The winter-timed holidays are nothing if not a collection of traditions. Some are religious-themed festivals, each with its own distinct practices, while others celebrate the alignment of the earth with the sun. Everyone has their own beliefs and traditions, but no holiday has as many traditions as Christmas. Some countries honor St. Nicholas (the inspiration for Santa Claus), while others teach their children to fear the youngin-stealing Krampus. The English like wearing paper crowns and eating gross desserts, while Americans like getting drunk on eggnog, gifting fruit cake to people we hate, and going overboard on presents and decorations.
However you celebrate it, I think we can all agree that few things fill one with the Christmas spirit quite like a movie set around the holidays. Of course, not every Christmas movie is destined to become a classic, bringing families to gather around the TV screen every year with their hot cocoa. These are the movies that, for better or for worse, have stood the test of time and have taken their place alongside the Rankin/Bass specials and A Charlie Brown Christmas to become part of families’ annual holiday festivities.
Here are the 50 Greatest Christmas Movies of All Time.
40. Tangerine (2015)
There’s a sub-category of Christmas movies for folks who just aren’t feeling the holiday spirit, and Tangerine is perfect for that. Honestly, watching it in the midst of my customer service job just felt so relatable. It does such a great job of distilling that feeling where the rest of the world is celebrating, but you’ve got to go to work and make a living. Sean Baker is at his best here, and if you enjoyed Anora, you’ll definitely add this one to your yearly holiday watchlist. It’s riveting, the characters feel raw and real, and despite its setup, the ending is very sweet and hopeful. Sometimes during the holidays, you just take the happy moments you can get, and Tangerine reminded me of that.
–Valerie Morreale
39. Batman Returns (1992)
Though not the most Tim Burton-y Tim Burton film on this list, I’d argue this one is the most holiday-themed. Batman Returns brings back Keaton’s iconic Caped Crusader for another go, this time against a snide businessman, the Penguin, and also Catwoman. This movie is kind of all over the place in terms of story, but it somehow totally works. It’s like a theme park attraction, looping you around between comical fights and high-stakes dealing. It pulls off the goofy moments and the serious ones, all while remaining very Christmas-y. The entire story centers around Gotham being kept safe around the holidays, while villains are clearly running amok. While not as good as its predecessor, Batman Returns is a hell of a good time and a great choice for some comic book vibes this holiday.
–Valerie Morreale
38. Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
People mostly remember this film because of the controversy (and the even more bonkers sequel). The film had TV ads that ran during the day, when kids could see them, and caused massive outrage that included picketing and your standard 80’s moral outrage. Siskel & Ebert even used it as an example of the decay of modern society. Santa shouldn’t slay!
The film itself isn’t weighty enough to support all that moral indignation. It’s mostly a fairly competent low-budget slasher with a Santa Claus gimmick. On those terms, it fully satisfies without being a particular standout, with a traumatic childhood that leads to a series of brutal murders. Where Silent Night, Deadly Night stands out is in the fairly sympathetic treatment of the killer. Just about half the movie documents poor Billy’s childhood nightmare -from a supposedly catatonic grandpa dispensing horrible Santa advice, through attempted rape and murder of his parents by a man in a Santa costume, and a cruel Mother Superior at the orphanage whose idea of trauma treatment includes forcing the poor boy to sit in Santa’s lap. When poor Billy finally snaps (after being forced to dress as Santa for his job at a toy store) it actually makes sense. His trauma isn’t one inciting incident like most slashers; it’s a life full of cruelty and horror.
Another way the film stands out is its sly sense of humor. Not everything lands, but the music choices in particular are genius.
It may not live up to the hype of being a representative of the decline of Western Civilization, but it’s absolutely an entertaining slasher flick with a bit more going on than just sex and murder – though it absolutely has those as well.
–Bob Cram
37. The Silent Partner (1978)
A bank teller (Elliott Gould) accidentally learns that his place of business is about to be robbed when he finds a discarded hold-up note on one of the bank’s counters. Instead of informing the police, he decides to let his bank get robbed so that he can pocket some of the money, but when the thief (Christopher Plummer) finds out he was shortchanged, he immediately suspects the teller, which leads to a deadly game of cat-and-mouse. If it weren’t for the pointless romantic subplot that grinds the film to a halt every time it pops up, The Silent Partner would be a near-perfect crime thriller. Gould and Plummer are in peak form as two warring criminals whose battle of wits is exhilarating as it is unpredictable. Plummer is a true psychopath who may not match Gould in the smarts department, but easily trumps him in insanity. He’s not afraid to go all the way (there’s a decapitation scene in this that’s one of the most grisly things I’ve ever seen). Their performances, along with an incredible jazz score and a tight script by Curtis Hanson makes The Silent Partner a truly underrated thriller that features one helluva terrifying Santa.
–Sailor Monsoon
36. A Christmas Carol (2009)
Honestly, this entire list could have been filled with adaptations of A Christmas Carol. Robert Zemeckis’s animated take on the story offers a visually ambitious and one of the more faithful adaptations of Dickens’ classic story. Using motion-capture animation, the film leans into the darker, more frightening elements of the story, portraying Scrooge’s journey as one of genuine terror, regret, and awakening. Jim Carrey delivers a multifaceted performance that wonderfully conveys both Scrooge’s biting cruelty and his hard-won transformation. I will admit that the Jacob Marley visitation is one of the scariest I’ve seen on screen, perfectly capturing the scene’s intensity in the book.
I think this version stands out because it fully embraces the story’s moral gravity. It treats redemption as something earned through confronting one’s failures and regrets, rather than as a quick emotional turn. By honoring Dickens’ original tone, which is both haunting and hopeful, the film reaffirms why A Christmas Carol remains the definitive Christmas story, and why this adaptation deserves recognition among the greatest holiday films ever made.
–Romona Comet
35. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)
Horror cannot be confined to a single season. It’s a year-round genre that has birthed several Christmas horror classics, although few are actually good movies. Rare Exports is the exception as it gives a truly unique twist on the holiday mythology. There’s no Rudolf, Snowmen, or any of that silly nonsense. The story is about a group of excavators who uncover the long-buried “real” Santa Claus. As local children begin to disappear, they realize that he’s not the jolly fellow they thought. This is a very dark fantasy with some light horror elements. However, the subject matter is dark. The humor is dark. The cinematography is gorgeous. This Finnish film has some heartfelt performances and a story that will leave you guessing until the very end.
–Vincent Kane
34. Jingle All the Way (1996)
Arnie is back, and this time it’s as a disgruntled dad on Christmas Eve. More well-known for the memes than its actual story, Jingle All the Way is about a dad trying to find the toy his son wants: a Turboman action figure. Unfortunately, it’s sold out everywhere, so hijinks ensue as Arnie grows more and more desperate to find the perfect gift for his son. This one surprised me simply because it’s great. The acting is good, the story is passable, and it’s wild and zany fun from start to finish. It should be in the ranks right along with Christmas Vacation and the like, but it isn’t. It’s so much fun and may become a yearly rewatch for me.
–Valerie Morreale
33. 3615 code Père Noël (1989)
If you’re looking for something with big Home Alone energy, you need to watch 3615 Code Père Noël. Set in 80s France, boy genius Thomas rigs up his mansion with cameras, determined to be the first kid to see Santa Claus. Unfortunately, after a man dressed as Santa descends his chimney and immediately kills his dog, it’s clear this isn’t going to be that kind of movie. While relatively bloodless, this movie is still technically a horror. Honestly, I found myself surprised by just how original the story, tone, and characters feel in something that should be formulaic. Now, there are lots of “why” moments regarding the mansion, which seems to conveniently have a room for everything this kid needs (including an emergency chemical shower). If you can let that go though, it’s a great time with a sucker punch of an ending.
–Valerie Morreale
32. The Christmas Chronicles (2018)
The Christmas Chronicles tells the story of two kids who set out to prove Santa is real and get more than they bargained for when they startle Father Christmas mid-flight and lose all the presents. They’ll have to help Santa gather the presents if they hope to stay off the naughty list. It’s a zany adventure of a movie that sometimes goes a little off the rails, but it’s all about Kurt Russel giving us his rendition of Jolly Old Saint Nick. That alone is worth giving this newer addition to the Christmas canon a watch.
–Jacob Holmes
31. Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
Christmas in Connecticut is a screwball holiday comedy with a premise that I feel has been ripped off by the Hallmark Channel at least a thousand times by now. The film follows Elizabeth Lane (Barbara Stanwyck), a wildly successful food columnist who has built her career on a Norman Rockwell fantasy: she’s a humble homemaker, lovingly cooking meals on her farm, tending to her baby, and juggling a million other things. In reality? She’s a single working woman living in a New York apartment who can’t cook, doesn’t own a farm, and is perfectly content drifting through life. Her fake identity is a little too convincing and a little too aspirational because soon it starts to garner a fan base. Which gets so big, her publisher (Sydney Greenstreet) comes up with a surefire publicity stunt: a war hero (Dennis Morgan) should spend Christmas at Elizabeth’s idyllic home. So now she has to frantically scramble to somehow manufacture the life she’s been pretending to be living. Wackiness ensues.
However, underneath the hijinks, Christmas in Connecticut is tackling themes that feel radical for its time. It’s a romantic comedy about a woman who doesn’t want domestic life but is forced to perform it to succeed. The film treats marriage and motherhood as comedic props, not the other way around. Any other movie would make her not have those things because she was homely or awkward, and then she gets everything she wants because the war hero falls in love with her for some reason. This movie doesn’t go the traditional route, and that’s why it’s a classic.
–Sailor Monsoon
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What are some of your favorite Christmas movies? Maybe they will show up later in this list!