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.
50. Jack Frost (1997)
Not to be confused with the 1998 Michael Keaton film of the same name, Jack Frost follows an infamous serial killer who goes on yet another killing spree, this time with genetic modifications that make him into a snowman. Originally intended as a big-budget movie directed by Renny Harlin, his then-wife Geena Davis allegedly hated it and asked him to ditch it, securing its direct-to-video status.
This film is trying to do a lot of things. It’s pure, uncut camp, but it’s also satirizing the B-tier Hallmark Christmas movie. It’s also just kind of bad. Despite the fun moments and the original design for the monster, some of it has just aged like milk. Even so, there’s more to like here than dislike, and some of the line delivery is both insane and very quotable. If you’re looking for a fun holiday slasher, this is a lot of fun and features a truly iconic villain and movie monster.
–Valerie Morreale
49. Santa’s Slay (2005)
Look, this isn’t a great movie. It’s got all the production value of a ’90s TV show, with terrible effects, sub-par acting, and sluggish pacing. It’s got Bill Goldberg as a Satan-spawned version of Santa Claus, for crying out loud. However, this movie knows all this, and it doesn’t care. It doesn’t care that most of its many guest stars (hey, it’s James Caan in his OTHER Christmas movie) are in it for the paycheck (and less than a minute of screen time). It doesn’t care that it looks like a Disney Channel movie but has enough gore to get an R rating – or it would, if it had even been released in theaters. It doesn’t even care that the jokes and gags are mostly unfunny. It knows that it’s terrible, and it embraces the schtick wholeheartedly. That somehow makes it almost endearing to watch, even as Goldberg Santa stabs Saul Rubinek through the throat with a menorah or says “Ho ho HO” at a strip club. My favorite part is actually a demented flashback to demonic Santa’s origin done in a bad Rankin & Bass animation style. It’s gloriously bad. There are movies that are both terrible and enjoyable, and this is one of them.
–Bob Cram
48. Black Christmas (2006)
I actually love this movie. Despite straying from its much better and more feminist horror roots of the original, the 2006 remake has its own charm. It’s a campy slasher akin to something like 1987’s Blood Rage and feels very 2000s through and through. The deaths are wacky, the cast is a lot of fun, and the villain’s backstory is so outrageous that I almost respect it. Viewing this movie as very much its own thing, it’s a great time and worth watching if you’re looking for a holiday-themed slasher.
–Valerie Morreale
47. Trapped in Paradise (1994)
Trapped in Paradise is one of those Christmas movies that seems to have slipped through the cracks of time, which is crazy considering how incongruous the cast is and how fun the premise is. The movie follows Bill, Dave, and Alvin Firpo (inexplicably starring Nicolas Cage, Jon Lovitz, and Dana Carvey as brothers), three small-time crooks who roll into a picture-perfect Pennsylvania town called Paradise just before Christmas. They rob the local bank in what might be the least competent heist ever committed by men calling themselves thieves, and then immediately find themselves psychologically and emotionally trapped by the town’s aggressively wholesome vibes. A snowstorm prevents them from leaving, and the longer they stay there, the more the guilt from ripping off these wholesome people starts to wear on the dimwitted trio.
What makes Trapped in Paradise oddly compelling is how sincerely it believes in redemption through mild inconvenience and baked goods. The brothers aren’t hardened criminals; they’re just dumb guys who made bad choices and are now being slowly undone by kindness, car trouble, and the haunting realization that maybe stealing from a town full of retirees and carolers was a bad vibe. The film keeps circling the idea that Christmas isn’t about punishment—it’s about being the best version of yourself, which means being kind. Trapped in Paradise is for people who like their Christmas movies off-center: less miracle, more inconvenience; less angels, more anxiety. It’s a reminder that sometimes the true meaning of Christmas boils down to not being a dick to your fellow man.
–Sailor Monsoon
46. Violent Night (2022)
In Violent Night, David Harbour’s Santa is burnt out and tired. Too many kids are on the naughty list and in the age of smartphones and social media, so few still believe. He’s inspired though (in a way) by accidentally walking into a home break-in. Forced to call upon his ancient Viking heritage, he messes up these mercs, and it’s a goofy good time.
If anything, this movie’s weakness is that it has a bit of an identity crisis. Too bloody for kids but a little too dumb for adults. Dumb can be fun during the holidays though, and I think this one sticks the landing. Harbour is replaying the greatest hits of Hopper in Stranger Things here, but hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The deaths are fun and brutal, and the overall thriller/action tone is a great change of pace from the more traditional Christmas fare.
–Valerie Morreale
45. Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Probably the first in a span of now commonplace live-action remakes, How the Grinch Stole Christmas follows the classic Dr. Seuss’ story of the grumpy green Grinch and his attempts to foil Whoville’s beloved holiday. This movie does a lot more than follow the events of the storybook though, and really does a lot to flesh out the character of the Grinch and Whoville’s colorful cast of characters. No one is more memorable than Jim Carrey as the Grinch, and despite his terrible experience with the prosthetics (per his interview on Graham Norton), he pushed on through and gave us a really incredible performance. Love or hate this movie, it really is something special and stands clearly as its own work apart from the animated original in 1966. It’s also the reason we have so many covers of the iconic “Where Are You Christmas.”
–Valerie Morreale
44. Mixed Nuts (1994)
Set almost entirely over one Christmas Eve in Los Angeles, Mixed Nuts centers on a suicide prevention hotline run by Philip (Steve Martin), who looks like a man perpetually frazzled. The phones are ringing, the electricity is unreliable, and every person who enters the building is a walking personality disorder. The unhinged cast of characters includes Rita Wilson as a woman who’s been crying since she popped out of the womb; Madeline Kahn, who has the memory of an Etch A Sketch; and Liev Schreiber, shockingly earnest, as a trans woman navigating love and identity in a movie that doesn’t always know what to do with her but clearly wants to try. For 1994, that alone makes Mixed Nuts feel like it wandered in from a slightly braver timeline.
And then there’s Adam Sandler. Pre-Happy Gilmore, pre-everything, he plays a harmonica-wielding musician who communicates almost exclusively through screaming. It’s like watching a feral Muppet discover stand-up comedy. The tone is aggressively unstable. Mixed Nuts wants to be a zany farce, a sincere Christmas story, a commentary on loneliness, and a social issues comedy all at once, and it achieves this by never stopping long enough for you to process what just happened. One minute it’s slapstick chaos, the next it’s quietly acknowledging that the holidays can be devastating for people on the margins. The emotional gear shifts are so abrupt that they give you cinematic whiplash. But because it’s directed by Nora Ephron, even the uneven parts work because she manages to keep everything moving. Mixed Nuts is a mixed bag, but the parts that work, really work.
–Sailor Monsoon
43. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Added: While not the most Christmas-y of films associated with Tim Burton, Edward Scissorhands still feels like a holiday classic. The story of Edward, a gentle soul whose creator died before he could be given proper digits, is more like a fairytale than a fish out of water story. As Winona Ryder’s Kim grows to love and understand him, so do we. The whole story is so sweet and dripping with whimsy that it’s an easy one to just throw on and enjoy. Still featuring Burton’s signature gothic flair, this still remains one that is great for the whole family, kids included.
–Valerie Morreale
42. A Very Murray Christmas (2015)
A Very Murray Christmas is a star-studded Christmas special/old-timey variety show that transcends its celebrity pajama party trappings due to the direction of Sofia Coppola. She turns the premise inside out and makes it more of a one-man show starring Bill Murray (as himself) alone with his thoughts and his memories, all while ladling on the ennui. The premise is charmingly flimsy: Murray is set to host a live Christmas broadcast from the Carlyle Hotel, but a blizzard shuts everything down. Guests don’t arrive, the audience disappears, and suddenly Murray is left all by himself. The most entertaining ghost in the graveyard.
What follows is a loose, drifting series of musical numbers, celebrity cameos, and small, oddly tender moments that showcase Murray’s capacity for tenderness. The man is more than just a sarcastic clown. He’s the reason to see it, but the cameos are really something special. George Clooney croons like a silver-haired lounge lizard from an alternate universe where ER ended in a Vegas residency. Miley Cyrus shows up and sings “Silent Night” with Murray in a moment that’s so sincere it almost feels illegal. Amy Poehler and Chris Rock also appear to give the film a much-needed shot of serotonin. Is it funny? Sometimes. Is it indulgent? Absolutely. Does it make sense? Not really, but that’s the point. A Very Murray Christmas is a vibe piece, a cozy, boozy shrug of a special that understands Christmas not as joy on command, but as a complicated mix of nostalgia, performance, and quiet longing. It’s for people who like their holidays with a side of melancholy.
–Sailor Monsoon
41. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
I really had to sit with this one after I first watched it, but I’ve concluded that this is the Christmas movie for sickos. I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way, because this movie is something special. The plot follows Tom Cruise’s Bill, as he starts crashing out when he finds out his wife fantasized about another man. What starts as a chance meeting becomes sex cult stuff pretty fast, and Bill finds himself knowing dangerous information he has no business knowing. It’s slow, contemplative, and downright miserable at moments, but it all serves the broader vision. It’s a dream-like odyssey that still kind of feels mundane, but it’s a beautiful and haunting watch. This isn’t a feel-good movie by any means, but I think if this works for you, it’s going to REALLY work for you. If it doesn’t, you’ll hate it. Kubrick movies are divisive, but undeniably art, and Eyes Wide Shut is no exception.
–Valerie Morreale
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What are some of your favorite Christmas movies? Maybe they will show up later in this list!