What makes a holiday movie bad? Is it the absurd plotlines like in Netflix’s Hot Frosty, where Schitt’s Creek’s Dustin Milligan plays a snowman that is magically brought to life by the tears of a grieving widow, played by Mean Girls’ Lacey Chabert? Or is it the cheesy one-liners that’ll have us quoting for days (e.g. a Santa Claus lumberjack screaming “I’M GONNA DECK YOUR HALLS, BUB!” in Jingle All the Way)?
The science behind a “bad” holiday movie may remain a mystery to us, but one thing is for sure: their “badness” is what keeps us coming back year after year. Whether it’s the unintentional over-the-top acting, the character arcs riddled with plot holes, or the inevitable sappy happy endings (because when is a holiday movie ever sad?), these films have become a tradition on their own.
With the season already upon us, we’ve rounded up some of the best of the worst — the festive films that are so cheesy and so ridiculous, you just have to watch them.
‘The Star Wars Holiday Special’ (1978)
Starting this list off strong is Star Wars director George Lucas’ disgraced holiday lovechild with CBS, The Star Wars Holiday Special. The premise: Chewie and Han Solo try to celebrate Life Day (Star Wars’ clunky attempt at keeping things non-denominational) with Chewie’s family. All the original trilogy cast members — Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill, among others — return for the special, including a host of celebrity cameos such as The Golden Girls’ Bea Arthur, The Carol Burnett Show’s Harvey Korman, and the American rock band Jefferson Starship. But even with all this star power, the special couldn’t shake off the strange writing (there’s a subplot of Chewie’s dad watching virtual reality softcore porn), awkward acting (Harrison Ford did not know how to hug Wookies), and overall absurdity of the show’s premise.
‘The Merry Gentlemen’ (2024)
Is Netflix the new Hallmark? The streaming platform’s latest cinematic holiday venture is The Merry Gentlemen, in which a big-city dancer returns to her rural hometown and saves her parents’ small-time nightclub by putting on a Christmas-themed burlesque show. There is also a very attractive carpenter involved, played by Chad Michael Murray. When it comes to Netflix’s Christmas movies, it is best not to ask questions and to simply sit back, suspend all belief, and let the magic of barechested men wearing Santa Claus hats wash over you.
‘Red One’ (2024)
Red One is Amazon Prime Video’s attempt at an edgy Christmas movie. The movie follows an E.L.F. (Extremely Large and Formidable) operative as they try to find Santa Claus, who’s been kidnapped from the North Pole right before Christmas. Even the film’s star-studded cast — Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Chris Evans, J.K. Simmons, Lucy Liu, and Kiernan Shipka, to name a few — couldn’t save the movie from a plot that barely makes sense, unbelievable action sequences, and a plethora of exhausting Christmas references.
‘The Nutcracker’ (2010)
With a 0 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, The Nutcracker (2010) clearly isn’t high up on anyone’s Best Christmas Movies list. This reimagining of the classic ballet ditches the elegance and charm in favor of a CGI overload, and a plot that feels like someone just threw a bunch of holiday clichés into a blender. The result? A hodgepodge of poorly written holiday songs, disturbing visuals, and a $90 million budget flushed down the drain.
‘Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman’ (2000)
We didn’t need a sequel to a killer snowman movie, but a sequel is what we got. You don’t need to know too much about the first movie to understand what’s going on in the second. There’s a murderous snowman, possessed by the angry soul of a serial killer. However, the sequel sees protagonist Sam and his wife Anne heading to a tropical island to escape the trauma of the first movie… but the snowman somehow manages to follow them for another rampage.
‘Home Alone 4’ (2002)
This made-for-television Christmas family comedy lacked a lot of the charm that made Home Alone and Home Alone 2 such huge holiday classics (there is a Home Alone 3, which was a flop, but not as big a flop as this fourth installment in the franchise). In Home Alone 4, Kevin McCallister (played by Mike Weinberg, not Macaulay Culkin) is struggling with his parents’ divorce while also trying to protect a prince from abduction.
‘Jingle All the Way’ (1996)
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad play two fathers who engage in a ridiculous, over-the-top battle to buy a toy. That sentence alone should tell you how chaotic Jingle All the Way is. It’s a cheesy watch with comically violent undertones (Sinbad’s character is a mailman who may or may not use a mail bomb to win against Schwarzenegger), but it’s surprisingly not as bad as the other movies on this list. It’s one of those holiday comedies that’ll make you go, “How did this get made? I mean, I’m down for it. But who greenlit this?”
‘The Princess Switch’ (2018)
Vanessa Hudgens plays not one, but two characters: a Chicago baker and a royal duchess who look eerily similar, yet somehow decide to swap places for the holidays. Nothing says “holiday magic” more than swapping lives with your identical look-alike who just happens to be royalty, and Hudgens delivers high-quality cheesiness in this Netflix Christmas movie. The Princess Switch also has an equally cheesy sequel, and eagle-eyed viewers may have caught a newspaper reference to the film in Netflix’s other holiday flick The Merry Gentlemen. (It’s the Netflix Christmas cinematic universe!)
‘A Merry Friggin’ Christmas’ (2014)
It’s Robin Williams and Community’s Joel McHale — how did this holiday movie flop so hard? A Merry Friggin’ Christmas follows Boyd (McHale) who is forced into a road trip with his father (Williams) in order to deliver gifts to his son by Christmas morning. What is meant to be a heartwarming comedy about a dysfunctional father-son duo morphs into an awkward hour and thirty minutes of uncomfortable jokes, standard Christmas dialogue, and a cast that is clearly giving their all but can’t do anything to save the trainwreck that is this movie.
‘Black Christmas’ (2006)
This remake of the 1974 classic of the same name does little to elevate the first movie’s plot. Black Christmas follows a group of sorority sisters who are stranded at their campus house during a snowstorm while a killer is on the loose. The remake took itself a little too seriously, forgetting that its plot is a little too campy and Christmas-y to be a legitimate horror movie.
‘Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Musical Live!’ (2020)
Glee’s Matthew Morrison brings to life a version of the Grinch that is a little too mean and a little too into pelvic thrusts for an audience that is mostly composed of young children. The songs are mostly forgettable, and the whole thing veers into cringe territory, where the festive cheer is dialed up to a level that would make even the most Christmas-loving viewer squirm. The Whos of Whoville, with their cartoonish energy and bizarre costumes, are more exhausting than heartwarming, and you’ll probably find yourself wishing they’d all just go back to Whoville.
‘Deck the Halls’ (2006)
Suburban dad and Christmas enthusiast (of course) Matthew Broderick gets into a feud with his new eccentric neighbor Danny DeVito, who has dreams of having a house so lit up with Christmas lights that it can be seen from outer space. The plot is as thin as a strand of tinsel, and the comedy? It’s mostly made up of slapstick antics, bad jokes, and the kind of Christmas rivalry that feels more like a midlife crisis with twinkling lights.
‘Mixed Nuts’ (1994)
Directed by legendary romance director-screenwriter Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail, When Harry Met Sally) and starring Steve Martin and Madeline Kahn, Mixed Nuts (1994) had all the makings of a charming holiday romance movie. But alas, this was not meant to be. Martin plays a frazzled suicide hotline operator working over the Christmas holidays while Kahn is his equally frazzled co-worker. The plot is a hodgepodge of weird subplots involving runaway brides, mistaken identities, and more eccentric characters than a Christmas parade.
‘Santa with Muscles’ (1996)
It’s Hulk Hogan as Santa Claus. I feel like I don’t need to say more than that. It’s also a story of mistaken identity — Hogan plays an evil multi-millionaire who hates Christmas but accidentally hits his head, losing his memory. An elf convinces Hogan that he’s really Santa, and the rest is history.
‘Falling for Christmas’ (2022)
The indomitable Lindsay Lohan plays a mean-spirited heiress who hates Christmas (are we seeing a trend here?), but gets into a skiing accident just days before the holiday. After being diagnosed with amnesia, Lohan receives the care that she needs from a handsome cabin owner and learns the true meaning of Christmas.
‘Santa Claus Conquers the Martians’ (1964)
The plot of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians is a little out there, so bear with me. Kimar, the ruler of Mars, wants to encourage the planet’s children to be less lazy and get into the Christmas spirit. His solution, naturally, is to kidnap Santa Claus. The plot is as nonsensical as it sounds — all with wooden acting, laughable dialogue, and Martian costumes that’ll make you question the entire concept of cinema.
‘Noel’ (2004)
Noel is the type of holiday movie that tried so hard to be heartfelt, it ended up feeling like a therapy session that just so happened to take place during the holidays. The plot is hard to follow: Rose (played by Susan Sarandon) is spending Christmas visiting her mother in the hospital because she’s been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. At the same time, Nina (played by Penélope Cruz) is about to call off her wedding with fiancé Mike (Paul Walker) because he has anger management issues, and Artie (Alan Arkin) is a waiter following Mike around because he believes that Mike is the reincarnation of his late wife. There is also another unnamed character (Marcus Thomas) who just wants to recreate his happiest Christmas memory.
‘Christmas With the Kranks’ (2004)
Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis star as Mr. and Mrs. Krank, a couple who decide to skip Christmas altogether in favor of a Caribbean cruise. However, Christmas-obsessed neighbors Dan Aykroyd and M. Emmet Walsh are not having it because they want — no, need — to win the annual Best Decorated Street competition.
‘Santa’s Slay’ (2005)
Surprisingly, there are multiple Christmas movies that have a professional wrestler starring in a lead role. Santa’s Slay sees Santa, played by WWE wrestler Bill Goldberg, get so tired of spreading Christmas cheer that he reverts to a demonic version of himself and spreads fear instead. The plot is as ridiculous as it sounds: gory kills, bizarre humor, and a Christmas setting that quickly descends into absurdity.
‘Home Sweet Home Alone’ (2021)
Surprise! Another movie from the Home Alone franchise made it into this list! Max Mercer (note: not Kevin McAllister) is a mischievous boy left alone for the holidays. When a married couple tries to break into his house and steal a valuable heirloom, Max must do everything he can (e.g. booby trap his entire house) to protect his home. If this sounds pretty much like the first Home Alone, then you’re absolutely right. We really didn’t need this reboot.
‘A Karate Christmas Miracle’ (2019)
A Karate Christmas Miracle is the holiday film that somehow blends Christmas, karate, and… well, not much else. When his father disappears on Christmas Day the year before, a ten-year-old boy believes that if he teaches himself enough karate to become a black belt, his father will come home. The acting is stilted, the karate is questionable at best, and the whole thing plays out like a Christmas special you’d expect to see on a channel that specializes in “accidentally” bad movies.
‘Christmas Evil’ (1980)
A young boy catches his mother getting a little frisky with Santa Claus, causing him to lose his mind and grow up to become a serial killer dressed as Santa Claus. Don’t expect any logic from this film, because you won’t find any — just violent rampages, Christmas-themed kills, and strange, holiday-centric backstories.
‘Saving Christmas’ (2014)
Growing Pains star and TV evangelist Kirk Cameron made a Christmas movie, and it’s more than a little cringy. Cameron stars as Kirk, a man who must teach his brother-in-law Christian how important Christ is to the holiday. The plot is thin, the dialogue is painfully forced, and the message is about as subtle as a snowplow.
‘Hot Frosty’ (2024)
Mean Girls star Lacey Chabert is a widow who magically gives life to a snowman, played by Schitt’s Creek’s Dustin Milligan. This movie shouldn’t work at all. But, surprisingly, it carries with it an irresistible charm. There is also something undeniably wonderful about seeing Milligan as a shirtless, himbo-like snowman. Yes, yes, yes.
‘Jack Frost’ (1998)
This one has no relation to the horror movie of the same name. In this holiday drama, Michael Keaton plays an aging musician who never quite got the fame he deserved. Keaton dies tragically in a car accident. Fast forward a year later, his son plays a sad tune on his harmonica and wishes for a Christmas miracle. To his surprise, Keaton comes back to life as a… snowman.
‘Fred Claus’ (2007)
This Christmas movie asks the question, “What if Santa had a brother, and he was a criminal?” Vince Vaughn stars as Fred, Santa’s less-than-jolly sibling, who reluctantly heads to the North Pole to help out during the holidays. The movie is all about sibling rivalry, but it never quite nails the balance between comedy and heart.
‘I Believe In Santa’ (2022)
It’s a textbook holiday romance. Lisa (Christina Moore) and Tom (John Ducey) are in a happy relationship — that is, until Lisa finds out that Tom’s favorite holiday is her least favorite: Christmas. To Lisa’s credit, though, Tom has an unhealthy obsession with the holiday. He has Christmas music on loop, Christmas decorations up all the time, and an unwavering belief that Santa is definitely real.
‘Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas’ (2013)
Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas sees Tyler Perry as Madea, Perry’s signature caricature of a tough elderly woman, on a quest to teach young teenagers the spirit of Christmas. If you’re a fan of the Madea brand of humor — loud, messy, and unapologetically ridiculous — this is a Christmas flick for you. If not, you’ll be cringing your way through the entire thing.
