Red One

What happens when Santa Claus is kidnapped by the Christmas Witch? His Enforcement, Logistics, and Fortification team (ELF for short) — and the rest of the mythological world — has to reluctantly rely on the help of a jaded genius to rescue him and save Christmas.

Starring Chris Evans and Dwayne Johnson, this isn’t a conventional Christmas movie. But that’s what made it refreshing; it wasn’t the overly warm and fuzzy, happily ever after, cookie-cutter plot typical of a Hallmark Channel Christmas movie. It’s an edge-of-your-seat action movie with Christmas as the premise. Who doesn’t want to see Captain America and Black Adam kick some ice-cold bad guy butt?

It’s a fresh take on mythology as well. J.K. Simmons’s version of Santa Claus doesn’t have a belly like a bowl full of jelly. He’s a home gym rat who eats cookies. He burns thousands of calories on Christmas Eve alone, so he’s allowed to indulge in sugar.

Then there’s Krampus, Santa’s half brother who, thankfully, wasn’t all that scary. His house definitely had some creepy vibes though — props to the set design team for that. Krampus created the Naughty List and wanted to punish everyone on it, but Santa stopped working with him before he could see any sort of plan to do so through to fruition.

Krampus’s ex-girlfriend, however, is a different story. Introducing Gryla, the aforementioned Christmas Witch and therefore, villain of the story. She hails from Icelandic folklore, and she’s definitely scarier than Kiernan Shipka makes her out to be. In the movie, however, she’s a shape-shifting half-ogre-half-troll who, after her breakup with Krampus, is heck-bent on actually punishing everyone on the Naughty List. Even her minions are afraid of her because if anyone says her name, she can find them instantly.

This movie is action-packed, quick-witted, and not nauseatingly warm and fuzzy like traditional Christmas movies. It’s not in theaters anymore, but it’s included with Amazon Prime. It’s definitely worth watching if an opportunity arises!