The holidays are a time for many things. Spending time with loved ones. Taking a break from work. Eating your weight in sweets before kicking off your January #fitnessgoals. And, of course, watching movies. Holiday movies, that is. Christmas movies, that is. If you’re on vacation with nothing to do but spread holiday cheer during the nicest and, let’s face it, most stressful time of year, sometimes you don’t want to watch Home Alone or How the Grinch Stole Christmas, or It’s a Wonderful Life or Elf for the gazillionth time.
And yet, not watching at least one Christmas movie during Christmas time just feels kind of wrong, somehow. Something about it doesn’t seem right. For those times when you’re not feeling the holiday spirit but still want to watch something seasonally appropriate, we’ve got you covered with this list of anti-Christmas Christmas movies for people who simply can’t stand normal Christmas movies.
To accomplish this, we’ve chosen a mix of films from across the anti-Christmas spectrum: Action movies that just happen to be set during the holiday, horror movies that use Christmas as a backdrop for depravity and violence, comedies that just happen to be set during Yuletide for no particular reason, dramas that find the ugliness buried beneath the holiday spirit.
In all of these movies, Christmas is little more than set dressing — there are no sweet messages of peace and love at the end, and very few of these will leave you feeling particularly cheerful. For all the bah humbug haters out there, we see you. This one’s for you.
(Note: Die Hard is not on this list. As has long been established, Die Hard is a Christmas movie.)
Great Christmas Movies for People Who Hate Christmas Movies
Gallery Credit: Emma Stefansky
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Gallery Credit: Erica Russell
