Christmas: 30

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) is an American Christmas fantasy comedy film directed by Ron Howard, who also produced with Brian Grazer. It is based on Dr. Seuss’s beloved 1957 children’s book of the same name and was the first to be adapted into a full-length feature film. As Whoville gears up for the holiday season, their plans are threatened by the Grinch, a grumpy green creature living in isolation on Mount Crumpit. One day, six-year-old Cindy Lou Who encounters him at the town’s post office and ...

Reindeer Games (2000) is an American action thriller directed by John Frankenheimer in his final feature directorial outing before his passing in 2002. In a prison near Iron Mountain, Michigan, cellmates Nick Cassidy and Rudy Duncan are just two days away from their release. Nick has been corresponding with a woman named Ashley Mercer, whom he plans to meet once he is free. On the other hand, Rudy wants to reunite with his family in Sidnaw for Christmas. A fight breaks out in the prison, resulting in Nick’s supposed death while protecting Rudy. After being released, Rudy poses as Nick and meets Ashley. They go to ...

The American dark fantasy drama film, Jack Frost (1998), was directed by Troy Miller. The lead singer of a rock band based in the fictional town of Medford, Colorado neglects his family, including his 11-year-old son Charlie, due to his focus on music and hopes of a record deal. However, Jack and Charlie bond while building a snowman together and Jack gifts Charlie his best harmonica that he received on the day of Charlie’s birth. In jest, Jack tells Charlie it is magical and that he will always be able to hear it wherever he is. Despite promising his wife Gabby that he will attend their son’s hockey game, ...

The American stop-motion animated musical dark fantasy film, The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), directed by Henry Selick and produced and conceived by Tim Burton, takes place in Halloween Town. This world is home to a variety of monsters and creatures related to the holiday (‘This is Halloween’). Jack Skellington, known as the ‘Pumpkin King’, leads the town’s annual Halloween festivities. However, Jack has grown tired of the same routine and longs for something different (‘Jack’s Lament’). While exploring in the woods ...

Tim Burton directed Batman Returns (1992), a superhero movie with a screenplay by Daniel Waters. Set in Gotham City, the film tells the story of two wealthy parents who reject their deformed son Oswald and leave him to be raised by penguins in the sewers. Thirty-three years later, during the holiday season, a powerful businessman named Max Shreck is kidnapped by the Red Triangle gang – a former circus troupe known for abducting children across the country – and taken to an abandoned zoo. The leader of the gang, Oswald (now going by the name Penguin), uses evidence of ...

The American crime comedy film, Happy New Year (1987), directed by John G. Avildsen and starring Peter Falk, follows two aging thieves named Nick and Charlie on their last heist before retirement in ritzy Palm Beach, Florida. Their target is the well-guarded Harry Winston jewelry store, which has high-tech security. Edward, the store’s manager, unknowingly welcomes a disguised Nick, posing as an elderly customer looking for an expensive gift for his terminally ill wife. Meanwhile, dressed as his true self, Nick meets Carolyn, a sophisticated and attractive woman who ...

Babes in Toyland (1986) is an American Christmas musical film directed by Clive Donner. Lisa Piper, an eleven year old girl from Cincinnati, Ohio, has had to mature quickly due to her father’s passing. With no time for toys and refusing to be treated like a child, Lisa instead takes care of her family. Her older sister Mary also works hard, but faces trouble at the toy store where she is regularly harassed by the owner. When a blizzard hits on Christmas Eve and everyone leaves work early, Mary’s boyfriend Jack offers to drive them all home. Unfortunately, the snowy roads lead to an accident that sends Lisa ...

In the film Santa Claus: The Movie (1985), directed by Jeannot Szwarc, a woodcutter named Claus and his wife Anya deliver hand-carved toys to the children of their village every Christmas with the help of their reindeer Donner and Blitzen. However, one year they become lost in a blizzard and pass away from the cold. Through a magical turn of events, they are resurrected at the North Pole where they meet a group of elves who have been expecting them. Lead elf Dooley reveals that it was foretold that Claus would come to the North Pole and fulfill his destiny of delivering toys made by the elves to all children around the ...

Deep Red (1975) is an Italian giallo film directed by Dario Argento. The story takes place over the course of two decades, beginning with a tragic incident at a family Christmas in 1956. Flash forward to Turin in 1975, where parapsychology professor Giordani hosts a conference featuring psychic medium Helga Ulmann. During the event, Helga is suddenly overwhelmed by the ‘twisted, perverted, murderous’ thoughts of someone in the audience. After confiding in Giordani about her suspicions, Helga becomes a victim herself when she is killed in her apartment later that night by an unknown assailant. Jazz pianist ...

The British sci-fi film Things to Come (1936) was produced by Alexander Korda, directed by William Cameron Menzies, and written by H. G. Wells. John Cabal, a businessman, resides in Everytown in southern England in 1940 and is unable to enjoy Christmas due to the possibility of war reported on the news. Harding, his guest, shares his concerns while Pippa Passworthy remains optimistic, believing that the war may not happen or if it does, it will propel technological advancements forward. However, an air raid that night leads ...