Badmovies.org Forum

I have to go with 1)A Christmas Story
                           2)Miracle on 34th Street (original), The Bishop's Wife, It's a Wonderful Life  (tie)
                           3)Christmas Vacation

 I find I can watch Christmas Story time after time and it is alway hilarious even if you know what's coming up next, the 3 tied for the #2 spot because I am a sucker for sappy movies with a morale about life as it should be. And finally Christmas Vacation because I find Chevy Chase and Randy Quaid never fail to make me laugh.

I voted for A Christmas Story.

I would've voted for The Polar Express if it hadn't had that underlying creepiness to it.

I voted for A Christmas Story as well.

Where's Black Christmas?  Silent Night, Bloody Night?  Die Hard!?

 :smile:

Ozzymandias speaks: MY Top five would be: Christmas Story, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Christmas Vacation, White Christmas and March Of the Wooden Soldiers (I hate to say it - but I prefer the colorized version of this).

Also the MST3K version of K. Gordon Murray's Santa Claus.

Ozzymandias has spoken!!! 

No doubt A CHRISTMAS STORY is the most fun of Christmas film, but from the list I picked IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.

MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS is a classic Christmas time film.

(http://www.onegoodturntent.org/films/images/BABESIN2.JPG)

I added them to the list along with March of the Wooden Soldiers, I  don't think that the first 3 reflect the Christmas spirit but they are Christmas movies.

How about adding SCROOGE (1951) and A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1984).

(http://www.mudsugar.com/uploads/1951-scrooge.jpg)

Thanks Scott, I had forgotten about these 2 films, I've proably forgotten more, it seems there are a lot of Christmas movies, this list could be endless.

Although your list is lacking a little on Christmas movies, especially horror movies (heh, heh), my favorites from the list would be It's a Wonderful Life, Scrooge, and, oddly enough, Christmas Vacation (the first time I saw this movie, I didn't care for it that much, but it really grows on you after a few viewings); and it would be in that order.

There was more than one remake of Miracle on 34th Street. There was a version in the early 70s which starred Sebastion Cabot (Mr. French on Family Affair).

What about the remake of It's a Wonderful Life? Didn't care for it myself, but there has to be a fan out there somewhere.

I chose 'Santa Clause Conquers The Martians'. I watched it a few times and it becomes as popular in my DVD as "Home Alone" in TV [In Poland they play this and "Alone In New York" every X-mass]. Besides this I enjoyed "It's a Wonderful Life"

BTW. Hello everyone. Cheers from Poland

Welcome aboard Shaggs.  Hmm, I wonder if "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" is one I could show Jenna and Andy yet.  I haven't put it in for my yearly viewing yet.

Definitly MARCH of the WOODEN SOLDIERS. The boogymen freaked me out as a kid !
 Anybody like the Jim Carrey GRINCH movie?(Not me...but...)
How about SCROOGED with Bill Murray?
Or the SANTA CLAUSE movies?Whats the one with Arnold?

That would be Jingle All the Way.
I just watched that a week or two ago on HBO.

Where is X-mas Evil or Santa's Slay, those are classics haha.

Ive added some more to the list, it's like the list has started growing uncontrollably, I'm sure that I've left out many.
I didn't even know there was a third Miracle on 34th Street movie, and I forgot about the remake of It's a Wonderful Life, the one starring Marlo Thomas is the one I'm thinking of, made for TV movie I believe.
There sure are lot of Christmas movies out there, one of the things I would like to see is more of the Christmas Spirit in our day to day lives throughout the year and with that in mind I wish all of you a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year with your families, friends and all the people you love, and as Red Skelton would say "Good Night and God Bless"

Your doing great Dennis. Could you add BAD SANTA and NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS?

I didn't really like Nightmare Before Christmas which is probably why I left it out, but how could I forget Bad Santa, senior moment I guess.

I never understood the fascination with nightmare before x-mas

I voted for A Christmas Story, but other favorites include: the original Miracle of 34th Street, A Christmas Carol (George C. Scott version).

The 70s TV version of Miracle shouldn't be anyone's favorite. It also stars David Hartman and Roddy McDowell (overacting like crazy), and has it's TV movie origins dripping from every frame, the film is the definition of drab.

Notice you also left off Santa Claus: the Movie, whether due to oversight or deliberation, a good choice. My example of a great "anti-Christmas" movie, even if it wasn't intended to be. It's everything it preaches against.

A newer holiday time film I like for all the wrong reasons is The Ice Harvest. Not for it's Yuletide sentiments, but the drab, downbeat, cynical, and underwhelmed emotions the holiday brings out in the characters. As someone who has worked a lot of third shifts on the holiday and had disappointing Christmases from time to time, despite the noir storyline, I could relate to much of the downer spirit of the film.

We have all tried to forget that movie; much as many of us would like to forget Elf. Many young children were subjected to that movie when it was first released on video as their parents bought a copy and sat them in front of the TV set thinking they were doing the right thing; many years later those same children are now seeking therapy.

We have all tried to forget that movie, but NO! Someone (yeah, I mean you) has to come along and remind us of it again. :tongueout:

Won't that movie ever go away?

I voted for Bad Santa. Now thats a Christmas movie right up their with Die Hard.  :cheers:

"Hardware" frequently mentions that it's Christmas.

Okay, yeah, you could really go on and on here --
     I guess I'm forced to vote "It's a Wonderful Life", because every year we pull out the old, worn, VHS copy of it, and pop it in the old 4-head & snivel along with Donna Reed -- Also, Lionel Barrymore out-villians every other Christmas villian out there -- Grinch?  Forget it.  Scrooge?  Hey, he converts, remember?  Mr. Potter stays evil evil eeevveeelll to the end!!
     We also make a point of watching the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes episode of "The Blue Carbuncle", which, if you haven't seen it, is a perfect Christmas hour -- really, trust me on this one.  They're all on compilation DVDs now, but you can get the single episodes still on VHS from your local library.  Just a perfect little Christmas tale, and Jeremy Brett is the best Sherlock ever --
     Re.  "Not understanding" the fuss about "Nightmare Before Christmas"  -- well, either you get it or you don't -- I really REALLY do, and just love the picture.  Even the songs are nice, and I generally hate musicals.  Plus, Catherine O'Hara can do no wrong, whatever she's in --
peter johnson/merry crane

I am going to chime in support for "The Nightmare Before Christmas."  It is a great film, probably Tim Burton's masterwork when I think about his films.

Thanks for putting on Nightmare Before ChristmasIt is one of my favorites

VHS, Menard? Hah those wimps, at least they could shut it off or leave the room. My family saw it at the theater, and you did not walk out of a movie my dad paid for unless you were deathly sick or the theater caught fire. Either experience might have been a better option that what I suffer through.

Forget this one? Never! It's like touching an ulcer in your mouth with your tongue, you know it's bad for you and it'll hurt like hell, but you can't stop doing it. Ha Ha!

Bad Santa I like despite a so-so story just because watching Billy Bob play a rude, obnoxious jerk is fun no matter what the film. Plus Lauren Graham as the anti-Lorelai Gilmore is some kind of wish fulfillment for me (Where's a nude scene when you want it?)

Amen Brother!

Uh, what about Jack Frost 1 and 2? And is gingerdead man a christmas movie? i havent seen it.

My favorite christmas films appear nowhere on that list.
They are:

White Christmas
Gremlins
Scrooged

White Christmas was a wonderful musical film.  I watch it every year.

Scrooged with Bill Murray was another favorite of mine.  It was like a modernized version of a Christmas Carol.

And Gremlins was good.  I know a lot of you don't think of Gremlins as a Christmas film.  But the story's setting was during christmas time.  Its very funny all the mischief those gremlins create in that little town.

The part of that movie I consider funniest is when real-estate baroness Mrs. Deagle is relaxing in her home when she hears carolers outside.  Being the scroogess she is, she grabs a pitcher of watcher and goes to throw it on the carolers.  But when she opens the door, she finds the carolers aren't even human.  A bunch of gremlins are caroling her.  "YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YAYA."  She quickly goes back into her home hysterical, thinking they are the devil come to claim her soul.  She locks the door, looks out again and screams.  Then she takes her chair to the upper floor.  But little to her knowledge, a gremlin tampered with it.  Her chair speeded up the spiral stairway and..Bye bye you evil baroness.

Gremlins.  :teddyr:

Okay, I've added Jack Frost I & II, and Gremlins, when ever I hear the name Jack Frost I think of a movie about a homicidal snowman, there is a sequel too, so that is why I left them off, forgot about the Christmas version. The snowman was played by Michael Keaton I think. Regarding A Nightmare Before Christmas, it's a movie you either get and like as my daughter and wife do or like me you don't get it and don't like it, different strokes for different folks. Left out Elf mainly because no matter how hard I try I can't seem to think of it as a Christmas movie, but that's just me.
 Now one more thing before I go (got to bake cinnamon rolls), I'm a fan of the Gilmore Girls and although I'm as normal as any red blooded guy and I think that Lauren Graham is really quite fetching, but just the thought of seeing her naked body is almost enough to make me blind, it would destroy too many carefully crafted illusions about Lorelei Gilmore, the most I can handle in this respect is the scene of her walking down stairs into Luke's dinner wearing only a flannel shirt.

Yep, you have to ELF up there as Menard pointed out.

(http://www.ez-entertainment.net/interview/elf_d95-18f.jpg)

Oh gee, blame it on me. :tongueout:

I'll admit it, just because I don't think it's a Christmas movie doesn't mean it's not, Elf is now on the list.

I've noticed that no one has voted for Black Christmas, my wife has told me that the movie isn't out till Christmas day, so I have to ask, has anyone actually seen the film, (WyreWizard included or did the title just get you that upset?). I'm going to close the voting on December 26th at 9:00 pm PST, should give those of us who want to a chance to view the film and vote or not.

I presumed, and I guess many others did as well, that the entry for Black Christmas was for the 1974 film.

Then I suppose this movie is a remake of that one, thinking back on it I seem to recall seeing Black Christmas, but don't remember much about the movie,  what I do remember is that it was some type of murder/serial killer movie set on Christmas eve.

Wikipedia provides a synopsis of the new Black Christmas movie as follows:

"This film is a remake of the 1974 horror movie Black Christmas. The movie tells the story of Billy, a young boy who was abused by his mother as a child (due to being born with a liver defect, making him a freak in the eyes of his mother). While his mother was cheating on Billy's father, she eventually killed his father one christmas (with a claw hammer right before Billy's own eyes) and kept Billy in the attic—for good (since she only saw the husband she'd come to despise when she looked at him), while she was with her lover and starting a "new" family. As Billy's mother fell pregnant with a daughter and treated her with love, which Billy had never experienced with his mother, Billy came out of the attic after 15 years and brutally murdered his mother and her lover (using such objects, as an ornament and rolling pin) as his sister looked on. Cut to present day, a group of nine sorority sisters consisting of Heather (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Kelli (Katie Cassidy), Melissa (Michelle Trachtenberg), Dana (Lacey Chabert), Lauren (Crystal Lowe), Megan (Jessica Harmon), Clair (Leela Savasta), Eve (Kathleen Kole),(Annette Tibai) and their house mother, Ms. Mac (Andrea Martin), who now live in Billy's childhood home, find themselves being harassed by threatening and intimidating mystery phone calls during Christmas break, and as two of the girls go missing, the girls begin being murdered one by one by none other than a mysterious person (either Billy or someone else) who lived in the house before them...might have been haunting them as well."


Although the basic plot, a sorority house being terrorized by a killer, is there (and gee, have we not seen enough of that plot reused), the addition of the killer's background is new as in the original film the killer was completely unknown leaving the cast and audience to guess as to the identity of the killer.

The original movie featured a cast including Olivia Hussey, Margot Kidder, John Saxon, and Andrea Martin (who interestingly enough is also in this remake, although not as a sorority girl this time).

Though it may be a success (being that Michael Bay does not seem to be attached to it), defining a background for the killer, or supposed killer if they use him as a red herring, seems to take away from the original movie's suspense element. Of course, for anyone who has seen the original, Caller ID takes away from the suspense too. :teddyr:

In no particular order

Scrooged (Gotta love Bill Murry's turn as a modern day Scrooge.)
Die Hard (Yippe Ki Yaya M*&^%r F^&%$r)
Home Alone 1&2 (Burglars hitting booby traps gotta love Joe Pesci and Danile Stern falling through the floor for 3 stories)
A Christmas Story (You'll shoot your eye out kid.)

DENNIS, I respect your...um, respect for Lorelai Gilmore. On another message board once I even ranked the character near the top of a list of fictional characters I'd like to DATE (yes, really date, not just sleep with) in real life if it were possible. But I'm only a casual fan of the show nowadays.

OTOH, there is the Bewitched effect (think when the evil twin cousin would come visit, always loved those eps more) of seeing an actress associated with a certain clean cut role cut loose and play the opposite. Bad Santa was that for me.