Stillwater Style Winter 2021 | Page 18

Not-quite

ART BY : MRCOKELEY DESIGN

holiday films

By Beau Simmons Stillwater Style

Holiday movies that completely ignore the holidays ...

I

kind of like the debate of whether or not “ Die Hard ” is a Christmas movie . The hostage caper takes place during the holiday season , during a Christmas party , he even says “ ho , ho , ho ” at some point .
It got me thinking , what kind of other films might be sort of on the fringes of holiday movies , not quite in , not quite out , but enough that we could debate it . Maybe the holiday isn ’ t the central theme or part of the plot , but it has a certain feel to it . The aesthetic is unmistakable .
Jack Frost
Gonna start with something weird , so you know where this is headed right away .
Here ’ s the thing . There are two movies titled Jack Frost , released within a year of each other . The later , a big-budget
18 Stillwater Style | WINTER 2021 blockbuster attempt stars Michael Keaton as a guy who dies and has his soul trapped in a snowman or something . It ’ s an obvious holiday feel with sappy sentimentality . Now , its predecessor , is a horror comedy film . And , it kind of has a similar set up , only it ’ s a murderer who gets turned into a snowman through some kind of accident with a bunch of science . It ’ s the kind of thing that would turn a comic book character into a superhero or supervillain . A slasher film full of one-liners , B-movie special effects and editing mistakes , it has since become a cult classic .
Gremlins
This might already be a contradiction , or maybe it ’ s exactly what the list is about . Gremlins begins with a father looking to buy a Christmas gift for his son . There are reminders of the holidays with sparkling lights , snowfall and you can really feel it in the set design . But mostly , it ’ s a monster movie . These won ’ t all be horror films , but it would be hard to leave Gremlins off the list .