Weirdest Christmas Movies (December 2025)

There are many great Christmas movies. Most are family friendly, if not aimed at children specifically. Their plots run the gamut from romantic comedies to historical dramas. However, there are some Christmas movies that defy convention and the spirit of the season. Indeed, some might call them just plain weird and wonder how they ever got made in the first place!

Weirdest Christmas Movies as of 2025

There is no shortage of new Christmas movies every year and many of them are quite odd. The following films are among those that never found an audience when they were released, and may have been forgotten. Still, there is something about their novelty that makes them worth watching today.

The Great Rupert aka A Christmas Wish (1950)

Christmas is a time of miracles. Many movies are built around poor families suddenly finding a fortune during the most wonderful time of the year. However, The Great Rupert (aka A Christmas Wish) is probably the only one of these movies to feature a miracle facilitated by a dancing squirrel.

This is the tale of the titular Rupert; a vaudeville performer who is released into the park when his trainer falls on hard times. However, Rupert quickly says nuts to life in the trees, and returns to find his home now occupied by The Amendolas. They are a family of poor but happy acrobats, who have also fallen on hard times.

Times become less hard, however, when Mama Amendola’s prayers for money are answered with a regular rain of cash from Heaven. This is brought about by Rupert, whose hidey-hole in the house was conscripted by the miserly landlord, Mr. Dingle, to hide his savings. Things do end happily, however, despite the problems posed by the police, the IRS, and a fire.

Like It’s A Wonderful Life, The Great Rupert fell into the public domain in the 1970s. However, it did not develop the same strong following through frequent reruns during the holidays. Despite this, the movie does have a cult following. This is due in part to the presence of Hollywood legend Jimmy Durante as Mr. Amendola. It is also partly due to the stop-animation used to bring Rupert to life, which was revolutionary for its time.

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)

The Martian people have a problem. Centuries of educating their children with machines have eliminated all capacity for imagination and free thought. Consulting the sage Chochem, the Martian leaders are told they must find a way to let their children be children again. To that end, they decide to kidnap Santa Claus from Earth, so he can bring joy through toys to Mars.

Unfortunately, the Martians are unable to distinguish the real Santa from all his helpers. They are clued in to where to find the real Santa after abducting two Earth children, Billy and Betty. However, not all the Martians are on-board with this plan. This leaves Santa stuck in the middle of a Martian coup, as he tries to get himself, Billy, and Betty home while solving the plight of the Martian children.

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians has a reputation as one of the worst movies ever made, if not the worst Christmas movie ever made. However, this is largely due to the cheapness of the production and the cheesiness of the acting. The latter can be forgiven somewhat, as this movie was a spiritual successor to the Christmas tradition of pantomime plays aimed at kids. Nevertheless, professional movie mockers ranging from Elvira to Mystery Science Theater 3000 have devoted episodes to poking fun at Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny (1972)

The story behind Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny is nearly as strange as the movie itself. It was one of several children’s movies shot at the Pirates World theme park in Dania, Florida, shortly after Disney World opened. Presumably they hoped to attract more visitors with the movies.

Ignoring that they had to fight the Walt Disney brand, this plan had a few problems. The biggest one was that the filmmakers they hired were better known for adult films or, in the case of Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny director Richard Winer, documentarians. Indeed, Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny is Winer’s sole fictional film credit.

Beyond that, the movie itself is a fever dream. The plot finds Santa taking his sleigh for a test run before Christmas. However, he is abandoned by his reindeer in Florida. Luckily, Santa is able to use his magic powers to summon children to help him. Unluckily, this is not enough to free the sleigh from the two inches of sand it is trapped in. Only the power of the Ice Cream Bunny (a mascot of ill-defined abilities) can help save Christmas. Somehow.

Another oddity about Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny is that there are two versions of it. The movie was constructed as a frame story around earlier children’s films. Depending on which version you see, you might see Thumbelina or Jack and the Beanstalk. These movies within the movie, which are set up by Santa telling the children a story about why you should never lose hope, are shown with their original credits intact. Both versions were tackled by Rifftrax, and must be seen to believed.

The Ref (1994)

Christmas is a busy season for cat burglars, what with all the rich folks who leave their valuables at home while they celebrate the season someplace warm. Unfortunately, Gus (Denis Leary) triggered the wrong alarm and set off an extensive manhunt in a ritzy Connecticut village. In desperation, he takes a local couple hostage and plans to lay low at their home until the heat is off. Gus will quickly realize this was a mistake.

The hostages, Lloyd and Caroline Chasseur, are a frankly wretched couple, who have stopped hiding their hatred for each other. The rest of their extended family, who are enroute for the holidays, are even worse. This leaves the increasingly aggravated Gus playing at being The Chasseurs’ marriage counselor, while waiting for a chance to escape.

The Ref bombed upon its initial release. This was partly due to the film being released in March despite being a Christmas film. It also didn’t help that it was going up against Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. The final nail in the coffin was the film’s advertisements, which were modeled on Denis Leary’s brief comedy spots on MTV rather than the movie itself.

Despite lackluster box office, The Ref proved popular with critics. It also developed a cult following thanks to some of the actors besides Denis Leary. Of particular note are Christine Baranski as a disagreeable sister-in-law, J.K. Simmons as the military school CO being blackmailed by The Chasseur’s son, and Glynis Johns (in her final film role) as the domineering matriarch of the Chasseur clan.

Pottersville (2017)

It’s almost Christmas time in the New England town of Pottersville, but there is little joy. The town is on its last legs since the local mill shut down, along with many local businesses. The general store run by Maynard Greiger (Michael Shannon) is still doing well, but Maynard himself is in poor shape. This is due to his wife, Connie (Christina Hendricks) leaving him to seek a more exciting life, living openly as a Furry.

This leads Maynard to go on a drunken rampage around town in a gorilla costume. It also leads to a sudden influx of tourists, after those who witnessed the rampage reported seeing Bigfoot. Maynard starts secretly staging hoax Bigfoot appearances in order keep the tourists coming and save the town. This works pretty well, until his antics get the attention of a monster-hunting reality show, who send their host to Pottersville to bag a Bigfoot.

Shockingly, the wacky story of Pottersville is not the most unbelievable aspect of it. Nor is it that this small town supports a surprisingly large Furry subculture. The most unbelievable thing about Pottersville is that so many great actors were somehow persuaded to appear in it.

Apart from Shannon and Hendricks, the cast also features Judy Greer, Ron Perlman, Thomas Lennon, and Ian McShane. This only adds to how surreal the final film is. Still, if you ever wanted to see Ian McShane freak out after uncovering a deep woods yiff party, Pottersville is your movie!

How we chose the Weirdest Christmas Movies

Three criteria were used in developing this list of the weirdest Christmas Movies ever. First, it had to be something your humble author had seen and found strange. Secondly, no Hallmark, Lifetime, or similar films with Santa in a cameo role or a magical pet would be considered. There are far too many of those to be considered uniquely weird. Finally, it had to be a movie that, for all its flaws, is still amusing to watch, if only for how utterly insane it is.

Source: Comingsoon.net