Places! I’d forgotten it’s a Christmas movie!
The Holdovers is fantastic.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14849194/
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!
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.
Being set during Christmas, eyes wide shut is technically a Christmas movie.
Not the best for the kids.
Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas
Hands down the best Christmas movie that no one talks about. I love this movie.
8bit Christmas was great for a child of the 80s like me.
Violent Night is a guilty pleasure.
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.
Wanted to thank you for this rec, it now sits right next to Klaus on my Christmas watchlist!
These are relatively popular but a bit untypical: The Holdovers, The Snowman, The Family Stone, The Shop Around the Corner, Prancer, Eyes Wide Shut (nsfw), The Green Knight, Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point, The End of the Tour.
Went to a Christmas movie when I was a kid in the late 60’s or early 70’s. It was some low key film about a father living alone with his son. I don’t remember hardly anything else about it but his son died at the end. I was bummed out and though that was a stupid Christmas movie. What did my parents send me to?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Christmas_Tree_(1969_film) ?
The Ice Harvest
I thought you meant the ice storm and I was thinking it’s not the kind of movie to put you in the Christmas mood! Very heavy but a good movie nonetheless. I think it’s set after Thanksgiving rather than before Christmas but there are stereotypical festive parties in it.
The Ice Storm (1997) — The Movie Database (TMDB) https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/68924-the-ice-storm
Jack Frost.
No, not that one…
Jack Frost horror film > Keaton Jack Frost fo sho.
2018’s Christmas Chronicles was an instant staple for us.
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”
Not sure if it counts as a movie, but I’ve loved Rich Little’s Christmas Carol for decades. Rich Little was/is a master impersonator and he plays all the major roles in A Christmas Carol with characters that would have been well known back in the 1970s. W. C. Fields as Scrooge. Richard Nixon as Marley. Johnny Carson as Freddie. You get the idea. It was my favorite version of that story until The Muppets, and still ranks as my second favorite.
Edit: you can find it on YouTube
Ebbie
Just for its sheer badosity, a 1950s movie made in Mexico, just called Santa Claus. Santa vs. the devil, I shit you not.
three of my favourite go to Christmas movies:
Brazil
Blast of Silence
Batman Returns
(all B’s, weird)
Brazil you wouldn’t think is a christmas movie but it is and it’s easily my favourite Terry Gilliam movies.
Blast of Silence is an old movie but it’s a unique one about a lonely hitman whose returned to New York City for christmas and how the city itself as kinda left him behind.
Batman Returns IS a christmas movie and easily my favourite Batman flick. watch it every year.
Batman Returns isn’t just a Christmas movie, it’s a Batman spin on A Christmas Carol. Penguin represents Bruce’s past, Catwoman his present, and Schreck his future.
interesting take. I haven’t watched this movie in probably decades..but this will make me rewatch it. Thanks!
A Biltmore Christmas.
Especially good if you like Star Trek cameos!
Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
Click & Collect starring Asim Chaudhry and Stephen Merchant.
“Die Weihnachtsgans Auguste” by Günter Rätz. I guess one can understand most of it without speaking German.
Bernard and the genie
Holly Star
Tangerine
Christmas, Again
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas%2C_Again
I have not seen it but it gets good reviews. Love to hear from someone who has.
Fantastic Fables
The Ref (1994) and A Wish For Wings That Work (1991)
A Clüsterfünke Christmas (2021) is a decent satire on Hallmark Christmas movies
I mentioned this in another thread recently:
Cooper’s Christmas (aka Cooper’s Camera)
Jason Jones, Samantha Bee, Dave Foley and the very excellent Mike Beaver.
It’s my favourite Canadian Christmas comedy B-movie, a very specific genre to be sure.
In the UK The Great Escape (1963) has become synonymous with Christmas through a mixture of nostalgia, seasonal hope and just plain repetition in the broadcast schedules:
https://www.eckleburg.org/the-big-x-why-the-great-escape-still-captures-a-particularly-british-christmas/
National Lampoon Christmas Vacation 2
Cousin Eddie’s Island Vacation