There is an entire catalog of holiday movies that are a tradition for viewers to rewatch every year. Titles likeHow the Grinch Stole Christmas,It’s a Wonderful Life,Miracle on 34th Street, and more are wholesome iconic movies that teach the values of love and family at Christmas. Hallmark has built an entire brandaround their seasonal selectionsthat thrive on corny romances and feel-good stories. R-rated holiday movies kick down the door with their action, language, and explicit scenes all while counting down the days until Christmas. The most rewatchable of that batch shakes up the seasonal streaming with characters and premises for after the children are nestled all snug in their beds.
Many R-rated holiday movies build a foundation on the Christmas season, while others utilize it as a backdrop.From gritty depictions of Santa to holiday horror, these movies are a reprievefrom the continuous reminder of what the season is about. They maintain their rewatchability for the debates they spark, the laughs they get, the boundaries they break, and the peak under the veil of an authentic idea of a holiday.
10’Trading Places' (1983)
Directed by John Landis
For many viewers seekinga seasonal-themed movie, they don’t need an in-your-face onslaught of gift-giving, cookie bake-offs, Christmas tree cuttings, and more. There’s a select viewing audience that wants a movie likeTrading Placesthat lets them know it’s Christmastimeand uses the season to push the narrativein select moments (like that dirty Santa costume bit). The rewatchable 80s comedy starsDan AykroydandEddie Murphyas two men from opposite worlds, one an investor and the other a street hustler, whose lives are socially reversed as part of a bet by wealthy brokers. Realizing they’ve been duped as part of a game of entertainment, the pair scheme to turn the tables.
Trading Place’scomedic rewatchability capitalizes onthemes of greed and flips the holiday standard on its head by the time the credits roll.Many of its R-rated elements have not aged well, but the social satire film remains a staple in holiday rerun lineups. For those seeking a much edgier movie away from the wonder of Santa and the emotional feels of family time,Trading Placesis that movie.
Trading Places
9’Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale' (2010)
Directed by Jalmari Helander
While most holiday seasons are about rewatching the same movies over and over again,Rare Exports: A Christmas Taleis aunique fantasy horror filmthat hasn’t worn out its welcome in the genre. The movie takes viewers to northern Finland where the reindeer population is being massacred and children are going missing. When a cagey drilling project uncovers a mysterious underground tomb, the local boys from the mountain homestead nearby, Pietari (Onni Tommila) and Juuso (Ilmari Järvenpää), believe it is that ofwhat seems to be an evil Santa Claus.
Unfortunately, there are fan-favorite R-rated holiday classics that get tired year after year, losing their luster and magnetic thrills.Rare Exportsis not one of them. It’s a uniquehybrid of dark comedy and holiday horror.While lesser-known, it is unexpectedly rewatchable by givinghorror audiences a solid Christmas-themed narrativethat doesn’t fall victim to B-movie-style slasher villains, poor special effects, and empty narratives used as filler for violence.
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
8’Violent Night' (2022)
Directed by Tommy Wirkola
Time for some season’s beatings with this action-hero Santa Claus. As a wealthy family prepares for their Christmas Eve, a group of mercenaries seeking millions of dollars in the compound’s vault take the family hostage. What they don’t realize is Santa (David Harbour) has dropped in, and he’s in no mood for reindeer games, taking out the burglars one by one. From Harbour’s perfect casting of a disgruntled do-gooder to the infusion of comedy into every scene of combat,Violent Nightearned its rewatchable holiday statusimmediately.
R-rated Christmas movies give mature audiencesversions of Santa Claus that are designed to entertaininstead of wonder. The title suggests exactly what the film entails becoming essentially the R-rated version ofHome Alone.Violent Nightwas a sleeper pick in 2022 and is destined to become a cult classic.
Violent Night
7’The Night Before' (2015)
Directed by Jonathan Levine
Even the Christmas movie genre needs an R-rated buddy comedy.The Night Beforedepicts the chaotic last Christmas Eve three lifelong friends (Joseph Gordon-Levitt,Seth Rogan, andAnthony Mackie) will spend together before moving on to new chapters in their lives. While the movie is rooted in the sentimentality and nostalgia of the holiday,The Night Beforeis wholeheartedly a stoner comedy about an epic last hurrah.
This rewatchable holiday movie also features the importance and irreplaceable value placed on chosen families. Fans ofThe Night Beforereturn to it for several selling points, whether that be theSeth Rogan-style humor, being an R-rated Christmas movie to shake up the holiday streaming, an adventure comedy, or simply because it isan authentic portrayal of friendship and flawsinstead of a sugar-coated Hallmark-style buddy movie.
The Night Before
6’Black Christmas' (1974)
Directed by Bob Clark
One of the foundational phone-call slasher films happens to be a Christmas movie.Black Christmasis the unsettling story of a group of sorority sisters receiving harassing phone calls that quickly turn into a game of cat-and-mouse as their winter break turns into a fight for survival.Both the 2006 and 2019 remakes failedin comparison to replicate the holiday horror magic of the original movie.Black Christmasremains rewatchable every year during multiple holiday seasons because it is afoundation-setting horror film that originated tropes seen in the slasher genre today.
There are plenty of R-rated holiday horror movies, but they rinse and repeat, failing the originality and execution tests.Black Christmascultivates a whole new level of holiday tension and anticipation, but instead of Santa down the chimney, it’s a slasher at the front door. Of all the emotions audiences willingly invite during the Christmas season, fear is one of them for many cinephiles.Black Christmasdelivers, making it a rewatchable choice every year.
Black Christmas
5’Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang' (2005)
Directed by Shane Black
When the radiance of holiday lights and family gatherings wears off,Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangis a movie to turn to. The comedystarsRobert Downey Jr.asHarry Lockhart, a New York thief mistaken for an actor who is sent to Los Angeles to train with a real private investigator (Val Kilmer) for his upcoming role; however, the pair are thrown into a real conspiracy case surrounding a murder.Director Shane Black favors the holiday season, settingKiss Kiss, Bang Bangagainst the backdrop of Christmas.
While the plot does not feature direct involvement, it plays out over the December season. Besides being a rip-roaring buddy comedy with the strength of its leads, the R-ratednoir Christmas movieis a depiction ofhow crime and conspiracy don’t stop for the season.The Christmas atmosphere is a stark and comedic reminder of stories that take place behind the mistletoe and gift wrapping.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
4’The Ref' (1994)
Directed by Ted Demme
BeforeJim Carreydonned the green suit,Denis Leary’sGus was the ultimate R-rated Grinch, taking his Christmas complaints up with Santa in a fourth wall break. Theteaser trailer forThe Refrevealed almost nothingabout the movie but gave audiences a dark comedy spectacle of Gus and his views on Christmas. He’s a burglar who gets more than he bargained for when he takes a couple (Judy DavisandKevin Spacey) hostage inside their home on Christmas Eve. As the night wears on, he realizes how annoyingly dysfunctional the couple is with incessant bickering.
Depicting a reality regularly avoided in happy-go-lucky holiday movies, the fractured family ties inThe Refprovide the ultimate stage for the dark comedy. The anti-holiday holiday feature elicits laugh after laugh with its snappy script and excellent delivery.The Refis anR-rated rewatchable throwback for viewers who just need an honest break from the joyof the season, preferring something blunt, bold, and brash.
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Directed by Terry Zwigoff
In a genre full of heart-warming depictions of Santa Claus,Bad Santabrings an R-rated mall Santa to the mix, giving the adults something to laugh at. For Willie (Billy Bob Thornton), Christmas isn’t the season of giving, it’s the season of taking, the thief posing as Santa annually before ripping off department stores. This year, something changes when he meets a middle-schooler who desperately needs someone to teach him life skills. Taking the kid under his wing, Willie forms a friendship with him, and along the way, discovers that maybe there is more to the season and life.
The black comedy takes the saint out of St. Nick with its alcoholic leading character. In the season of traditional watches,Bad Santais one to turn to for self-deprecating humor and an authentic Christmas tale that isn’t snowflakes and magical. While there are heartwarming moments, this R-rated comedy never lets audiences forget it’s a raunchy, offensive movie abouta conman posing as Santa.
2’Die Hard' (1988)
Directed by John McTiernan
Yippee Ki Ya Mothe…well, you know how it goes. It’s been the debate since 1988: isDie Harda Christmas movie? Not only is it, but it’s one of the most rewatchable R-rated holiday movies. The iconic action flick starsBruce Willisas John McClane, a New York City police officer who pulls out all the stops to save his wife and party-goers taken hostage in an L.A. high-rise on Christmas Eve. It’s not just a Christmas movie because it takes place on Christmas Eve, it’s a Christmas movie because the premise-driving force is the holiday. Without the holiday, McClane wouldn’t have been at the right place at the right time to save the day. TheOscar-nominated movie was never marketed as a holiday movie, but it has become a Christmas cult classic.
From its quotable moments, excellent choice of villain bycastingAlan Rickmanas Hans Gruber, and ongoing debate,Die Hardis completely rewatchable any time of year, but especially around the holidays.Viewers in both camps ofis or isn’twatch the action flick every year just to reiterate their points, in a clever post-release marketing move to let itremain a yearly topic of debate.
1’Love Actually' (2003)
Directed by Richard Curtis
Forget the Hallmark sugar cookie-coated romances,Love Actuallyis an R-rated comedy with proper laugh-out-loud moments. The iconic holiday is about love of all ages at all stages, whether platonic, familial, or platonic. Travelingthrough nine different relationshipsthat are not interconnected but share overlapping characters, there is something for everyone with viewers more invested in one couple rather than another. The stellar star-studded cast featuresHugh Grant,Emma Thompson,Liam Neeson,Keira Knightley,Bill Nighy,Laura Linney,Colin Firth, and many more.
Audiencesreturn to this comedy year after yearbecause, as time goes by, there may bea relationship onscreen that speaks louder one year and another more relatable the next year.From R-rated rants of Nighy’s character to the awkward, but wholesome nude scenes fromMartin FreemanandJoanna Page’s onscreen romance,Love Actuallyis absolutely cliché, but the conflicts onscreen are authentic, making it the most R-rated rewatchable holiday film.
Love Actually
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