Whether or not you believe Home Alone is a definite Christmas film, you can’t deny that it is much more violent and cynical than your average family holiday flick. Plenty of us want to keep it uplifting, cozy up with our loved ones with chestnuts roasting on an open fire while watching It’s a Wonderful Life or White Christmas or any of the other great classics. But that’s not for everyone. Luckily, film and television have grabbed onto the idea regularly known as “Alternative Christmas,” creating a subgenre that offers something a little darker. Die Hard [available for digital rental] and Gremlins [available on Amazon Prime] have become the most beloved cornerstones, but there is a wide variety of offerings to stream—acerbic comedies, mind-bending science fiction, and bloody horror flicks can all get into the holiday spirit.

Black Christmas [Bob Clark, 1974]
Available on Shudder

A prototype of the suburban slasher film that was popularized three years later with Halloween, Black Christmas features one of horror’s most psychotic and mysterious killers. During their winter break from classes, a group of sorority girls begin getting strange, increasingly threatening phone calls from an anonymous voice; soon thereafter, they are stalked within their house. Black Christmas may seem like a cheat for this list to some, as it is really a “Christmas movie” [alternative or not] in name only. There are no holiday lessons to be had, but Christmastime makes for a potent setting. Strangely enough, its director Bob Clark knows how to make a Christmas classic, as he made the season’s favorite bingeable film A Christmas Story nine years later. Black Christmas is absolutely essential for every horror fan and also the most deranged Christmas fan.

Scrooged [Richard Donner, 1988]
Available on Netflix

Any fan of the classic Charles Dickens story A Christmas Carol must agree that the only thing missing was a prime Bill Murray in the leading role. Scrooged translates its source into the perfect 80s environment—Murray plays a brash and cynical TV executive who forces his entire staff to work on Christmas Eve. While the film sticks pretty closely with the holiday spirit the Scrooge story, but its incredible dark streak makes it much more mean spirited, especially in the voice of its typically acerbic star. The ghosts are played by the slightly grotesque David Johansen and strangely angelic Carol Kane, both add an interesting flavor in support. Overall, Scrooged is enough of a twist on its well-worn story to feel comically fresh, but its main appeal is Bill Murray’s performance in the obviously perfect role.

The Ref [Ted Demme, 1994]
Available on Netflix

A rare starring role for comedian Denis Leary, The Ref is a perfect film for his persona: cynical, angry, and crass. Standing with Home Alone in the very small Christmas subgenre involving burglars, The Ref sees Leary become unfortunately entangled with a bickering married couple [wonderfully played by Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis] when a job goes bad. The rest of the film plays out as a hostage situation, though with the criminal in for more than he bargained. Spacey and Davis are absolutely delightful, the perfect actors to spend 90 minutes sniping insults back and forth. As a Christmas movie, The Ref again may not have the brightest messages, but the the dark family set-up is wonderfully satirical for the most traditional family holiday.

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale [Jalmari Helander, 2010]
Available on Shudder

A strange Christmas import from Finland, Jalmari Helander’s Rare Exports seemed like a shoe-in cult classic upon its release. It may not have caught on quite so well, but it remains one of the strangest and most imaginative Christmas films ever. In the cold tundra near the actual north pole, a group of researches make a fantastic, yet dangerous discovery: Santa Claus. But instead of the jolly king elf, this version of Santa is nightmarish. There have been many Christmas inspired horror films and some with St. Nick as the villain, but none have created as striking and unsettling a look as Rare Exports. If you’re not too big into being scared this holiday, there is a lot else to love about Rare Exports, which plays much more like a comedic fantasy than a straight-up horror film like Black Christmas, and with a number of fun twists.

Black Mirror: "White Christmas" [Carl Tibbetts, 2014]
Available on Netflix

Just about the time British sci-fi import Black Mirror started getting a lot of attention in the U.S. on Netflix, a very special Christmas episode was released. “White Christmas” stars Jon Hamm and Rafe Spall as two men together in a secluded outpost on Christmas. As they prepare and eat their holiday dinner, they tell each other stories from their lives in the outside world; Hamm’s character worked as a dating coach for clients through an eye implant, while Spall has secluded himself after being “blocked” by his long-term girlfriend. In true Black Mirror fashion, the episode presents the dangerous side effects of cutting edge technology. With the extended episode’s narrative structure, it is able to function like an anthology, with three separate yet somehow connected stories. As they wind together, “White Christmas” delivers an engaging twist, as is typical the case for the series. In the tradition of Christmas themed episodes, “White Christmas” is a particularly good one, and one of the best Black Mirror has to offer.