The 2012 Video Fan Holiday Movie Guide
THE 2012 VIDEO FAN HOLIDAY MOVIE GUIDE
Originally published in truncated form in Style Weekly as “Off the Shelf.”
VIDEO FAN HOLIDAY MUSTS
Black Christmas, 1974. The other Christmas classic from director Bob Clark (A Christmas Story) invents a novel, tension-filled approach to depicting the season: a serial killer in a sorority house.
Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, 1977. This overlooked Jim Henson film, based on the children’s book by Russell Hoban, features great music and greater villains: The River Bottom Nightmare Band.
Pee-Wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special, 1988. In which the holidays get the anarchic Playhouse treatment and Grace Jones emerges from a giant Christmas gift to serenade Pee-Wee with “The Little Drummer Boy.”
Scrooged, 1988. One of Bill Murray’s finest comedic performances comes in this tale of a television executive who endures the Christmas Carol routine. With amazing cameos throughout—see if you can spot Miles Davis, Anne Ramsey and all three of Murray's brothers, among many others.
OTHER SEASONAL FAVORITES
Christmas Evil, 1980. A moving examination of madness and belief disguised as a holiday horror movie. And it’s fun! As John Waters says, “I wish I had kids. I’d make them watch it every year.”
Die Hard, 1988. Don't forget, the whole thing takes place during the Nakatomi Plaza Christmas party.
Elves, 1989. In which a woolly Dan Haggerty, star of Grizzly Adams, makes this legendary demand: “I want to know the connection between the elves and the Nazis.”
Gremlins, 1984. The horror-comedy classic in which a young man's Christmas present ends up destroying a whole town. Features one of filmdom's bleakest discussions of Santa Claus.
In Bruges, 2008. Two hitmen are forced to spend their holidays hiding out in the medieval-era Belgian city in this profane and funny film from Irish playwright Martin McDonagh.
Jingle All the Way, 1996. There's really no reason for this gross celebration of commercial culture—except for the scene where Arnold Schwarzenegger yells at Phil Hartman about a cookie.
The Minus Man, 1999. Owen Wilson stars as a serial poisoner who spends a Christmas by the sea in this existential indie from the screenwriter of Blade Runner.
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, 1989. Yes, we love it, too.
The Proposition, 2005. Written by Aussie rocker Nick Cave, this incredible western centers around three outlaw brothers in the 1880s Outback, with a brutal story of moral struggle that culminates on Christmas Day. The landscape is a character in itself.
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, 2010. A Finnish black comedy in which a group of hunters discover the Father Christmas of legend is actually a wild woodland creature—and his elves are even worse.
Silent Night, Deadly Night, 1984. The 1980s slasher craze took another beautifully unhinged holiday-themed turn in this tale of a troubled young man with serious Santa issues.
Trading Places, 1983. Beloved at the Video Fan for many reasons, chief among them the scene where Dan Akroyd stuffs smoked salmon into his Santa suit.