Ho ho no! Films show dark side of Christmas
Ready to say “Bah! Humbug!” to holiday festivities? Once upon a time, there were movies just for you.
Anti-Christmas movies, intentionally not meant to uplift or point out the benefits of seeing the goodness in everyone, flourished in years gone by.
This season there’s a void. Not even one spoiler eager to throw eggnog on a sidewalk Santa or revel in misery a la Scrooge.
For the jolly set, this is a good thing. But for those who like their Christmas-through-New-Years viewing on the ho-ho-ho-boy-that’s-dark (or just bad) side, fire up the rentals with some of these grim classics:
“Bad Santa” (2003) with Billy Bob Thornton as, well, a “disgruntled department store Santa” doesn’t begin to cover it. He’s a sex addict, alcoholic and eager thief who’s just plain nasty. So popular it prompted a sequel.
“Jingle All the Way” (1996) is one of those lamentable “Christmas movies” that indirectly and unintentionally remind everyone how horrible the season can be. A very bad Arnold Schwarzenegger “comedy” about pressured dads racing to get the year’s must-have toy, it was rightly panned by critics. Moviegoers loved its nasty take on the commercialization of the holiday.
“Jack Frost” is a take-your-choice option. The 1997 “Jack Frost” is a cult film monster movie about a serial killer who becomes, thanks to a strange accident, a killer snowman. Really cheesy effects and, yes, a sequel: “Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman.”
“Jack Frost” from 1998 is a Michael Keaton vehicle (hardly a career high point) with no less than Jim Henson’s Creature Shop providing the snowman outfit. Shameless heart tugging as Jack dies in a car crash only to be reincarnated as a snowman who communicates with his grieving little boy.
“Silent Night, Deadly Night” is, in a season of supposed good cheer, about a really unhappy homicidal killer who just can’t join in the fun. A gory slasher film about disturbed Billy. First traumatized as a child by witnessing his parents’ Christmas Eve murders, then abused by nuns in a Catholic orphanage, no wonder once Billy dresses like Old St. Nick it’s just too much! See Billy run amok as bodies pile up. “SNDN” spawned a five-film franchise plus remake.