With almost no time left to celebrate Christmas in homes around the world, at NeoTeo we're making a countdown of the Christmas movies filmed during the 1980s. Why? To get into the holiday spirit, to let that undeniable Christmas magic wash over us, and, of course, because it's not Christmas until Hans Gruber falls from Nakatomi Plaza.
The Best Christmas Movies of the 80s
Terror, comedy, moral lessons, science fiction, and a bunch of Christmas clichés mix in these cult films. If by age or by avoiding holiday themes you've missed some of the best, here we refresh your spirit with 10 Christmas movies from the 80s.
#10 Night of the Comet (1984)
Let's take on the role of Santa Claus and stuff our gift sack with Christmas, killer comets, teenagers driving convertibles through ghost towns, love, lust, and science fiction around every corner. What's the result of that equation? Cult. Night of the Comet is about what you'd do if you knew that after Christmas Eve a comet similar to the one that killed the dinosaurs would fall. Night parties, cheerleaders in miniskirts, and zombies. Do I have to repeat it? Cult.
#9 Lethal Weapon (1987)
The Christmas season makes miracles possible, like a cop movie where two police officers from different districts who, due to past tragedies, must work together. Oh! And they hate working as partners. That, of course, doesn't happen in Lethal Weapon, but the story holds up well enough to see an ever-threatened Los Angeles on Christmas Eve with an old cop and a suicidal one who have to save it from the always-reliable drug dealers and pimps. Many references to the loneliness these dates generate, family, and, above all, second chances.
#8 *batteries not included (1987)
This Christmas movie, which was given names as unrelated to its nature as Miracle on 8th Street or Our Marvelous Allies, is about ambition, hope, and unity—values we tend to hold on December 24 and 25 but forget on the 26th. A real estate company wants to tear down the building where dozens of families live, but since they won't leave, they send thugs to evict them. What these hired thugs, the desperate tenants, or the most violently drug-addled person in the room least expect is that miniature spaceships will save Christmas by taking on the villains. Another demonstration that aliens could live at the North Pole.
#7 Trading Places (1983)
A movie where we find Santa Claus slipping drugs to someone to frame them is worth mentioning, but Trading Places (or 'From Beggar to Millionaire' as it was called in some places, ahem) has no intention of perverting Christmas; instead, it aims to improve empathy between people and provide psychological and sociological insights into our ambiguous behavior. How? Based on an adaptation of the novel by Ronald Neame, inspired by Mark Twain, a story about two brothers, an outrageous bet, a beggar who becomes a millionaire, and a millionaire who loses everything as a result.
#6 Ernest Saves Christmas (1988)
What the little ones don't know is that Santa Claus isn't just one person; it's a position that's inherited through a rather unorthodox selection process. That's basically what Ernest Saves Christmas tells us, when the current Santa gets into a taxi and tells the driver he's on his way to let the new Santa know he needs to start. The rest is history. Santa has no money, forgets his bag in the car, Ernest (Jim Varney) gets fired from his job, Santa gets arrested, and eventually everything ends happily. You just have to watch the movie to see what ties those pieces together.
#5 Die Hard (1988)
Even with its cosmopolitan air, one of the cities that makes the biggest fuss over Christmas alongside New York is Los Angeles. That's why when 12 terrorists plan a heist in the middle of a Christmas party attended by the lone McClane (Bruce Willis), nothing will be easy for them. Bullets shredding presents, Santas in bulletproof vests, and other excuses to pack in visual effects so that Die Hard stays as bright as a Christmas tree. Die Hard is a Christmas classic no matter how you look at it.
#4 Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
Terror and Christmas are two concepts destined to come together and create great entertainment, so they're an essential duo in the world of cinephiles and slasher fans. In Silent Night, Deadly Night we see in action what we've always been told as kids: Santa only rewards those who behave. But what about those who misbehave? Death. Billy Chapman (a psychopathic surname if there ever was one) will misinterpret all the lessons of his childhood after his parents are murdered and the world insists that the bad guys have to pay. The impact of seeing Santa killing people led hundreds to protest outside theaters.
#3 Gremlins (1984)
With Gremlins, Steven Spielberg managed to blend the right dose of humor, sentimentality, and terror, creating a product that headed toward success, to paraphrase critic Roger Ebert, in a more critical way about the holidays, family, and those clichés that Christmas movies use and abuse. Acclaimed and vilified simultaneously for the violence in some scenes, many would be surprised to learn that Spielberg himself censored and reworked Columbus's original script to tone down the terror and make it suitable for all audiences. Gizmo and the Gremlins had a bloody Christmas as a backdrop, another story about the importance of responsibility, and they warned the world: don't feed your fears at the wrong time. For no matter how small they are, they can be lethal to those you love most.
#2 Scrooged (1988)
Directed by Richard Donner, Scrooged, or as it was horribly titled in the Hispanic market 'Los fantasmas atacan al jefe', presented a more modern version of Dickens's novel, 'A Christmas Carol'. That novel is perhaps the most adapted in the genre, and with Bill Murray leading a stellar cast as the typical pedantic TV executive, the three ghosts hunt him down (what a paradox!) and show him who he is and who he could be. The movie bored with its promotional references to Murray's involvement in the hugely successful Ghostbusters, and critics were split between love and hate. We still like it a lot.
#1 National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
Chevy Chase stars in it. That alone is reason enough to put it at the top of our list. What? You don't know it? You're missing out! This Christmas movie is a party. Chevy has to deal with all the typical problems and situations that arise when relatives, neighbors, and wild animals get together for a Christmas dinner. With humor for the whole family, though always with Chase's ribald wit, and featuring Leonard from TBBT (Johnny Galecki) and Elaine from Seinfeld (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Christmas Vacation left millions laughing at the end of 1989.
Special Mention
Home Alone (1990)
Home Alone is from 1990. We know. That's why it's outside the official count. But it's hard to leave out one of the most significant movies for those of us between 30 and 45 years old (though other age groups will also be happy to see it). Little Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) is left home alone after his family forgets him. Kevin wouldn't have any problems if it weren't for two wannabe burglars emptying the neighborhood. The 8-year-old will take them down with buckets of paint, models, shadows, hot doorknobs, and all sorts of home traps.
Don't Like Our Christmas Movies?
Now we can rest easy after presenting what we believe are the best Christmas movies of the 80s. If none of our Christmas movies appealed to you, check out this Netflix search and pick one that satisfies your curiosity. If you want to share another, feel free to do so in the comments. For those who believe, happy holidays. And for those who don't, happy holidays too. Why should we have a bad time just because we identify? Oh! And remember...
