Holiday movies you strongly dislike

[Powerboy]

I can't think of any. And that makes sense. I don't watch a ton of holiday movies. So the ones I see are usually the well-regarded ones (and sure, I'm capable of not liking well-regarded movies, but I do like them in this case). Mercifully, I am spared the bad ones.

Same here. Give me the Grinch with Boris Karloff, Frosty and Rudolph and, maybe, Wonderful Life, and that's it. I don't seek out new Christmas movies. If one comes along, great. But I have to real list of ones I hate see I'm not liking it and stop.

[Kirby101]

Favorite Xmas movies are Rare Exports, Violent Night and Die Hard.

[kcekada]

I don't think 'strongly dislike' is the right term for how I feel about 'Elf', but that is one Chistmas movie that never interested me. All of the previews for it annoy me.

[Jim Kelly]

I like to watch holiday movies. Since watching PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES (only recently), I like to watch that in time for that holiday you people in the U. S. celebrate. I watch GROUNDHOG DAY on Groundhog Day every year.

And there's a bunch that I watch around Christmas and New Years. Every so often, I try out other ones I've never seen before, to see if I want to add them to my holiday list. I probably won't get to any this year, no time, so probably just my proven favourites.

I watched RARE EXPORTS: A CHRISTMAS TALE (2010) a few years ago, because I'd heard it was good. Didn't like it much at all. I kept waiting for it to get good and it never did. It's another one of those movies where they think it's cool to dismantle the mythology and replace it with their own ideas. As if they're Clement Clarke Moore.

I've been on the lookout for a good Krampus movie and haven't found one yet. KRAMPUS (2010) with Adam Scott is okay, but it makes the same mistake so many others make--having Krampus come at Christmas. Krampus and St. Nicholas come on St. Nicholas Day (December 6, Nikolaustag) or the evening before. In Austria, Krampus is a pretty big deal and almost eclipses St. Nick.

And Krampus is a lot better than Black Peter, who plays a similar role to Krampus in other countries, but Pete's an offensive stereotype (some guy in black face).

[Scott Taylor]

Greatest Story Ever Told, It insists on itself and is ponderous.

I'm not overly fond of Greatest Story Ever Told or King of Kings from the same era. But I like King of Kings better, especially the Sermon on the Mount scene where Jesus is interacting with people as he walks. Ben Hur is ironically probably the best one of the bunch.

[Gaastra]

Never seen elf so can't comment on it. Agree on christmas story. It's "ok" but to me not the best in the world. They made 10 movies in that series including disney making one of the sequels, so it has to be pretty loved but found it "ok".

Yup, even Mickey Mouse...

What about the real ghostbusters christmas carol?

[Kirby101]

I'm not overly fond of Greatest Story Ever Told or King of Kings from the same era. But I like King of Kings better, especially the Sermon on the Mount scene where Jesus is interacting with people as he walks. Ben Hur is ironically probably the best one of the bunch.

All movies about Jesus would be better with chariot races.

[ChrisIII]

Muppet Christmas Carol. That thing is one of the creepiest movies, its basically a horror movie. I know that puts it somewhat in the "cult" category of movies but I just don't think its a good version of the tale at all.

Funny thing is there's kind of alternate edits of the movie on home video which either do or don't include the "Love is gone" musical number (Which was not in the original theatrical version). VHS, Laserdisc and some DVDs have it, pretty sure the Blu-ray and Disney+ stick to the original edit (although I think it's available as a deleted scene).

[ChrisIII]

I didn't think of it as a Christmas movie but yes. I have liked some movies about Jesus but the Jesus if that movie is so ethereal as to not feel human in any way and the endless celebrity cameos, along with Heston chewing the scenery, totally takes me out of the story.

Think it's also a movie that kind of works best in a theather with all the big, wide shots.

[Jim Kelly]

Some of these movies mentioned were on the T.V. on Christmas Day and Easter Sunday, when we would be getting ready for the family visit--either going out to visit the relations or the relations coming to ours. So they are all the background of those days and bring back both the joys and the stresses. Mom and Dad busy with all the preparations if the relations were coming over or all of us putting on our best, combing our hair and getting ready for the long trek by bus and knowing it would be many hours before we could be back to our own home. And even though those are sometimes sad memories, they are memories of when Mom and Dad and all the aunts and uncles were alive and bright, which are golden memories. So those movies have some of that glow.

On Easter, scenes from KING OF KINGS, THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD and THE ROBE blurred together. They might as well have been all one movie. Although I do remember that Max von Sydow played Jesus in THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD. I just can't believe it. Surely it's not the same Max von Sydow--how did this happen? It's wild that the first time I saw Max von Sydow in anything it was this.

[Scott Taylor]

Funny thing is there's kind of alternate edits of the movie on home video which either do or don't include the "Love is gone" musical number (Which was not in the original theatrical version). VHS, Laserdisc and some DVDs have it, pretty sure the Blu-ray and Disney+ stick to the original edit (although I think it's available as a deleted scene).

Its funny how many legends have arisen around this little movie. One of them revolves around that deleted musical number. As I recall there are other edits involved between what people remember about it and what we see today. Its funny that of all the odd and creepy things in the movie, they single out this musical number to delete because it was too sad.

[Jim Kelly]

A few more that fall in the dislike bracket:


LAST CHRISTMAS (2019)--Starring Emilia Clarke, this was intended to be a tribute to George Michael, but I think he deserved a lot better. There are a few nice parts and when Emilia Clarke finally does sing, it's a joy (but just watch the extended performance on youtube). The movie never really comes together, the way it should. And it has a reveal near the very end, that you can see like a Kenworth coming down an ice road driven by Liam Neeson from a kilometre away.

TRADING PLACES (1983)--Eddie Murphy, Dan Ackroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis--This was a movie I was hyped to see, but when I finally watched it, it wasn't nearly as great as I had been led to believe. It's okay for the most part, with some comic scenes, but toward the end it goes completely off the rails. I think you can like it for being a ridiculous, stupid movie. But it's not a genuine holiday classic.

LA GUERRE DES TUQUES [The Dog Who Stopped the War] (1984) [live action]/LA GUERRE DES TUQUES 3D [Snowtime] (2015) [animated]--The original live action version of this movie became hugely popular in Quebec and remains a holiday classic there; but both the original and the animated version have a disturbing ending that knocked me for a loop. Since this movie is clearly intended for children, I can't see any kid leaving the theatre feeling happy about how it all comes to an end. This seems like another one of those movies where the adult filmmakers wanted to teach kids a lesson.

[Jokerz79]

I don't hate any but have hate for certain remakes or versions.

Original Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life I must watch in Black and White.

I dislike the 70's remake of Miracle on 34th Street. The 90's one is okay but doesn't hold a candle to the original.

Also, while I don't hate it I also don't get the appeal of Elf.

That's about it.

[Vegeta]

Saving Christmas with Kirk Cameron. It's just awful.

I watched the Netflix "Hallmark" style rom-com, the Knight Before Christmas starring Vanessa Hudgens and it didn't make very good use of the time traveling Knight concept. He adapted to the modern world waaay too easy and the love interest didn't even for a moment doubt his claims (maybe he was a crazy, or a really annoying Medieval Times actor that won't break character) she even let's him borrow her car (which he drives perfectly fine!) even though she just met him. The story I imagined in my head was much better than what we got on film.

On the opposite side of the coin, Violent Night with David Harbour was fantastic. The concept was sooo stupid (it reminded me of the fake movie advertised in "Scrooged.") But everyone is playing it 100% serious and with such conviction that it is just sooo funny! I love the little girl's face lighting up with joy as she exclaims "SKULLCRUSHER!" when Santa holds up his favorite weapon. John Leguizamo is also great as the criminal mastermind with a deep rooted hate for the Christmas holiday.

[CaptCleghorn]

All movies about Jesus would be better with chariot races.

A- This
B- QFT
C- What they said
D- All of the above