November is on the outs, which means it’s time to start planning our holiday viewing! Although it’s slim pickings on the streaming services, we’ve still got all the festive treats lined up for you here. We’re even treating you to some in-depth descriptions so you can make sure you’re picking the best Christmas movies for you and yours this holiday season!
NETFLIX
Netflix has the biggest selection of new Christmas goodies coming this month including all three of The Santa Clause movies and a brand new Michael Shannon Bigfoot/Christmas mash-up Pottersville, which is certainly worth a weird watch this holiday season. They also have the festive return of the Trolls as well as two TV One original Christmas movies, Miss Me This Christmas and You Can’t Fight Christmas. Our top picks are below.
DreamWorks Home: For the Holidays
This 2D spin-off series has been one of the brightest surprises from Netflix’s original programming, so we can’t wait for this seasonal special, which sees alien cutie Oh attempting to show his fellow intergalactic buds the joys of Christmas… which may or may not almost destroy the city.Available: December 1.
Trolls Holiday
Starring both Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake, this musical special will be hitting network TV just in time for Christmas. Luckily for us streaming fans, Netflix has the rights to show it this festive season. In this adventure we’ll join the Trolls as they try to help their Bergen friends find a new holiday to replace the whole “eating trolls” celebration that they used to be into before the events of the Trolls movie!
Available: December 6.
Disney’s The Santa Clause
Is it a body horror? Is it a family classic? You’ll have to watch it again to decide. This ’90s favorite tells the story of Tim Allen who enters an unintentional Faustian bargain and begins to become the new Santa Claus after Santa falls off the roof of his house.
Available: December 12.
Pottersville
This movie arrived on Netflix surprisingly quickly seeing as it was only released in November, but what the hey! It’s got a very famous cast including Michael Shannon, Judy Greer, and Christina Hendricks. They’re all hamming it up in this wild winter story about a local businessman who’s mistaken for Bigfoot, bringing a tourism boom to their small town.
Available: December 15.
Miss Me This Christmas
This outrageous romantic comedy centers around Regina and Franklin, a “perfect couple” whose six-year marriage looks to be in jeopardy after a Christmastime spat. Will they pull through? Will eccentric millionaire Ulysses Danbert tear Regina away forever? Will TV One keep making these wild expanded universe movies all set at the same hotel?
Available: December 19.
HULU
Hulu is streamlining its Xmas pickings with only five discernibly holiday-centric movies, including some, uh… interesting options, including a very strange-looking comedy called Cooper’s Camera. Hulu is also breaking out some old live action Disney classics with One Magic Christmas and I’ll Be Home for Christmas, as well as a low-budget holiday dog movie called Chilly Christmas.
Chilly Christmas
Greg Poppen is a master of low-budget B-movies, like the infamous Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2. In this Christmas tale he spins a classic yarn of a dog and his young owner who run away from home during the festive season and end up inadvertently caught up with some nefarious pet thieves.
Available: December 1.
I’ll Be Home for Christmas
From 1998, when Disney apparently had the entire cast of Home Improvement on retainer, I’ll Be Home for Christmas really pushes the boundaries of what you can expect from a Christmas movie. Jonathan Taylor Thomas plays Jake, a college student whose estranged dad tries to bribe him into spending Christmas at home with a vintage Porsche. Jake’s plans go awry when he’s dumped in the desert in a Santa suit with no I.D. or money. This is the real plot. Jessica Biel also stars as Jake’s long suffering girlfriend.
Available: December 1.
One Magic Christmas
This Canadian Christmas classic stars Harry Dean Stanton as a Christmas Angel, which is undoubtedly the highlight of this surprisingly dark retread of It’s a Wonderful Life. If you’re really craving a Christmas movie with multiple deaths and a bank robbery, this is the festive film for you!
Available: December 1.
AMAZON
Amazon is bringing our beloved creepy doll back this Christmas with the cult classic Child’s Play. While not technically a Christmas movie, it is set in winter and does include a present. Not forgetting the sci-fi fans this holiday season either, Amazon is also bringing the Matt Smith Doctor Who Christmas Specials to U.S. fans this festive season.
Child’s Play
Okay, okay, this isn’t OFFICIALLY a Christmas movie. It’s set mostly in November and Chucky is a birthday present. But it still has a very festive vibe and Amazon is running seriously low on Christmas offerings so we’re sneaking it in. If you haven’t seen this fantastic freaky film then please rectify this and luxuriate in the story of a serial killer who uses voodoo to put his soul into a kids’ doll. It’s as good as it sounds.
Available: December 1.
Doctor Who Christmas Specials
Join Matt Smith’s Doctor on three Christmas special adventures this holiday season. Traversing Victorian London to outer space, these seasonal treats are the perfect cosy viewing this Christmas.
Available: December 18.
Will you be watching any of these Christmas crackers? Do you have any favorites you wish were included? Do you just love Harry Dean Stanton? Let us know in the comments!
Images: BBC, Disney, One TV, Dreamworks, Crystal Sky, Wing and A Prayer, United Artists
More holiday cheer!
- DMX covers “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer”
- Channing Tatum is a scared yeti in Smallfoot
- 7 nerdy charities to donate to this holiday season!
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