A GATA CHRISTMAS DAY BINGE 10 MOVIE PLAYLIST
A curated list to ensure you’ll be feeling the Christmas spirit this year!
This past year, wearing your pyjamas all day and endlessly ‘background’ watching Netflix has become somewhat of a norm for most of us. However, Christmas day movie binging instils a special cheer to have you feeling guilt-free about not getting out of bed. There's nothing quite like eating holiday leftovers and being glued to a screen with your loved ones, but how many times can you have a Die Hard/Lord of the Rings/Harry Potter/Home Alone/ Marathon? (The answer is endless).
This December 25th we bid you explore the world of alternative Christmas movies.
Movies that will instil you with loneliness, darkness, and fear, yet have you unable to tear your eyes away from the screen. As this has been an alternative year, why not check out some alternative movies to match.
Cuddle up closer to your family and delve down into the weird and wonderful of 'unhappy-ending films.'
Happy Holidays!
Love the Gata team.
2046
Wong Kar Wai (2005)
In another cinematic masterpiece, Wong Kar Wai takes us time traveling through relentless heartbreak to the paradise of memories. Each transition of time periods is marked by various Christmas Eves. The film portrays a story through the intersection of future, past and present, depicting an author who attempts to write himself out of heartbreak as he engages in a series of passionate affairs. Yet he is unable to forget the woman he considers to be his one true love.
Likened to the ‘Avengers End Game’ of the Wong Kar Wai Universe, 2046 is the paradise of which all his characters are trying to reach..
“It takes a long time to return from 2046.
Very few have returned.
Only one has returned.
None have returned.”
BLACK CHRISTMAS
Bob Clark (1974)
Despite it’s name, Black Christmas is heavily filled with holiday cheer; a cursing santa, Christmas caroler’s and murder.
Hailed as one of the greatest slasher films of all time, Black Chrstmas tells the story of sorority house being terrorized from an intruder living within their walls.
This film is sure to keep you from sleep.
GO
Doug Liman (1999)
Go is a film that portrays an era filled with precariousness, that ignores all moral principles and exhibits a new generation as they embark into drug culture. Paired with nostalgic cinematography and a killer soundtrack this is a Christmas movie for the “Pulp Fiction” loving type. The story follows two actors as they look for ecstasy on Christmas Eve, only to discover their usual deal isn’t working his shift at the grocery store. They find instead his coworker, so desperate for cash she tries to take up the role, but nothing goes her way.
BRAZIL
Terry Gillian 1985
Through beautiful aesthetics including an abundance of Christmas iconography, and deep emotional layers; Brazil is essentially a 1984 inspired attack against bureaucracy and totalitarianism. The film follows main character Sam, as he escapes the tediousness of his daily life through a day-dream where he saves the damsel in distress. Reality and Fantasy collide as Sam’s dreamworld bleeds into his daily life, causing more distress in the life of his damsel.
KRAMPUS
Michael Dougherty (2015)
A twist on the original German tale, ( see Krampus post on our insta for more!)
Krampus follows the tale of a quarrelling family. Their son, an avid believer in Santa, loses interest due to familial bullying and thus awakens the demon Santa- Krampus.
EYES WIDE SHUT
Stanley Kubrick (1999)
Being Stanley Kubrick's final film, Eyes Wide Shut is full of enchanting cinematography, psychosexual adventures and eventually a masked orgy. What better way is there to spend Christmas?
EDWARD SCISSORHANDS
Tim Burton (1990)
Although not a film traditionally considered a christmas movie about ⅓ of Edward Scissor hands takes place during a Christmas party as such it belongs on this list. This modern day Frankenstein film is a visual christmas dinner for the eyes and is surely naughty list - approved.
SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT
Charles E. Sellier, Jr. (1984)
Santa Claus the serial killer! Silent Night is a film that on surface level appears to be just another Santa-slasher film. However, at its core the film is laced with psychosexual undertones and portrays the effects that trauma and sexual violence can have on a child, slowly molding him into an axe murdering sociopath.
CHRITSMAS EVIL
Lewis Jackson (1980)
Christmas Evil is a film that reminds us that Christmas is not always merry. This film explores the theme of mental illness on how stress can further break an already broken person. It reminds viewers that even on Christmas there are those who struggle and who have truly no one who cares about them.
GREMLINS
Joe Dante (1984)
Given a strange but cute pet as a Christmas gift, a boy breaks every single important rule in taking care of his pet and the consequences are at the expense of the whole town.
