The best Christmas movies of all time

What’s Christmas without eating junk, watching rubbish and totally destroying your enemies at the same time? Macaulay Culkin carries the John Hughes-written and Chris Columbus-directed comedy as the eight year old Kevin McAllister. He is mistakenly left at home for the holidays and must defend the house from burglars who almost steal Christmas. And though it might be one of the most famous images in cinema, Kevin McAllister’s shocked face, hands clasped to his cheeks after putting on aftershave was actually improvised by Culkin himself: “That's why he was such an interesting kid: No one else would have done that,” Columbus reflected later in an interview.

If one more person tries to argue whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie or not, they’re on our Naughty List. Taking place on Christmas Eve, the movie’s writer, Steven E. de Souza, has even taken to Twitter to confirm as much (Bruce Willis has said the opposite, but we’ll have to respectfully agree to disagree). Why? John McClane ultimately wins out to beat the Nakatomi Plaza hostage situation he unwittingly finds himself up against, and gets to spend Christmas with his family - a perfect dose of holiday spirit. Oh, and because of Hans Gruber’s classic graffiti’d line, “Now I have a machine gun, ho-ho-ho.”

There are perhaps more adaptations of the Charles Dickens classic than any other novel. But in our opinion, the story is at its very best in fuzzy, musical form with Kermit as Bob Cratchit, Miss Piggy as wife Emily Cratchit and Michael Caine as Ebeneezer Scrooge. The latter’s acting opposite his tiny puppet castmates is arguably the most affecting of any Scrooge movie, a perfect, festive alchemy of Muppet gags and heart-wrenching moments shared with the Ghosts of Christmas. That’s an extremely deliberate choice. As director Brian Henson revealed in the DVD commentary, Caine told him, “I’m not going to adjust my performance at all because it’s puppets. I’m going to pretend this is a very, very sincere, dramatic telling of Christmas Carol, because that’ll be the funniest choice.”

It’s impossible not to love Elf. Will Ferrell’s candy-coveting oversized Buddy the Elf, who travels from the North Pole to New York City, is a perfect fish out of water story. It's full of iconic quotes, genuinely laugh-out-loud scenes and a story that will warm the cockles to boot. But, Buddy very nearly wasn’t the Christmas legend we know today - the early script was originally written with Jim Carrey in mind to play the lead. Instead, the comedian went on to play another famous festive character in 2000’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Is there a more quintessential Christmas film than It’s A Wonderful Life? Not just one of the best Christmas movies, it's one of the greatest films of all time. The heart-warming story of George Bailey, played by James Stewart, giving up on life before his Guardian Angel shows him the impact he has had and all the lives he has touched is utterly timeless. It’s not just beloved by audiences since its release, but the cast too, with stars Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, and director Frank Capra, citing it as their favourite movie they’ve made. In fact, Capra, three-time Best Director Oscar winner and one of the most influential directors of all time, said, “I thought it was the greatest film I ever made. Better yet, I thought it was the greatest film anybody ever made.” Keep the change, ya filthy animal.

Is it a Halloween movie? Is it a Christmas movie? Though it’s perfectly acceptable to watch Tim Burton’s stop motion masterpiece from the end of October onwards, we’d argue it’s firmly the latter, considering the Pumpkin King Jack Skellington’s awe at discovering Christmas Town, his custom-made Santa suit, and, erm, the kidnapping of Santa Claus. This ultimately leads to Halloween Town’s spooky citizens discovering the true meaning of Christmas. Danny Elfman’s twinkling soundtrack just solidifies this as a cult Christmas classic.

Gremlins is a classic comedy-horror-fantasy. But it’s also a perfectly twisted Christmas movie too, with its horde of Mogwai unleashing chaos and bloody violence across a small town right in the middle of the festive season. They attack from up in Christmas trees and even go carolling. Aside from its setting, the movie ultimately has an anti-consumerist message full of the Christmas spirit. It’s the greedy Scrooges of the movie who get their just desserts at the hands of the devilish little monsters. Plus, no one has ever looked as cute in a Santa hat as Gizmo.

It wouldn’t be a Christmas afternoon snoozing in front of the TV without it. The classic cartoon of a boy whose snowman comes to life and takes him on a magical adventure to meet Father Christmas is one of the most enduring of all time. And one of the most heart-wrenching. But, think you know the Raymond Briggs adaptation like the back of a mittened hand? Though Aled Jones’s angelic rendition of “Walking in the Air,” is synonymous with the animation, it’s actually a cover of the film’s original song, released three years later.

Something about Christmas and horror go weirdly hand-in-hand - a dark antidote to the saccharine onslaught at every other turn. After all, the devilish Krampus, which terrifies children into being well behaved for the festive season, is a staple of Alpine folklore. Mixing scares and comedy, this tongue-in-cheek tale of a family fighting for survival against the festive foe is the perfect Christmas movie for horror fans. And a great reminder to avoid being put on the naughty list.

Nancy Meyers’s Los Angeles-to-English countryside Christmastime home swap meet-cute is as sweet as a yule log, yet often underrated in the festive romance oeuvre (despite being the far superior choice over early noughties Christmas romcom ‘Love Actually’ - we said what we said). Christmassy without being cheesy, its leads, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Jack Black, each draw likeable characters with relationships you actually can believe in. It saves the fromage instead for your Xmas charcuterie board.