The 7 Darkest Christmas Movies For All Us Holiday Cynics To Enjoy

Who doesn’t love the holidays?

Providing some much-needed warmth amidst the bleakest days of winter, the holiday season comes filled with cheerful activities we all look forward to. There’s the festive lighting of Christmas trees, the satisfaction of buying a loved one the perfect gift, and, of course, the dozens upon dozens of holiday-themed movies and shows playing on TV throughout December.

While there’s certainly nothing wrong with rewatching It’s a Wonderful Life or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer every time the stockings and Christmas lights come out, we’d also like to remind audiences of just how many other great (albeit incredibly dark) holiday movies there are worth watching. For those looking for a more cynical alternative to beloved holiday classics, here are seven less-than-jolly films we recommend seeing this winter season.

Die Hard (1988)

Ah, yes, the ancient debate we all participate in every December: “Is Die Hard a Christmas movie or just a plain old action movie?” As much as detractors might argue otherwise, we’re going to go ahead and attest that Die Hard is indeed a Christmas movie (after all, there’s a holiday party, Santa Claus costumes, and more than a few holiday jingles sprinkled throughout). As iconic a Christmas movie as Miracle on 34th Street or The Grinch, Die Hard is a holiday action movie that simply cannot be missed, expertly combining comedy, thrills, and explosive chills throughout its two-hour runtime.

Black Christmas (1974)

Four years before Michael Myers stalked through Haddonfield’s suburban streets on Halloween night, director Bob Clark (ironically best known for A Christmas Story) laid the blueprints for the slasher genre with his monumental 1974 film, Black Christmas. Influencing practically every slasher film that came after it, Black Christmas’s eerie simplicity leaves viewers wracked with fear from its electric start to its haunting conclusion. Rather than utilizing random jump scares or gratuitous violence, Clark channels a more psychological approach to the horror genre, opting for budding suspense in lieu of overly stylized blood and gore.

Better Watch Out (2016)

Better Watch Out may not be the most well-known holiday thriller, but it’s undoubtedly among the best. An indie psychological horror film filled with plot twists left and right, just when you suspect you know which direction the film’s going, Better Watch Out swerves in an entirely new direction. Lampooning everything from Home Alone to Scream and Black Christmas, Better Out Watch is a delightfully twisted thriller impossible to stop watching once you’ve hit play.

Violent Night (2022)

We wouldn’t describe Violent Night as dark necessarily, but any movie featuring Santa demolishing armed guards with an ax, an ice skate, and a candy cane shiv isn’t in the same family-friendly category as The Polar Express. Using its kitschy plot line to deliver an equal number of laughs and thrills, Violent Night asks the ultimate hypothetical question: “What if Santa faced off against the bad guys in Die Hard?” Spoiler alert – the answer is surprisingly entertaining (and more than a little gory).

Gremlins (1984)

We don’t really know what to classify Gremlins as, the entire film feeling like a madcap fever dream that merges horror, fantasy, and comedy into one unholy combination. However, given the fact that it’s one of the main films that triggered the creation of the PG-13 rating, we can’t help but feel its placement on this list is more than justified. While its dark humor and demonic puppetry might prove a bit hard for some young viewers to handle, most people return to Gremlins every time the Christmas trees go up and holiday music begins to play on the radio. 

Scrooged (1988)

We’ve seen many different adaptations of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol over the years, from animated Disney versions to Muppets-populated musicals. As many different iterations of Dickens’ immortal classic have come out, however, Scrooged undoubtedly ranks among the best (and most imaginative) of the bunch. Cleverly reinventing A Christmas Carol for the modern age, Scrooged’s biting, often sardonic humor might be a tad too mean-spirited for some, but most will find themselves doubled over with laughter every time Bill Murray faces off against a meddlesome spirit from beyond the grave.

Bad Santa (2003)

Christmas heist movies are hardly a new phenomenon, as seen with such well-loved movies as Die Hard, for example. Yet even then, Bad Santa finds a way to turn the holiday heist film on its head, ushering in a comedy crime film as dark and sardonic as It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia or Curb Your Enthusiasm. Casting Billy Bob Thornton as an alcoholic, self-centered, misanthropic thief posing as a mall Santa, Bad Santa’s biting sense of humor never fails to leave viewers offended, discomforted, yet heartily chuckling throughout.