Where to stream it: Hulu
ThanksKilling
OK, so we’re not going to pretend that ThanksKilling—a slasher movie featuring a foul/fowl-mouthed turkey and using the tagline “Gobble, Gobble, Motherf*cker”—is the family-friendliest of Turkey Day screenings. But as Christmas movies far outnumber Thanksgiving ones, it seems important to note that this film actually does exist, especially for those who don’t mind a little schlock with their pumpkin pie. If you like what you see here, there is a sequel, ThanksKilling 3 (don’t ask what happened to number 2), which is available to rent on Amazon Prime.
Where to stream it: Amazon Prime
Miracle on 34th Street
Natalie Wood is the epitome of precocious as Susan Walker, the wise-beyond-her-years daughter of Doris Walker (Maureen O’Hara), a straight-shooting single mom executive at Macy’s who has always discouraged her daughter from buying into make-believe. But when a Santa Claus look-alike (legally) named Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) comes into their lives, he challenges their shared distaste for fairy tales—for the better.
Where to stream it: Disney+
The Nightmare Before Christmas
No, Tim Burton didn’t direct The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick did). But he did come up with the stories and characters and produce it, and his stop-motion-animation-loving fingerprints are all over this masterpiece, which works just as well as a Halloween movie as it does a Christmas film. When Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloweentown, accidentally discovers Christmastown—a place that’s less about scaring people and more comfort and joy—he concocts a plan to kidnap Santa Claus and bring him back to Halloweentown so that his fellow townspeople can experience yuletide joy. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the caper doesn’t pan out as Jack had hoped. Even today, nearly 30 years after its original release, The Nightmare Before Christmas remains a masterful work that shows the true magic of stop-motion animation.
