The magic of the movies has become synonymous with the festive season - nothing quite says Christmas like watching It's a Wonderful Life or The Muppet Christmas Carol with a cup of something mulled, hot and (probably) alcoholic. While those films are certainly worth watching every year (we do!), there are a huge number of wild and wonderful Christmas classics that fall somewhere outside the mainstream, and are just as worthy of your time.
Black Christmas (1974)Black ChristmasBob clark's Canadian Christmas horror cult classic, where a group of unsuspecting sorority girls are stalked by a stranger during their holiday. Remade in 2006, but the original is where it's at. As the film's tagline goes, "If this movie doesn't make your skin crawl... it's on too tight!"

Screening at Filmhouse on Saturday 23 December

Carol (2015)CarolTodd Haynes' intoxicating tale of forbidden love, set around the holidays in 1950s New York. Therese and Carol's affair begins in thet most Christmassy of places - over the counter in a department store toy shop.
Die Hard (1988)Bruce Willis in a ventilation shaft in Die HardThe staff Christmas party at Nakatomi Plaza is stormed by German terrorists, and it’s up to gate-crasher and police officer John McClane to save them all. Yippee ki-yay!

Screening at Filmhouse on Thursday 21 December

Scrooged (1988)Bill Murray in ScroogedA late 80s take on the classic A Christmas Carol, in which Bill Murray is at his acerbic best as a cynical TV executive who is haunted by three spirits on Christmas Eve.
Comfort and Joy (1984)Claire Grogan in Comfort in JoyThis Local Hero follow-up is a bleakly funny Christmas classic, starring Bill Paterson as a radio DJ who finds himself at the centre of Glasgow's ice-cream wars.

Screening at Filmhouse from Sunday 17 December

Eyes Wide Shut (1998)Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in Eyes Wide ShutSet during the glittering Christmas celebrations of the upper class Manhattan socialites, Kubrick's divisive final film is a journey into the sexual underworld of the rich and powerful.

Screening at Filmhouse on Friday 15 December

8 Women (2002)8 WomenA mystery comedy by French auteur François Ozon. Christmas is cancelled this year because the family patriarch has been found dead! One of the eight women closest to him must have done it, but which one?
Trading Places (1983)Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy in Trading PlacesJohn Landis' profanity-filled comedy casts Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy as a snobbish investor and a street con-artist whose situations are switched in the run-up to Christmas.
Brazil (1985)BrazilSam Lowry is a bureaucrat in a dystopian Christmas future, and as he tries to fix an administrative error, he becomes an enemy of the state, hiding among futuristic decorations, useless office presents and boring upper class parties.
Batman Returns (1992)Batman ReturnsNightmare Before Christmas director Tim Burton presents Christmas in Gotham, where even the Christmas trees are used as weapons.

Screening at Filmhouse on Friday 29 December