When it comes to making a great feel-good holiday movie, it doesn't take much to warm the heart and inspire the soul. Take a likeable actor in a likeable role and create circumstances that inevitably will end up with a positive take on family, life and everything. You can even play with the formula and end up with mostly the same result because hey, people always want and expect a happy ending.
Sometimes movies go a little further astray than you would expect. I'm not talking about how a fuzzy green Grinch can steal Christmas and then give it right back, all while Seussian songs make merry about the whole mess. I'm talking about how all manner of bad guys can come onto the scene, create their mayhem and enact their sinister plots while the good guys stumble along trying to make things right again.
If you're a fan of holiday movies but you're tired of the same old setup then here's a guide to some of the best and most unconventional titles in the genre, for your consideration.
Keeping it cool for the kids
When you think unconventional filmmakers, the name Tim Burton should pop up at some point. He's the mastermind behind such quirky delights as Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice, although his recent efforts like Alice in Wonderland haven't quite matched his earlier glory. Back in 1993 he produced a brilliant stop motion animated musical called The Nightmare Before Christmas.
The pumpkin king Jack Skellington takes over Christmas Town with the help of a horde of monsters. Santa gets kidnapped and there's a plethora of spooky and scary sights, like one character filled with bugs. Still, it's all in the spirit of peace and love and it all ends with a kiss. Not a bad entry on the list.
Going back almost a decade before that, another band of rogue creatures took over one town and threatened to spoil the season entirely. Gremlins was a hallmark of puppetry for its day but it ventures into horror territory much farther than Skellington ever did.
A man buys his son an unusual pet called a Mogwai but it comes with some strong conditions for its care: don't expose it to bright lights, don't get it wet and don't feed it after midnight. Naturally all of these happen and the Mogwai produces evil gremlins that look like green hairless cats. Mayhem ensues like you wouldn't believe. This one isn't for the very young.
For some reason, it's hard to ignore the sadistic ingenuity of Home Alone, a tale rife with violence but all in good fun. A boy named Kevin gets accidentally left at home by his vacationing family. He is the downtrodden son but as he learns to be on his own, he also has to protect his home from a couple of ne'er-do-wells who are trying to burgle every vacant house in the neighbourhood. The results are hilarious and bone crunching. Kevin has no trouble surviving independently but the bandits can barely survive him.
I couldn't possibly write this list without including A Christmas Story, possibly the most nostalgic movie ever. It is so effective that it makes me miss the 1940s and I was born in 1972. All that young Ralphie wants for Christmas is a BB gun but it's the snippets of his life that make this film so endearing. The pastiche of vignettes includes scenes of childhood like Ralphie sticking his tongue to a frosty flagpole and having to wash his mouth out with soap because he said a bad word. This is one movie that kids should watch with their parents.
A couple for the grown-ups
The late 1980s were really good for action movies based around Christmas. Lethal Weapon came out first. LAPD Detective Roger Murtaugh is partnered with a loose cannon named Martin Riggs as they try to solve a mystery involving high profile drug smugglers. While the story is as strong as wet wrapping paper, it's the intense Mel Gibson who pulls the movie along with his overblown emotionality and gruelling physical scenes. Christmas really has nothing to do with the story but the characters do learn about family at the end.
The next year Bruce Willis made his name as John McClane in Die Hard. He's an NYPD detective visiting his estranged wife in Los Angeles at Christmas. Terrorists take over the building and McClane must save his wife and escape the armed and extremely dangerous bad guys. He was fun to watch, especially because he showed that even movie good guys aren't superhuman but Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber was equally enjoyable.
If you're looking for more comedy then go to The Ref. The acerbic chain smoking Denis Leary plays Gus, a smooth criminal who must hide out to escape the law after a bungled burglary on Christmas Eve. He takes Lloyd and Caroline Chasseur hostage in their house without first realizing that they are both bitter as their marriage teeters on the verge of collapse. The dialogue is like verbal pinball as all three bicker their way through an evening of psychological therapy and sheer hilarity. Kevin Spacey has never been so funny.
Finally Scrooged is just about the best live action take on Dickens' A Christmas Carol that I've ever seen. Bill Murray is Frank Cross, a real jerk of a TV executive who has lost everything and everybody while he was in pursuit of success and money. While his station broadcasts a live version of the Dickens' play, he starts to experience the same visions of the three ghosts of Christmas. It's predictable but you just can't beat Murray as far as I'm concerned. Plus it has one of the best Annie Lennox songs on the soundtrack in Put a Little Love in Your Heart.
There you have it. There's no point mentioning other unconventional movies like Santa Claus vs. the Martians or any of the numerous horror movies like Silent Night, Deadly Night. A holiday movie shouldn't leave a bad taste in your mouth like rancid eggnog. It should still lift your spirit and remind you that it's good to be good and nothing beats having your family around you.
