--- title: Dark Christmas Movies to Watch Over the Holidays description: For a little Christmas counter-programming, try some darker choices like 'Eyes Wide Shut' or 'Fanny and Alexander.' canonical: https://time.com/6130310/dark-christmas-movies/ author: Peg Aloi article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-12-20T21:29:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:06:06.205Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: 11 Dark Christmas Movies to Watch If You’re Not Quite Feeling the Holiday Spirit og:description: For a little Christmas counter-programming, try some darker choices like 'Eyes Wide Shut' or 'Fanny and Alexander' og:url: https://time.com/6130310/dark-christmas-movies/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb741815ec7f67dd/698a20d9e76ad235086399b6/dark-christmas-movies-featured.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: dark-christmas-movies-featured og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 11 Dark Christmas Movies to Watch If You’re Not Quite Feeling the Holiday Spirit twitter:description: For a little Christmas counter-programming, try some darker choices like 'Eyes Wide Shut' or 'Fanny and Alexander' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb741815ec7f67dd/698a20d9e76ad235086399b6/dark-christmas-movies-featured.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 11 Dark Christmas Movies to Watch If You’re Not Quite Feeling the Holiday Spirit > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: TIME Covers of 2021: The Year Inside the Red Border [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Covers of 2021: The Year Inside the Red Border](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zZq2Xa5Z.m3u8) (6:44)  _Published 2021-12-13. A look back at covers published from a tumultuous year._ by [Peg Aloi](https://time.com/author/peg-aloi/) ## Peg Aloi Dec 20, 2021 9:29 PM UTC  Clockwise from top left: The City of Lost Children, Carol, Ordinary People, Eyes Wide Shut Clockwise from top left: The City of Lost Children, Carol, Ordinary People, Eyes Wide ShutEverett Collection (4) by [Peg Aloi](https://time.com/author/peg-aloi/) ## Peg Aloi Dec 20, 2021 9:29 PM UTC Ah, Yuletide! The burgeoning darkness, the bitter cold, the twinkling lights, the existential angst. Whether you participate in holiday rituals for spiritual reasons, because you crave nostalgia, out of familial duty, or just because you _need a break, already_ and a reason to celebrate something—anything—there’s no denying our cultural attachment to making this time of year special or festive or at least indulgent. This is our second year in the full throes of a global pandemic which shows no sign of abating. Instead of anticipating parties and family gatherings, we’re weighing whether to cancel them. Our normal holiday guilt (related to finances or family or whatever) is this year edged out by a sense that the truly generous and kind thing to do might be to avoid our fellow humans altogether, yet again. (Well, apart from bringing a plate of cookies or some nice wool mittens with a friendly card to your lonely elderly neighbor. Please continue to do that.) But spending Christmas alone isn’t that bad. Many of us have shiny ornaments in our pockets that let us stay in touch with our loved ones. If your idea of indulgence is fancy snacks and [watching a lot of films](https://time.com/5921304/netflix-christmas-movies-2020/), well then, a very merry winter solstice to you, my seasonal soulmates! There are indeed some bad [Christmas films](https://time.com/3634524/christmas-movies-unconventional/) out there, and some [lovely classics](https://time.com/5488213/favorite-christmas-movie-poll/) that we may not be in the mood to watch yet again (you can have your _Love, Actually_ and your _White Christmas_ but don’t touch my _It’s a Wonderful Life_ or my _A_ _Charlie Brown Christmas_). Then again, there are plenty of [films set during the Yuletide season](https://time.com/5470461/best-christmas-kid-movies/) that aren’t particularly festive, and some of them are downright dark. If you’re not quite feeling the magic this year, or you want to immerse yourself in the season but also quell your stress and fear by watching stuff that is the antithesis of holly jolly (yes, psychologists agree watching horror actually does alleviate stress for a lot of people), consider these gems, all of them eminently watchable and many of them visually stunning. In beauty, there is truth, and vice versa. Hallelujah, pass the cookies. ## _Eyes Wide Shut_ (1999) This was Stanley Kubrick’s final film, and one of his most controversial, partly because he cast an actual married couple (Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise) as a husband and wife experiencing turmoil in their marriage. It’s set during the Christmas season and begins with Kidman dressing for an opulent party in a mansion bedazzled with golden chandeliers. Another party (an occult orgy, to be more accurate) takes place in another mansion, full of nude women in high heels and men dressed like they’re attending an opera. Every scene and physical set in this film contains sparkling Christmas lights, a clever visual conceit that makes it a holiday must-see even if its plot is a far cry from _Rudolph_. **Read more:**[ _The Best Christmas Movies to Watch Right Now and All Season Long_](https://time.com/5047224/best-christmas-movies/) ## _Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy_ (2011) Tomas Alfredson’s sumptuous 1970s-era spy thriller, adapted from the John le Carré novel, features a stellar British cast (Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, John Hurt, Mark Strong, Tom Hardy, Kathy Burke) and a glossy mise-en-scène. Awkward Christmas parties with government spies in attendance anchor the timeline that moves backward and forward in time. Dreamy photography by Hoyte van Hoytema (_Dunkirk_), a fabulous score by Alberto Iglesias (_All About My Mother_), costumes by Jacqueline Durran (_Little Women_), and with plenty of espionage and career-weary ennui peppering the plot, this film is both subtle and spectacular. ## _Brazil_ (1985) Who better than Terry Gilliam to create a dystopian comedy that makes a futuristic post-industrial Orwellian society look like a Dickensian hellscape? No one better, that’s who! Jonathan Pryce is a lonely civil servant whose unwanted promotion gives him access to the horrific underworld of London’s cruel bureaucracy, and a way to escape its increasingly terrifying environment. The terrific cast includes Ian Holm, Robert DeNiro, Michael Palin and Katherine Helmond. Set during Christmas week, the film abounds with ironic Yuletide cheer and absurdly-folksy holiday customs. The pervading political party slogan, “We’re all in it together!” may feel especially pertinent this season… ## _Morvern Callar_ (2002) Lynne Ramsay’s tale of a shiftless young woman named Morvern Callar (Samantha Morton) begins with her lying next to her boyfriend’s dead body in the glow of a small Christmas tree. His name is the same as the lead character in Ramsay’s 1999 drama _Ratcatcher_, set in Glasgow in the mid-1970s, and his suicide hints at a sad sequel to that harrowing film. Yet Morvern finds a way to seize pleasure and adventure in the midst of tragedy. The visuals and soundscapes of this film are hypnotic and haunting. **Read more:** [_The 13 Best Scary Christmas Movies to Deck the Hall With Horror_](https://time.com/6125423/best-christmas-horror-movies/) ## _Fanny and Alexander_ (1982) Originally made for Swedish TV as a longer series, this is perhaps Ingmar Bergman’s most magical and emotionally resonant film. Set in 1907, an enormous family gathering on Christmas Eve, in the wake of family tragedy and grief, unfolds into an unexpectedly beautiful scene, helped along by the childlike perspective of the title characters. It boasts lovely cinematography, humor and drama, brimming with nostalgia. Just what the director ordered. ## _The City of Lost Children_ (1995) This visually mind-blowing French film by Jeunet and Caro (_Delicatessen_, _Amélie_) is a rather harrowing, dystopian (but ultimately uplifting) film with a Christmas theme. With its post-apocalyptic urban setting, a raggedy band of evil Santas in dirty red suits, and a veritable army of street urchins who only want to enjoy Christmas, this film has plenty of absurdity, horror, adventure and pathos. It is also hilariously funny at times, and features a great cameo by Ron Perlman. **Read more:** [_The Lord of the Rings Movies Are Now Holiday Movies. Here’s Why_](https://time.com/5919982/lord-of-the-rings-christmas-movies/) ## _Trading Places_ (1983) This dark yet hilarious comedy has a “Prince and the Pauper” vibe with Dan Aykroyd as a wealthy jerk forced to switch places with a homeless man played by Eddie Murphy. Aykroyd drunk in a dirty Santa suit perfectly captures the seedy irony at the heart of this commercial holiday. Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy play sociopathic Wall Street bluebloods who toy with these men as an experiment in nature versus nurture. The film feels dated at times but its central message still rings loud as bells at vespers. ## _A Midwinter’s Tale_ (1995) This odd little black and white British film directed by Kenneth Branagh (its title in the UK is _In the Bleak Midwinter_) centers around a small village’s attempts to put on a low-budget production of _Hamlet_ in place of its traditional Christmas pageant. Quirky, sad and very funny, it has much for fans of British cinema and TV to love in its eclectic casting: Adrien Scarborough (_Killing Eve_), Joan Collins, _AbFab_’s Jennifer Saunders and Julia Sawalha, Celia Imrie (_Calendar Girls)_ and a hilarious John Sessions trying his best to play Gertrude. ## _Carol_ (2015) Todd Haynes’ bittersweet love story, impeccably adapted by Phyllis Nagy from Patricia Highsmith’s 1952 novel _The Price of Salt_, is a rich, glorious paean to New York in the 1950s. Beginning in a pastel candyland department store, Rooney Mara plays a shopgirl who wants to be a photographer and is swept off her feet by a glamorous older woman (Cate Blanchett). From there, the film takes the viewer on a romantic odyssey, complete with a subtle red and green palette throughout, and an evocative soundtrack with only one (cleverly-placed) Christmas song. If you don’t have the flames of a Yuletide fire to warm your frozen heart or loins, this film will do nicely. ## _Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol_ (1962) One of the finest and most underappreciated animated Christmas specials of the 1960s, and maybe of all time, features Jim Backus (_Gilligan’s Island_’s Thurston Howell III) voicing the beloved eccentric character Mister Magoo as Ebenezer Scrooge in what has become my very favorite adaptation of _A Christmas Carol_. This version has wonderfully singable songs, too, some of them silly, some sad and lovely. Watch this one with the kids, maybe? Or alone, or with your dog. Razzleberry dressing for all! ## _Ordinary People_ (1980) Robert Redford’s directorial debut is an intimate, intense family drama adapted from Judith Guest’s acclaimed novel. Mary Tyler Moore (in a rare non-comedic role) is stunning as a woman whose grief over her eldest son’s accidental death haunts her daily existence. Donald Sutherland is her kind but brooding husband, and Timothy Hutton, in a blistering breakout role, is their troubled younger son who tries his best to hold the family together. Christmas with these folks is brutal. But this film is moving, cathartic and redemptive. _Peg Aloi is a freelance film and TV critic, media studies scholar and nature worshipper based in New York state._ --- ### More from TIME --- Dark Christmas Movies to Watch Over the Holidays ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6130310/dark-christmas-movies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6130310/dark-christmas-movies/"},"headline":"11 Dark Christmas Movies to Watch If You’re Not Quite Feeling the Holiday Spirit","datePublished":"2021-12-20T21:29:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:06:06.205Z","description":"For a little Christmas counter-programming, try some darker choices like 'Eyes Wide Shut' or 'Fanny and Alexander'","url":"https://time.com/6130310/dark-christmas-movies/","keywords":["movies","list","culturepod"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb741815ec7f67dd/698a20d9e76ad235086399b6/dark-christmas-movies-featured.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Peg Aloi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/peg-aloi/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb741815ec7f67dd/698a20d9e76ad235086399b6/dark-christmas-movies-featured.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"dark-christmas-movies-featured","caption":"Clockwise from top left: The City of Lost Children, Carol, Ordinary People, Eyes Wide Shut","creditText":"Everett Collection (4)","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6130310/dark-christmas-movies/","name":"11 Dark Christmas Movies to Watch If You’re Not Quite Feeling the Holiday Spirit"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Covers of 2021: The Year Inside the Red Border","description":"A look back at covers published from a tumultuous year.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/zZq2Xa5Z/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2021-12-13T12:52:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zZq2Xa5Z.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6130310/dark-christmas-movies/","duration":"PT6M44S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6130310/dark-christmas-movies/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```