A Holiday Film Guide for Your Streaming Pleasure

We’ve got a week’s sleep till Xmas, y’all. Our country may be embroiled in impeachment trial proceedings and war is in fact — sorry, John Lennon and Yoko Ono — not over, but merry and bright content persists. If you’re planning to binge-watch Christmas flicks over the holidays, here are a few good ones available for streaming to get you started, no matter your mood.

Hello, Yes, I’m Nostalgic!

• The Muppet Christmas Carol — Don’t @ me, but 1992’s The Muppet Christmas Carol is the definitive take on the Dickens classic tale. The first movie to be made after Jim Henson’s death, it’s proof of Henson’s undeniable legacy in pop culture. With Kermit as Bob Cratchit and Michael Caine cast as the selfish, penny-pinching (but grossly rich!) Ebenezer Scrooge, it spins this much-adapted story with misty-eyed warmth sure to make any heart thaw. Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie Bear and Sam the Eagle, among others, all make appearances. If you’re feeling really festive, end the night spinning 1979’s A Christmas Together — an album in which John Denver sings with the Muppet crew. It’s perfect.

Where can I stream? Disney +

• Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas — In true ’90s-baby form, I grew up with both this and its follow-up, Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas. Both are a collection of short, sentimental tales imbued with a hefty dose of Christmas cheer. Starring Mickey and the whole gang, it is indeed very merry and bright.

Where can I stream? Disney +

• Home Alone — Nearly 30 years after the oft-referenced and beloved Home Alone, Disney has announced a remake (much to the ire of the Twitter ‘verse). Revisit the 1990 mainstay, which tells the story of mischievous 8-year-old Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) who finds himself mistakingly left home alone as the rest of his family flies to Paris for the holidays. When a pair of robbers attempt to break into the house, hijinks ensue.

Where can I stream? Disney +

• Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch — You’ve got multiple options to hear the story of the Grinch via streaming. There’s 2000’s whacky live-action How the Grinch Stole Christmas remake starring Jim Carrey as the lonely green fellow who attempts to rob Christmas from the people of Whoville, only to find his heart grow three sizes that day. Then there’s the much cuter 2018 animated take Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch, which paints the titular character (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch) more as an isolated guy who finds it difficult to connect with others, instead opting to hide away in his hobbit-hole-esque home atop the mountain. Bonus: Tyler the Creator lends an infectious Hip Hop-infused theme song.

Where can I stream? Netflix

• White Christmas — Michael Curtiz’s 1954 Christmas classic film starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Vera-Ellen and Rosemary Clooney is set post-World-War-II and hones in on two veterans — Bob Wallace and Phil Davis — who are trying to make their way as singers. When they join sisters Betty and Judy to perform a Christmas show in Vermont, they run into their former commander, who is facing financial troubles with his inn. And so, in true Holiday spirit, the foursome cracks a plan to bring in business.

Where can I stream? Netflix

• It’s A Wonderful Life — Storytime: When I was 12, my parents set me up in my sister’s room on Christmas Eve to watch It’s A Wonderful Life on a very small TV with a built-in VHS player. Cranked at full volume, it kept me occupied for over two hours as my dad snuck in my Christmas present that year: The dog I had been asking for since I was four. Her name is Maggie and she is the best gift I’ve ever received. Truly.

Existential and moving, the film tells the story of George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, a man who is saved from suicide by a guardian angel on Christmas Eve. The angel shows him what life would have been like for those around him had he never been born, making clear the impact he has on the lives around him.

Where can I stream? Amazon Prime

New Netflix Christmas Originals

• Klaus — How did Santa Claus become, well, the dude in the big red suit? Netflix’s animated feature Klaus aims to set the record straight, weaving the tale of a not-so-good-at-his-job postman who becomes stationed in a small town above the Arctic Circle. That’s where he discovers a reclusive toymaker — aka the titular Klaus himself.

• Holiday In the Wild — Rob Lowe and Kristin Davis star in this rom-com alongside many, many elephants. After her kid goes off to college and her husband ends their marriage — in surprisingly quick and brutal succession — Kate (Davis) sets off on what was supposed to be their second honeymoon alone. Alongside Derek (Lowe), she helps save a baby elephant and decides to spend the remainder of her time at an elephant conservation center. Of course, Derek just so happens to also work there. You see where this is going.

• The Knight Before Christmas — A medieval knight falls in love with a high school science teacher played by Vanessa Hudgens, who is quickly becoming a staple for the lead in Christmas-tinged romcoms. It’s campy, makes little sense and, because of this, will likely make you laugh all the way through.

• A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby — This marks the third title in the A Christmas Prince series; the first movie was rolled out in ‘17. It’s Christmas in Aldovia and Queen Amber is expecting a — you guessed it — baby! The flick is apparently pretty confounding, with a Jezebel article citing that they were “genuinely shaken” by the film’s reworking of European history. Honestly, I’m scared. But intrigued.

• Holiday Rush — Set in New York City, a widowed DJ loses his job before Christmas and moves in with his aunt, along with his four kids, who he must teach the true spirit of the holiday. It’s classic warm and fuzzy fare.

• Let it Snow — Let it Snow is basically Love, Actually except with teenagers. For the record: Love, Actually is among my least favorite of Christmas movie romcoms — especially that scene with the cue cards — but at least the former has an ode to Waffle House. Plus, one of the stories features a queer couple, which shouldn’t be surprising but it’s one of the only holiday romcoms to do so. Based on an anthology of Xmas love stories by YA authors John Green, Lauren Myracle, and Maureen Johnson, Let it Snow sets the scene during Christmas Eve in a Midwestern town as a snowstorm hits. The film weaves together seemingly disparate stories of a group of teenagers’ nights, all eventually culminating into one festive party.

Holiday Horror

• Black Christmas — Before Bob Clark directed A Christmas Story, he was at the helm of another holiday film, albeit a much bloodier one. Hugely influential in the world of slasher-genre flicks,1974’s Black Christmas was released even before John Capterner’s Halloween. As winter break begins, a group of sorority women receives creepy anonymous phone calls. As sisters begin disappearing and bodies turn up dead, terror sets in. The coziness of the season — multi-colored lights, evergreen trees, fallen snow — combined with slasher genre hallmarks makes for an even more unsettling watch. There’s also a scene juxtaposed with carolers and death by… unicorn? Seriously. Equally harrowing is the subplot between one of the women, Jess, and her boyfriend, who attempts to dissuade her from having an abortion in a manipulative manner. Released just a year after Roe V. Wade, the feminist issues weaved within Black Christmas still have relevance today. That’s likely why a just-released remake hit theaters earlier this month. But don’t expect an exact remake of the original — the revamped take works within an entirely different plot, with only similar themes ringing throughout.

Where can I stream? Shudder, Amazon Prime

• Anna and the Apocalypse — Zombies don’t rest for the holidays. When they encroach on the small town of Little Haven, at Christmas no less, Anna and her friends — highschoolers! — must fight the undead to survive another year. If a musical horror set during the holidays sounds weird, that’s because it is — but this 2018 movie might also be just what you need to liven up your binge-watching roster.

Where can I stream? Hulu