The lights are up and the ads are on the television: CHRISTMAS IS COMING, and with it will be the usual dose of festive joy. From the turkey and Dad’s Christmas cake to the badly wrapped presents from Santa, there is, as usual, a lot to look forward to and it won’t be long now until the Christmas movies grace our TV screens. With the usual favourites like Home Alone and The Santa Clause bound to make an appearance at some stage it felt only fair to shine a little bit of light on some of the less popular Christmas movies as well.
With everyone beginning to don their Christmas jumpers and get into the spirit of things, it’s hard to not love the weeks leading up to the 25th. One man however seems to not be such a huge fan, as he decided a Christmas horror movie was just what the elves ordered. The director of The Children created a completely alternative take on the usual festive flick. Set in a snowy picturesque town, at the start of the movie viewers are presented with a familiar and almost relatable sequence of events; families getting together to celebrate and enjoy Christmas, having the usual festive banter. Until of course the children go crazy and begin killing the parents; not in the “I’m so angry I
didn’t get my iPad” kind of way – they actually begin to kill off poor old Mam and Dad. A far cry from the usual reindeer and snowman-filled Christmas film, The Children is definitely worth a watch if you want something a little different this Christmas.
Santa is real, or at least according to Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale he is. Putting a completely different twist on the usual stories about fat jolly old men, this movie paints Santy in a not so cheery light. After workers in a small Finnish town find some suspicious happenings at an archaeological dig, it isn’t long before the local children begin going missing and dead reindeers start to appear. Something which would surely devastate Santa and his pal Rudolph, you would think. Not quite, because Santa is the man behind all the chaos. Probably one of the best alternative Christmas movies out there, Rare Exports is both funny and creepy. Just don’t let any younger family watch it or the chimney might be boarded up this Christmas!
If Christmas horror movies aren’t your glass of mulled wine there are of course plenty more light-hearted options out there. One such movie is Bad Santa, a cynical and hilarious film that revolves around a drunk and his friend stealing from shopping centres every Christmas Eve. Dressed as Santa and one of his elves, the duo are completely devoid of any Christmas spirit until it comes along in the form of a chubby little boy. With much more laughs than the previous options, Bad Santa is probably a more popular choice, especially If you don’t want to completely kill your Christmas spirit before Santy comes!
Caoimhe Lynch
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