There have been thousands of Christmas movies made since the 1898 Santa Clause movie which, fun fact, was the first Christmas movie ever made. Although there are a lot of good ones to choose from, people like to pick favorites, including myself. Here are my top 10 Christmas movies of all time.
1. Home Alone is a movie about a kid named Kevin getting left by himself in his big house on Christmas. Two burglars, Harry and Marv, attempt to break in, and to stop them, the main character, Kevin, sets up a bunch of traps. Both robbers end up getting arrested in the end. I don’t really watch Home Alone anymore but I consider it my number one Christmas movie because I watched it a lot when I was younger and loved it. I see it as more of a fond memory now but I know how good it is.
2. The Nightmare Before Christmas is a movie about a Halloween town filled with monsters. The main character, Jack Skellington, and the pumpkin king of Halloween Town get bored with the repetitive nature of Halloween and they stumble upon Christmas Town. Jack kidnaps Santa because he thinks he could do a better job but instead of bringing cheer, he brings fear. In the end, Jack and Sally come together to save Christmas and Jack realizes Christmas is its own holiday that he messed up by not leaving it be. I liked this movie because it is unique. It was all stop-motion animation with really good voice acting. Jack was a really charismatic character which I enjoyed a lot. The movie was eerie yet it incorporated the Christmas theme perfectly and that’s the thing I love most about this movie.
3. Elf – Raised as an oversized elf, Buddy the Elf travels from the North Pole to New York City to meet his biological father, Walter Hobbs, who doesn’t know he exists and is in desperate need of some Christmas spirit. Buddy was played by Will Farrell so obviously everyone knew it was gonna be good. The comedy is the main reason I liked this movie so much. Buddy was a grown man with the innocence of a little kid and that made me think of the character as an endearing, funny guy. Also, that scene with the jack in the box scaring Buddy was great.
4. Silent Night Deadly Night – This is an old slasher movie following a kid named Billy who had watched his parents be murdered by a man dressed like Santa. He grows up in an abusive orphanage where he comes to hate Christmas. When he’s grown up, he gets told by his boss to be a Santa in their toy store and this completely breaks his mind so from there he goes on a killing spree as Santa.- The idea of a kid getting traumatized by watching his parents get murdered by a guy in a Santa costume and then becoming exactly that was really appealing when I first heard about it. Watching this movie made Christmas horror movies one of my favorite types of movies.
5. The Polar Express is about a boy who gets on a train to the North Pole called the Polar Express to see Santa Claus. Also, a side note, the conductor drifts the train and that’s the first thing I heard about the movie. I like this movie because of the heartwarming story it tells. A child thinks Santa isn’t real, then goes to the North Pole to get his answer. The movie had two themes, belief and hope. These two things are a big part of what Christmas is about.
6. Jack Frost – This is another horror movie, but hear me out. A criminal named Jack Frost is being transferred to his execution when a bizarre accident happens. This accident turns him into a mutant snowman that still kills people. It sounds like I’m making this up but I promise I’m not, if you’re into goofy 90s horror movies, this is the perfect movie for you. A movie about a snowman killing people sounded intriguing to me. The movie was really low-budget and that’s what I loved about it. The giant fake snowman costume shuffling around on camera looked so bad I found it fun to watch. The best part for me was when Jack stood in the road holding a stop sign to make a cop pull over and try to clear the snowman. Jack appears in the cop’s car and runs the cop over all while looking way too comical to take seriously.
7. Frosty The Snowman – This movie is known by literally everyone. A magic hat gets put on a snowman and it comes to life. Frosty goes with the kids who put the magic hat on him to have fun. When they’re done, Frosty melts. This is a classic kids’ movie that never gets old.
8. Jingle All The Way – This movie follows a father named Howard Langston trying to get his son a Turbo Man doll. He competes with another father named Myron played by Sinbad looking for the same thing, clashing in very absurd obstacles. In the end, they both learn that Christmas is about spending time with loved ones and not material items. Also, Arnold Schwarzenegger played Howard Langston so you know it’s going to be good.
9. A Very Harold And Kumar Christmas – Just to make it clear before you try watching it with family members, THIS IS NOT A MOVIE FOR KIDS, so don’t gather the family around the TV for this one. The main problem in the movie is caused by Kumar setting Harold’s father-in-law’s prized Christmas tree on fire. To put it short, they end up running all over New York where they encounter various wacky characters including a drug lord, a jealous ex-girlfriend, and Santa Claus. I might have a bit of a biased opinion towards this movie because the other Harold and Kumar movie that takes place in Guantanamo Bay is like my 9th favorite non-Christmas movie to ever exist.
10. Krampus – It’s a horror Christmas movie that although sounds weird, it’s actually pretty entertaining to watch. A little boy gets bullied by his cousins for his present list at Christmas dinner and that leads to the little boy ripping up his list. It causes a blizzard to form out of nowhere and toys to come alive to attack the family. The family doesn’t survive in the end and Krampus captures all of them.
