The holidays for many are a time for reflection, giving and enjoying the season however they will, whether it be in prayer, a sumptuous feast or dazzling neighbors with Christmas lights that can be seen from space. Each year adds new family traditions and along with egg nog and the same Mariah Carey song stuck on repeat, there's the fun of watching traditional films of the season. Though many such films are overwhelmingly saccharin in nature, others try to counter this by being overwhelmingly dark, and the winter horror films are also a part of some family traditions.

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Between those two extremes however, are a select group of films that manage to balance the sweetness and happiness of the season with the darker elements of tradition. What's more is that this darkness may come out of nowhere and be a complete surprise, or it may be that the dark aspects are subtle enough to be hidden from the casual viewer. It can also be that some films that may have been considered a little dark are actually much more horrifying when given active thought.

5 Mickey's Christmas Carol

Pete

Adapting the Charles Dickens classic into a kid's film can be something of a challenge seeing as one of the major themes of the story is about mortality and legacy. While children may be more considerate of the presents under the tree, the darker aspects of life may not always be as attention-grabbing and may not be something that they are terribly interested in. The lighthearted Disney romp that is Mickey's Christmas Carol takes a sharp left turn after Scrooge's encounter with the jolly Ghost of Christmas Present.

Scrooge finds himself in a cemetery and faces the frightful Ghost of Christmas Future, filled with grim smoke and fire. This ghost turns out to be Pete with a large cigar that tells Scrooge all about Tiny Tim's fated future and his own, resulting in a famously fearful, flaming gateway into hell. While the rest of the film continues and Scrooge embraces a change of heart, it would not be unfair to say that this moment caused more than a few childhood nightmares.

4 The Nightmare Before Christmas

Santa Jack

When considering Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, it would be expected that the subject would be pretty dark. The film's nightmare reference is deliberate and appropriate as the denizens of Halloweentown decide to take over Christmas. What is a little surprising however, is just how dark the film actually gets once it gets going. The opening of the film is set around Halloween and so there are pumpkins, ghosts, witches and monsters which are to be expected.

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The film truly becomes dark however, once the figure of Jack Skellington, dressed in his red suit and cackling maniacally drops through chimneys and starts to hand out ghoulish presents to the children of the nearest town. While it can be amusing to see the scenes play out, these children are faced with a giant skeletal form scuttling to them and giving them a shrunken head, a vampire doll, a tree-eating snake or a holly wreath that might be at home in a Japanese adult cartoon.

3 Joyeux Nöel

Joyeux Nöel

In December 1914 during the First World War, 5 months after the start of the war when everyone believed it would end as quickly as it began, there were a series of unofficial ceasefires where fighting had taken place across the Western Front. It has become a symbol that even in the darkest of circumstances, there can be moments of humanity that unite instead of divide and that one's circumstances don't determine their actions.

While it is a very important message and a story worth telling, Joyeux Nöel also highlights the grim nature of war and the catastrophic deaths that took place during the conflict to that point. By highlighting the horrors of war, it reinforces the message of unity however to do so, the film goes to many darker places out of necessity. This film is surprisingly dark, not because the darkness is unexpected, but the depths of the horrors laid out on screen.

2 It's A Wonderful Life

Its A Wonderful Life

While the initial ticket sales of the film were disappointing, this resulted in the Frank Capra film began being shown on television and in doing so, it reached a much wider audience and firmly became a family favorite Christmas film. While the film may be remembered fondly, there are certain aspects of the film that are not as wholesome as might be remembered. The film begins on a dark note, with George considering suicide and while Clarence shows the history of the good things that the man did, he also shows a world without him.

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When showing George the future, Clarence reveals a much darker world, where his hometown has been corrupted with crime and sleaze, a pharmacist was imprisoned for manslaughter after accidentally poisoning a prescription, his uncle was institutionalized, the town's park is a cemetery where his drowned brother is buried, his wife is on her own as a spinster and the men that George saved in WWI were all killed. Though the ending is ultimately positive, it is still a very dark series of events for the film to display.

1 Disney's A Christmas Carol

Jacob Marley

Charles Dickens seminal work is the source material of multiple adaptations released on radio, in theater, television and has over 30 films attributed to be retellings of the story. With this much of a legacy, Disney has released several films based on the story though this particular version is particularly dark. While the Jim Carrey film may have lost a significant amount of money at the box office, it has still become a popular film in its own right on the home entertainment market.

Part of the appeal of the film may be due to the uncanny valley nature of the computer animation, or it could be some of the haunting performances of the actors and source material, or it could be the unique portrayal of certain characters like Jacob Marley within the film. While some versions of the story do their best to steer away from the darker elements of the original story, this adaptation (whether intentionally or not) steers straight into the darker elements of the story and keeps on going.

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