If you’ve become tired of watching the same three Christmas movies every year, then you should maybe consider changing up your holiday watchlist. These may not be the most conventional Christmas films, but they all remind me of Christmas or the holiday season in some way.

Gremlins (1984)

If you haven’t seen Gremlins, you’re still probably familiar with the characters of Gizmo and Stripe. Its holiday setting is important to the plot, making it more of a Christmas movie than many others on this list. This movie is surprisingly violent. Along with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Gremlins is the reason the PG-13 rating exists. It’s not my favorite 80’s movie, but it’s still a solid film. It does drag on a little bit towards the end, but it’s never boring. It’s worth watching Gremlins just to see Gizmo.

The Harry Potter franchise (2001-2011)

I’m definitely not the only one that views the Harry Potter series as Christmas movies. The first four, especially; they all have a lot of snow and Christmas scenes. I find myself watching at least one of these every time the holiday season rolls around. Even though I’m not the biggest fan of J.K. Rowling, I still love this franchise, and probably always will. It’s pretty hard to not love it. My favorite of the series is probably Chamber of Secrets. I’m not really sure why, but I always seem to have the most fun watching it. Prisoner of Azkaban provides some solid competition, though. You’ve probably seen all of these 5 times already, but they’re insanely rewatchable, and provide some solid holiday entertainment.

Batman Returns (1992)

Unlike some of the other movies on this list, Christmas actually plays an important part in Batman Returns. Gotham City’s public Christmas tree is featured many times. Snow, Christmas decorations, and carols are all common things in Tim Burton’s second Batman movie. While the ’89 Batman is superior, this movie is still good. It is very fun to watch Danny Devito as the penguin, and even though he’s not even close to my favorite Batman, Michael Keaton is still good in the role. Batman and Batman Returns aren’t the best Batman movies, but they helped create the modern superhero movie. Batman, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, and The Avengers are probably the most influential superhero films ever made. If you’re a comic book movie fan and haven’t seen Tim Burton’s Batman films, they are 100% worth your time. Make sure to stay away from Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, though. Pretty much nobody from the first two is involved, and they’re just awful.

Krampus (2015)

Krampus is the most fun I’ve had with a Christmas movie in a while. There’s just one bit in the middle of the movie that was so ridiculously stupid, it made me upset. Don’t get me wrong, this movie should be at least a little stupid. It’s about an evil goat-Santa. A good comparison is two different Sam Raimi movies: Drag Me To Hell and Army of Darkness. They’re both pretty goofy, but in a good way. I’m not as big a fan of Army of Darkness as the other Evil Dead movies. It’s just too dumb. Even something as ridiculous as the Evil Dead franchise has a line, and Army of Darkness crosses that line many times. Drag Me To Hell was a surprisingly solid attempt at a horror film that still has its fair share of that Sam Raimi stupidity that I love so much. Krampus is more like Drag Me To Hell, but there’s a pretty lengthy segment where the characters fight living gingerbread men and toys. I hate this. Show me more of Krampus murdering children, and less living gingerbread men. That’s what I want to see. That complaint aside, this movie is very enjoyable. The last 10 minutes are surprisingly effective, if a bit predictable. If you want to change up your usual feel-good Christmas lineup, this is one of the best choices.

Iron Man 3 (2013)

I find this to be one of the most underrated movies in the MCU. I do like the other Iron Man movies, but this is my favorite of the three. It’s just so different from the others. You see Tony being forced to solve issues without his suit, and really think through how he’s going to take down Aldrich Killian. I think that the main reason people hate this movie is because they changed the identity of The Mandarin. I still find this pretty dumb. I’ve always said that a comic book movie should be able to change whatever story beats it wants, as long as it works. And this movie definitely works. This was released during the summer, but I think it works as a holiday movie. It takes place during Christmas, and that’s enough for me. Completely off topic, but if you enjoy Iron Man 3, check out The Nice Guys, which is the best movie made by Iron Man 3‘s director, Shane Black. Not enough people are aware of The Nice Guys’ existence.

Violent Night (2022)

I haven’t yet gotten the chance to see Violent Night, but I am VERY excited to. From what I understand, this is essentially Die Hard, but John McClane is replaced with Santa Claus. Plus, people that helped make movies such as Deadpool 2, Bullet Train, John Wick, and Nobody produced Violent Night. Dumb fun action movies are their specialty. Again, I haven’t seen this, but do I really need to sell it? In the trailer, Santa says ‘Season’s Beatings’. That’s really all you need to know.

Die Hard (1988)

By far the most famous example of the ‘Non-Christmas Christmas movie’, Die Hard is still an absolute classic. This is probably one of the greatest action movies ever made- or, at least, one of the most iconic. 34 years later, and the argument of ‘Is Die Hard a Christmas movie’ is still a hotly debated topic. Personally, I don’t think it really counts, but that’s what this list is all about- movies that aren’t Christmas movies, but it just feels right to watch them around Christmas. Usually, I’d give some sort of summary, or further explain my feelings regarding the film, but I really don’t need to. It’s Die Hard. Everybody has seen this movie. Die Hard 2 could also count as one of these, but I don’t like Die Hard 2, so I’m leaving it off the list.

Hawkeye (2021)

Yes, this is a mini-series and not a movie, but who cares? This is my list. I make the rules. This isn’t the best of the Marvel shows, but it’s still a good time. I enjoyed it quite a bit- it was a fun Christmas special to end 2021. It’s pretty low energy compared to a lot of Marvel stuff, which can be a nice change of pace from the constant multidimensional supervillains that we get in every movie. Hailee Steinfeld and Jeremy Renner are both amazing, and it was great to see Florence Pugh as Yelena again. I think that Steinfeld and Pugh are by far the best characters introduced in phase 4 of the MCU. If you already watched this last year when it premiered, it is something that is very easy to revisit. Plus, if you’re a fan of the Netflix Daredevil show like I am, the last episode of this series is fantastic.

Where to watch these:

Gremlins: HBO Max

Harry Potter: HBO Max and Peacock

Batman Returns: HBO Max

Krampus: Peacock

Iron Man 3: Disney+

Violent Night: Only playing in theaters

Die Hard: Available to rent (Or, if you have a VPN, it’s on Disney+ in other countries)

Hawkeye: Disney+