Holiday 5: The Most Underrated Christmas Flicks

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IF CHRISTMAS IS supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, why do the holiday's best films have to be so underrated?

Yes, we'll attest that "The Nightmare Before Christmas," "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "Home Alone" are all pretty classic — who couldn't love skeletons, Snoopy and a young Macaulay Culkin?

But what about the forgotten films — the ones with the Smurfs; with Bruce Willis; with Venkman, Ray, Egon and Winston?

Those underrated Christmas flicks deserve some credit, too — so when you're sitting around your heavily bedecked tree (or maybe your charmingly pathetic one; that's cool, too), trying to figure out which film to watch, give one of the ones off this list a try.

Consider it our gift to you.

"DIE HARD"
Can't Bruce Willis catch a break? As NYPD detective John McClane, all he wants to do is get his estranged wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedelia, who, in a weird Christmas twist, is Culkin's aunt), back, but no, he's got to save the world from terrorists instead. He takes on dozens of bad guys; outsmarts head baddie Hans Gruber (the wonderfully malicious Alan Rickman); and personally saves Holly, destroying stuff and gathering laughs along the way. The film would spawn its own series and inspire a whole decade of '90s action films, as well as injecting an enjoyably bad-ass touch to Santa's favorite holiday. Yippee ki yay.

"GHOSTBUSTERS II"
Probably one of the '80s' best genre films, "Ghostbusters II" built off the sci-fi/black humor dichotomy of the original "Ghostbusters" and gave us a river of slime running underneath New York City. Satisfyingly patriotic — what else but the Statue of Liberty could give off enough positive energy to destroy the evil Vigo the Carpathian? — but also darkly goofy, the film took place around Christmas and helped drive home the all-American quality of the holiday. Plus, the soundtrack was pretty baller for the time — a pre-coke Bobby Brown, Run-D.M.C. and Oingo Boingo, to name a few. But more importantly, do you think Santa would let the Statue of Liberty deliver gifts with him? And most importantly, can Harold Ramis star in another movie already?

"TRADING PLACES"
Back in the day, Dan Aykroyd was the man. Not only was he adoringly awkward in the "Ghostbusters" series, he also kept audiences cracking up in the politically incorrect, eternally hilarious "Trading Places." Yes, Eddie Murphy stole the show, but did he drunkenly dress up as Santa and wave a gun around? We didn't think so.

"GREMLINS"
Chucky may have been the toy from hell, but the Gremlins definitely weren't far behind in the crappiest-Christmas-gift category. Stripe and Co. were the predecessors to the Furby: Deceptively cute, obnoxiously annoying and secretly murderous, they had a penchant for destruction and a devastating aversion to sunlight. Though the film doesn't have an obvious Christmas-related life lesson — maybe the dangers of consumerism? — it did include the kinda-funny, kinda-creepy urban legend of Santa Claustrophobia, which Kate (the uber-hot Phoebe Cates) describes as the cause of her father's death.

"EDWARD SCISSORHANDS"
How many of the frat guys who play Edward Fortyhands do you think have actually seen "Edward Scissorhands?" We'd hazard a guess of less than one percent. But "Edward Scissorhands" is still one of Tim Burton's best films — it cemented Johnny Depp's career, showed Winona Ryder's vulnerable side (way before she looked all sad and confused while shoplifting) and solidified Anthony Michael Hall's switch from geek to douchebag. But it's Kim (Ryder) dancing under the snow Edward (Depp) produces from carving up a block of ice into an angel that's the most beautiful and touching scene of the film.

» Honorable Mention

"THE SMURFS CHRISTMAS SPECIAL"
Before the Blue Man Group got rich over unnaturally colored skin, there were the Smurfs. Just three apples tall, there was Handy Smurf, Hefty Smurf, Papa Smurf, Grandpa Smurf and tons of other dudes — and the lone Smurfette — all chomping on smilax leaves and getting into all kinds of goofy trouble. One of their best adventures came in the form of "The Smurfs Christmas Special," a half-hour episode that premiered in 1982 and focused on an evil stranger who joins forces with wizard Gargamel in an effort to destroy Smurf Village. The duo was villainous to the extreme: They not only wanted to hurt a lost boy and girl, but also those peace-loving Smurfs! Who would do such a thing? Dudes who wear purple, of course.

At the end of the day, the Smurfs help save the kids (and even Gargamel) with the power of love (in a very "A Wrinkle in Time"-like fashion); Gargamel goes back to bitching about his life to his cat; and the evil stranger peaces out. It's all ridiculously silly, but who's against togetherness and forgiveness? That's pretty much what Christmas miracles are all about — just ask Jimmy Stewart.

Written by Express contributor Roxana Hadadi