The best alternative Christmas films, including Mean Girls, American Psycho (seriously) and Bridget Jones

Christmas! What amended clip to forget, oregon fell from, the quality of the twelvemonth but taking residency connected the sofa and watching a fewer films.

There’s thing incorrect with Elf, It’s a Wonderful Life, oregon Love Actually (actually, possibly determination are things incorrect with that one...). But if you deliberation your choices are the aforesaid aged stories, or immoderate horrendous made-for Netflix special, fearfulness not.

We've collated a database of the champion alternate festive films which should support immoderate grinch-like tendencies firmly astatine bay.

They're inactive connected theme, but they're besides a small off-piste; work connected for inspiration!

We’re starting retired our alternate Christmas database with a existent doozy; manager Mary Harron’s crystal acold instrumentality connected Bret Easton Ellis’ acheronian cult caller is sick, slick, twisted and hilarious.

The communicative follows Patrick Bateman, a affluent concern banker who is acold much acrophobic astir getting a bully array astatine the latest hep edifice than helium is astir the bodies of women hanging successful his wardrobe.

Up until present helium has been picking connected vulnerable, chartless enactment workers, and truthful his heinous crimes person gone nether the radar; but everything changes for the psychotic serial slayer when, astir Christmas, his infuriation towards workfellow Paul Owen boils over. It’s 1 execution excessively many, apparently, and a backstage detective starts poking around. How festive!

Sharon Maguire’s 2001 instrumentality connected Helen Fielding’s 1996 publication is undoubtedly 1 of the champion British comedies ever made.

Not lone is it afloat of each the bully worldly – from excruciating mishaps to genuinely heart-warming exchanges – but it has Hugh Grant and Colin Firth successful their prime, virtually warring implicit Renée Zellweger’s Bridget Jones successful a thoroughfare brawl. What could beryllium much fun? Adding to the merriment, Jim Broadbent plays Bridget’s dad, with Gemma Jones arsenic her mum. Shirley Henderson plays 1 of her champion friends. Thanks to being bookended by scenes that are acceptable during the festive period, this 1 much than makes the cut.

In a way, each Billy Murray films are Christmas films: conscionable a glimpse of the comedian conjures up the feeling of being wrapped up and cosy nether a wool blanket, blistery toddy successful hand.

But Scrooged, an Eighties update of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, is simply a peculiar hoot of a festive flick. Murray plays miserly TV exec Frank Cross who is visited by a bid of ghosts - each of whom hap to beryllium alternatively zany - connected Christmas Eve.

Naturally, they person been sent by his aged dormant mentor, Lew Hayward, to effort and prevention his soul.

This erotic enigma from Stanley Kubrick tells the communicative of hubby and woman Bill (Tom Cruise) and Alice Hartford (Nicole Kidman) whose intersexual fantasies commencement to person real-life consequences.

Bill ends up being drawn into an underground enactment cult aft Alice admits she has been feeling unfulfilled by their emotion life. It gets a seasonal walk due to the fact that each of this primitively kicks disconnected astatine a Christmas party.

Raucous and melancholic, Sean Baker’s award-winning 2015 comedy-drama follows transgender enactment idiosyncratic Sin-Dee who, freshly retired of jailhouse connected Christmas Eve, finds that her fellow and pimp has been cheating connected her.

Sin-Dee sets retired to find the miss he's been messing astir with, which takes her connected a chaotic travel astir immoderate of the little recognisable corners of LA: settings see a donut shop, a cab, a brothel astatine a motel and a laundromat.

Who would person thought that this drama astir a miss learning to acceptable into an American High School would go specified an important introduction into the popular civilization canon?

But nearly 2 decades aft its release, Tina Fey’s laser crisp investigation of schoolhouse hierarchies, the pressures teenagers look to acceptable in, and however catty behaviour tin spiral retired of control, remains an enduring favourite of the genre.

It brought america the unforgettable lines “I’m not a regular mom. I’m a chill mom”, “On Wednesdays, we deterioration pink”, and “Stop trying to marque fetch happen”. It besides brought america that Jingle Bell Rock creation scene, officially making it a Christmas film.

Even if The Godfather didn’t diagnostic a Christmas scene, the iconic 1972 gangster movie inactive earns a spot connected this list. There’s thing weirdly festive astir this film’s luscious colours (Michael’s acheronian cocoa hair, the dense shadows successful Vito Corleone’s office) on with iconic lines specified arsenic ‘leave the gun, instrumentality the cannoli’. Not to notation the melodramatic soundtrack. Despite each the violence, it's a sumptuous festive watch.

Tim Burton’s 2nd Batman movie divided some critics and fans, with immoderate arguing that the director’s signature eccentricities were glaringly missing from the mega film’s last cut.

But for action, Batman and DC fans, the film’s Christmas backdrop, positive the starry formed – including Michelle Pfeiffer arsenic Catwoman, Michael Keaton arsenic Batman, Danny DeVito arsenic Penguin and Christopher Walken arsenic industrialist Max Shreck –make it a stellar alternate vacation choice.

John Landis’s classical drama makes the chopped arsenic Dan Ackroyd’s quality Windthorpe becomes a section store Father Christmas aft falling connected hard times.

Being a down and retired Santa is astir arsenic debased arsenic helium drops earlier realising his erstwhile banal marketplace employers (played by Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche) had made a stake to regenerate him with a stateless antheral - Eddie Murphy’s Billy Ray Valentine.

Trading Places is much lewd and racy than you mightiness retrieve but its anti-greed connection is worthy raising a solid to.