Top 5: Not-So-Merry Christmas Movies
This year, instead of cozying up next to the fire with the heartwarming movies you see replayed every Christmas Day, why not remember what else the holidays can be about with these not so typical Christmas movies.
5. Eyes Wide Shut
Sexy psychological thrillers aren’t your idea of a Christmas movie? Director Stanley Kubrick believed that his film about a sexually frustrated couple was better told around the holiday season. When we realize in the end of the film that the Christmas spirit has a significant affect on the marriage of the main characters played by Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise, you can’t help but praise the unique accomplishments of this masterful director in his final film.
4. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
What brings together the stories of a washed out private eye, a struggling actress and a thief posing as an actor? You guessed it. In “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” you’ll see Christmas in a completely new light as Robert Downey Jr. plays Harry: a thief who gets mixed up in a complex murder mystery as he attempts to steal a Christmas present for his niece. As a cult film that’s loaded with dark comedy, hilarious performances and an intricate plot, “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” is not on everyone’s list, but was original and strange enough to make it on this one.
3. Edward Scissorhands
Three years before he produced “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” Tim Burton directed an obscure film about a harmless young man who happens to have scissors for hands. As the culmination of the story takes place on Christmas and uses the loneliness of the title character to remind viewers about the meaning of the holiday, “Edward Scissorhands” is the only film on this list that is able to capture a truly sincere holiday message.
2. Die Hard
Why say “Bah humbug” when you can say “Yippie kay-yay?” If you ever had the idea of crashing a Christmas party, this film is sure to make you think again. Bruce Willis plays John McClane; a New York City cop who courageously stands up against a terrorist group taking hostages at a high-rise business party on Christmas Eve. Aside from ranking on this list of classic Christmas movies, this film is also considered to be one of the greatest action movies of all time.
1. Gremlins
Instead of coming with warnings to protect you from “shooting your eye out,” a young man receives an adorable pet Mogwai with three simple rules: keep it out of the light; don’t get it wet and never feed it after midnight. It’s inherently obvious that holiday horror has never been as much fun as the Gremlins terrorizing the snow soaked streets of a once peaceful holiday town. Since “Gremlins” is constructed with a unique blend of holiday humor and horror, it’s no wonder some people couldn’t shake that paranoid feeling when they first received a Furby for Christmas.
