You might remember a CrimeReads tradition: In December 2018, our editor Dwyer Murphy assembled ten thrillers that might surprise you with their holiday settings, and in December of 2019, I added ten more. And then in December of 2020, I added another ten more, and in 2021, I added another ten more, and in 2022 I added yet another ten more. In 2023, I wrote what I thought would be the final installment of that series, because I thought I got most of ’em… but I was wrong.
So, back again after all this time… here we go! Another 10 movies you probably forgot take place at Christmas!
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
“Christmas” actually plays a big part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest! This film wins the award for the diciest holiday party, ever!
American Gangster (2007)
For some reason, I think of American Gangster as a Thanksgiving movie and not a Christmas movie but Frank Lucas’s house has a very festive Christmas set-up.
The Judge (2014)
I remember this movie! Robert Downey Jr. is a brilliant attorney who has to return home for a funeral and face his stern and disapproving father Robert Duvall, who’s a judge! But when his father is arrested for a hit-and-run, Robert Downey Jr. has to defend him in court. A pre-fame Jeremy Strong plays Robert Downey Jr.’s mentally disabled brother. Dax Shephard plays a prosecutor. It’s a wild time. Also, there’s a Christmas scene.
Kiss of Death (1947)
A small time jewel thief commits a heist on Christmas Eve and is caught… but depressing circumstances compel a to reverse his position on snitching on his partners. Obviously, this is a film full of holiday cheer.
Trapped in Paradise (1994)
Nicolas Cage, Jon Lovitz, and Dana Carvey are three ex-con brothers who rob a bank in a small Pennsylvania town on Christmas Eve, but then their car breaks down and they’re stuck spending Christmas in a town they’ve just tried to rob. Now that’s a premise!
Night of the Hunter (1955)
There’s a Christmas scene in here!!!! How did I miss this? I love this movie! And so do all of you!
The Apology (2022)
Anna Gunn stars in this psychological revenge thriller about a recovering alcoholic still haunted by the death of her daughter twenty years before, who is about to host her family’s Christmas dinner when her estranged former brother-in-law unexpectedly arrives… and BOY does he bring a lot of baggage.
Silent Night (2021)
Silent Night really reflects the context in which it was made: COVID. This “apocalyptic black comedy” (not the guns-blazing John Woo number that came out in 2023) from director Camille Griffin is about a family celebrating a lavish Christmas party, doing it up for one last time. See, a giant cloud of poisonous gas is about to roll over Britain and the country’s more elite citizens have been given suicide pills by the government that they should take before they go to bed on Christmas night, lest they die a painful death.
Wind Chill (2007)
Emily Blunt stars in this obscure horror-y thriller about a girl who carpools home from college with a fellow student she barely knows… but when they stop on a deserted road, they encounter the ghosts of people who have died along that stretch.
To Live and Die in LA (1985)
William Friedkin’s masterpiece about obsession and revenge is set during Christmas? Various title cards say that the events begin in mid-December, and that the end in mid-January. So… have we found a new, secret holiday classic?
