By: Brian Dupre

Happy holiday season everyone! As with any list like this, it is totally subjective and inevitably leaves out undeniable holiday classics. It is not meant to be comprehensive, and as will be seen very much reflects the era in which I grew up and where my sensibilities lie. There are plenty of others that I know and love but here are the few that I’ve decided to recommend, in order of release date.

Gremlins (1984)

ALWAYS READ THE FINE PRINT! Written by Chris Columbus and directed by Joe Dante, Gremlins was completely formative for me in terms of genre sensibilities. An early gateway to my lifelong penchant for horror, this dark comedy singlehandedly ruined (in the best way) the song “Do You Hear What I Hear?” and forever changed my view of the power of the microwave. It wears its influences on its sleeve and nearly all of our characters are watching movies at various points throughout, some of which are explicitly homaged. The character designs are incredible here and hold up as well as they ever have. From his first appearance you'll want your own little Gizmo, but be careful what you wish for. Just when you thought findings gifts for the family couldn’t get more difficult…here’s Gremlins!

Batman Returns (1992)

With Batman Returns writer Daniel Waters and director Tim Burton dare to ask the question: What if we slightly inverted the story of Moses to create the perfect origin story for Penguin? Abandoned down a river at birth, taken in and raised by a found family, only to arise 33 years later to reclaim his birthright and lead the people to…a corrupted political campaign! Catwoman gets her own fitting rebirth origin, and it is hard to imagine a more perfectly cast movie: Danny Devito as The Penguin, Michelle Pfeiffer as Selina Kyle, Christopher Walken as the sleazy Max Shreck, and Michael Keaton returning as Batman. This is more pointed than you might expect from a superhero movie but retains a perfect level of silliness and contains one of the most insane Christmas tree lightings in movie history.

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

I’ve been watching The Nightmare Before Christmas for as long as I can remember. The directorial debut by stop-motion master Henry Selick from a story conceived by Tim Burton combined with music from Danny Elfman to create an instant holiday(s) classic. The character and production designs are nothing short of iconic. It reminds us that just like the changing seasons each holiday is special in its own right, and just might try to protect itself if threatened. The irony given the history of appropriation around Christmas itself does not seem lost on the filmmakers. Jack Skellington, King of Halloween Town, is not feeling quite himself. I suppose some Christmas cheer couldn’t hurt, could it?

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Behind all the holiday set dressing, what are the rich and powerful really up to behind closed doors? In Eyes Wide Shut Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman play Bill and Alice Harford at peak star power and Hollywood beauty. Bill is a well-to-do doctor in New York and when Alice opens up to him about sexual fantasies she has entertained, Bill is launched onto a psychosexual journey through the secret world of the excessively wealthy and his own subconscious. Is monogamy possible or is marriage unnatural? Where does one draw the line with infidelity? Is a dream ever really just a dream? Maybe not your typical holiday thought processes, but this one is about wanting things that you can’t put under the tree and learning to appreciate where you are and what you have, by force if necessary.

The Green Knight (2021)

Let the Christmas Game begin! The Green Knight is a hallucinatory odyssey that requires the deepest depths of OLED darkness to experience properly. It’s the story of a man whose life is passing him by and whose mother gives him the kick in the butt needed to finally make something of himself and venture from home to form his own legend. Oscar-worthy work from our cast here, Dev Patel as Gawain and Alicia Vikander as Essel being the standouts, who guide us through the karmic cycle of Gawain’s actions. A Green Knight with a dubious dare is an unusual Christmas present. Just don’t forget the rules of the game, or you might lose your head.