Each year at Christmas time, we tend to watch the same holiday movies – whether it’s Elf, Home Alone or It’s A Wonderful Life. Or we stick to the TV specials like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. For many of us, watching these classic movies is a holiday tradition. But, let’s be honest, it can get a bit boring year-after-year. If you can recite every line from Scrooged or Miracle on 34th Street, chances are you need to shake things up. To help, we have assembled a list of ten unconventional Christmas movies that, while different, are still worth watching over the holiday period. Many of the movies on this list are classics in their own right. If you’re tired of the same old Christmas movie fare, you may want to consider watching one of the following films instead:
18. Batman Returns (1992)
If you’re hankering for some superhero nostalgia during Christmas, you may want to check out Batman Returns, the 1992 sequel directed by Tim Burton. Set in Gotham City during Christmas time, Burton takes the full license with the holiday season and creates elaborate sets featuring all manner of wondrous and, in some cases, grotesque characters, scenes, and settings. In the movie, Batman (Michael Keaton) battles both the Penguin (Danny DeVito) and Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer). They too are grotesque, over-the-top characters. But the whole movie and setting are made hyper surreal by the Christmas time theme. Interestingly, Christmas has played a big part in many of Tim Burton’s most personal projects – from Edward Scissorhands to The Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s not the best Batman movie ever made, of course, but it’s the only one set at Christmas.
Source: Screenshot via Warner Bros.