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There's much more to Christmas than decorations and gift-giving. The end-of-year festivities are a great time to reflect and look back on the year's achievements. Whether it's getting back to your day job (Cliffhanger), meeting new people (The Hateful Eight), or simply getting through the year and living to tell the tale (Misery), the films on this list capture the season’s essence in unexpected ways.
For viewers who have had their fill of the usual heartwarming Christmas classics, these R-rated winter alternatives offer a chilly and more adult perspective on the holiday season. With dusted with snow-capped vistas, icy story beats, and darker Christmas themes, these films invite viewers to reimagine the festive period as one of darkness, survival and tension.
10 'Misery' (1990)
Starring James Caan and Kathy Bates
Image via Columbia Pictures
Renowned author Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is famous for his series of Victorian romance novels starring beloved heroine Misery Chastain. The character has brought him success, but Paul wants to move on to more "serious" projects. While traveling from his writing retreat to his home in New York City, Paul gets into a serious car accident. Thankfully, he's rescued by a nurse named Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), who happens to be his biggest fan.
Misery is an intimate film about an odd couple forced to share a cozy cabin during a snowy winter. Sure, it may also be a violent, tense, and terrifying thriller about the toxicity of obsession, but those factors shouldn't get in the way of what is otherwise a homey classic with just the right amount of wintery visuals to get viewers in the Christmas spirit. The crackling of the fireplace and the occasional clink of the sledgehammer add a bit of spice to an otherwise quaint winter setting.
Release Date November 30, 1990
Runtime 107 minutes
9 'The Revenant' (2015)
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy and Will Poulter
Image via 20th Century Studios
During the 1820s, mountain man Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) traverses the Dakotas with other trappers, looking to profit from animal pelts. During their work, the company is set upon by a native war party, and many of the trappers are killed. Hugh tries to lead the survivors to safety but is viciously mauled by a bear. His company leaves him for dead, and despite his life-threatening injuries, Hugh sets out to get revenge.
Peppered with spectacular natural vistas and rendered magical and dream-like thanks to Emmanuel Lubezki's natural lighting, The Revenant is a beautiful, albeit grueling, film to enjoy over the Christmas period. Focusing on "uplifting" themes like survival, resilience and the motivation that comes from bloodthirsty revenge, Alejandro G. Iñárritu's Americana epic is engrossing and artful in equal measure, a grueling and bleak Western that's also surprisingly rewarding.
The Revenant
Release Date December 25, 2015
Runtime 156 minutes
Writers Alejandro González Iñárritu , Mark L. Smith
8 '30 Days of Night' (2007)
Starring Josh Hartnett, Melissa George and Danny Huston
Image via Columbia Pictures
A small Alaskan town is preparing for its annual month of polar night, which is a several-week period during which the town experiences total darkness. In the lead-up, Sheriff Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) responds to some strange complaints regarding strangers in town, dead dogs, and electrical issues. As the darkness officially sets in, the locals quickly realize that they won't be alone for this polar night: they have been invaded by a clan of vampires and have nowhere to go.
Horror lovers deserve earnest and high-quality Christmas movies just as much as other film viewers. While horror movies meeting those criteria are few and far between, they'll always have 30 Days of Night. While not directly themed around Christmas like some of its tackier peers, this small-town supernatural movie is tense and chilly and conveys an oppressive and grim vision of what a winter wonderland can look like.
Release Date October 19, 2007
Runtime 113 minutes
Writers Steve Niles , Stuart Beattie , Brian Nelson , Ben Templesmith
7 'Cliffhanger' (1992)
Starring Sylvester Stallone, John Lithgow and Michael Rooker
Image via TriStar Pictures
After a mountain climb goes wrong, rescue ranger Gabe (Sylvester Stallone) is traumatized and quits the ranger service. Months later, he returns to the mountain to finish packing up his things. While there, a hijacked plane full of stolen cash and dangerous criminals crashes nearby. Unaware of the danger that awaits, Gabe and his former colleague and friend Hal (Michael Rooker) climb to the crashed plane to offer assistance.
In the late '80s, Die Hard gave the world a taste of how good an action-Christmas crossover could be. But few, if any, films can scratch that same action-Christmas itch. So, for viewers who have reached their limit of Christmastime Die Hard rewatches, let this be a sign to spend this Christmas watching Cliffhanger. This movie has it all: an edge-of-your-seat cold open, a rogues' gallery of cheesy '90s villain stereotypes, and a chilly snow-capped setting. No, it doesn't feature Christmas celebrations or a "now I have a machine gun ho-ho-ho" sweater, but what it lacks in knitwear, it makes up for in high-altitude set pieces.
Release Date May 28, 1993
Runtime 112 Minutes
6 'The Hateful Eight' (2015)
Starring Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson and Jennifer Jason Leigh
Image via TWC
In 1877, a raging blizzard forces a group of distrustful strangers to seek shelter at Minnie's Haberdashery. Among the strangers are Union veteran Major Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell), his high-value captive, Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh), Confederate General Smithers (Bruce Dern) and newly hired Sheriff Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins). Between the strangers is a range of conflicts, ulterior motives and secrets. While stuck together in Minnie's Haberdashery, these tensions brew to the surface.
What is more reminiscent of a family Christmas party than watching a group of disagreeable adults trade insults and jabs while trapped together in a small residence? Ideological differences, financial disputes, and petty beefs all bubble to the surface in The Hateful Eight, an unintentionally accurate portrayal of the average family holiday gathering. Jam-packed with A-list actors, snowy set-pieces and cathartic violence, Quentin Tarantino's film makes for excellent Christmas Eve viewing.
The Hateful Eight
Release Date December 25, 2015
Runtime 188 Minutes
5 'Fargo' (1996)
Starring Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi and William H. Macy
Image via Universal Pictures
Hopeless and financially desperate car salesman Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) concocts a convoluted and harebrained scheme to have his wife kidnapped and subsequently extort his father-in-law for tens of thousands of dollars. Meanwhile, heavily pregnant police chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) attends the scene of a triple homicide in her small town of Brainerd, Minnesota.
It isn't a coincidence that the Coen brothers' 1996 film Fargo would go on to inspire five seasons of excellent TV almost 20 years after its release. The Oscar winning classic quickly and effortlessly builds a rich and quirky world for its characters to inhabit, which is expanded on to great success in the TV series of the same name. Despite the dark nature of the film's plot, there is something whimsical about the Midwest charm of the Minnesota accents, Marge's characterization, and the middle-class ennui depicted in Fargo. Pair this whimsy with the snowy setting, trapper hats, and puffy jackets, and Fargo makes for an excellent, if off-kilter, Christmas watch.
Fargo
Release Date April 5, 1996
Runtime 98 Minutes
Writers Ethan Coen , Joel Coen
4 'Cold Pursuit' (2019)
Starring Liam Neeson, Tom Bateman and Laura Dern
Image via StudioCanal
Snowplow driver and "Citizen of the Year" Nels Coxman (Liam Neeson) is utterly shattered by the overdose death of his son. The tragedy puts a wedge between Nels and his wife, Grace (Laura Dern), worsened by the fact he is convinced his son's death wasn't an accident and begins to investigate. What he learns fuels a campaign of revenge, which puts him on a warpath with the dangerous Colorado drug lord "The Viking" (Tom Bateman).
While Cold Pursuit was initially written off as simply "Taken on a snow plow," the pitch-black comedy is much, much more. Defined by distinct visual flourishes and a scene-stealing villain performance from Tom Bateman, Cold Pursuit is an outlier among its action peers. The dark comedic touches, family-centered subplots, and stark winter setting strike just the right balance of holiday spirit for viewers who want a Christmas movie that isn’t really about Christmas.
Cold Pursuit
Release Date February 7, 2019
Runtime 118 minutes
Writers Frank Baldwin , Kim Fupz Aakeson
3 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' (2011)
Starring Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig and Stellan Skarsgård
Image via Sony Pictures Releasing
Embattled journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) is trying to bounce back from a libel lawsuit and the associated scandal. In exchange for evidence that could help his suit, he accepts a strange private job offer from a wealthy businessman who wants to solve the 40-year-old disappearance of his niece.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo wasn't labeled "the feel-bad movie of Christmas" for nothing. Snowy, Stockholm-based and sadistic, David Fincher's take on the wildly popular novel from author Stieg Larsson is clinical and cold by design. The exploration of a wealthy and deeply troubled family mixes well with the harsh yet somewhat romantic depiction of a Scandinavian winter. Combined, these factors subtly evoke a very adult and bittersweet atmosphere of Christmas and its darker implications.
Release Date December 21, 2011
Runtime 158 minutes
Writers Steven Zaillian
2 'The Thing' (1982)
Starring Kurt Russell, Keith David and Wilford Brimley
Image via Universal Pictures
The daily operations of a remote research station in Antarctica are interrupted when a Norwegian helicopter chasing a sled dog approaches the station. During the commotion, the helicopter crashes, and all passengers are killed. The team at the research station, including helicopter pilot R. J. MacCready (Kurt Russell), take the dog into their kennel and soon learn they've made a terrible mistake.
Christmas is all about surprises, and there are few things more surprising than learning that a newly rescued Norwegian snow dog is, in fact, a shape-shifting alien from outer space. The Thing is undoubtedly one of the best science-fiction films ever made, but in addition to representing the gold standard for special effects, suspenseful storytelling and beard grooming, the icy thriller is also a perfect film for getting into a certain Christmas mood. For those who dread the holidays, the subzero environment and impending sense of cabin fever will provide a relatable and hopefully cathartic respite from the real-life stresses that December brings.
The Thing
Release Date June 25, 1982
Runtime 109 minutes
Writers Bill Lancaster
1 'The Shining' (1980)
Starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd
Image via Warner Bros
Recovering alcoholic and aspiring novelist Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) accepts a job as the winter caretaker for the Overlook Hotel, located in a remote area of Colorado's Rocky Mountains. Jack brings his wife Wendy (Shelley Duval) and son Danny (Danny Lloyd) with him. Although the small family has each other for company, the creep of isolation and the resurgence of Jack's inner demons begin to strain the family, compounded by the disturbing supernatural occurrences they experience around the hotel.
When it comes to Christmas clichés, The Shining is full of them. Ugly winter sweaters, visits from ghosts of the past, and unconventional snow sculptures all play heavily into the Stanley Kubrick classic. Despite being the furthest thing from a true Christmas film, the ornate Overlook Hotel, tense familial relations, and the oppressive whiteness and eternity of the winter snow all evoke a certain Christmasy je ne sais quoi.
Release Date May 23, 1980
Runtime 146 minutes
NEXT: The 10 Most Rewatchable R-Rated Christmas Movies, Ranked
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