That time - “Christmas” - is upon us. Like it or not, it is everywhere one looks. If one has been lucky enough to have been totally consumed by papers and exams over the last week (like yours truly), then you have missed some of it. Or, if it has been nearly 70 degrees outside near you (like it has been in North Carolina and other points in the temperate South), then you could have avoided bits and pieces of it. But with the end of my slogging in sight and my thoughts turning to cards, gifts, secularization, religion, ritual, egg nog, mulled wine, seasonal Christmas ales, stockings, Candy Canes that stab the mouth, weeks of Turkey and Honeybaked Ham eating, and pervasive jingles, I can’t help but also begin to think about Christmas movies.
Everybody has got their own fix. Since Brazil (1985) is one of my favorite films and it happens to be set during Christmas, it is also my favorite Christmas film. That’s a bit of a cheat. But I’d like to point everybody to Ken Hanke’s seasonal roundup. Ken’s the principle critic for the Asheville Mountain Xpress and an authority on most types of films. He provides some alternative fare that one might have missed. On that note, actor, research librarian, and movie guru Jim Blanton (who else do you know who owns a laserdisc of Michael Mann’s 1983 film The Keep?) has posted his own list of 10 alternative Christmas films. Jim and Ken both point toward great alternatives in the horror and sci-fi genres. Ken even manages to plug the Hope/Crosby Road to… films!
If anyone cares to share, I’d love to hear about some other holiday favorites. There is a ton of mainstream stuff that gets shown year in and year out around this season, but there are lots of underrated or under-seen alternatives to the tokens.