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Top 12 Christmas Villains

“Christmastiiiime is heeeeere…”

December is underway, and Christmas is fast approaching! For those who celebrate Christmas for any reason, one thing that many of us look forward to is the media and literature surrounding it. Christmas stories are their own little genre, practically: few other holidays get quite the same amount of attention when it comes to books being published, or especially movies being made. (I think the only one that might come close as a challenger is Halloween.) Whether it’s watching and reading nostalgic classics, or checking out the new releases that every passing year provides, there’s an escapism and charm to Christmas stories that few can resist. Like any sort of story, Christmas specials, films, and tales all often need antagonists. Sometimes I feel that the villains of Christmastime, however, get the short end of the stick. I think this is mostly because, as irresistible and inescapable as the Christmas season is, it IS only a season: these villains, like the holiday, are more temporary than other antagonists. With precious few exceptions, most Christmas-themed movies and stories are really best enjoyed during a specific time of the year, and then sort of just pushed aside with all the other trimmings and trappings of the holiday till next November and/or December come creeping onto the scene. As a result, their villains are equally pushed aside; once they’re done terrorizing our precious holiday, and all that it holds dear, they cease to have much purpose. There are exceptions, like I said, but most of the time we don’t think of these villains except when we think of these stories, and we don’t think of these stories except when they become annually relevant. I decided it was time to give these denizens of yuletide darkness a shot at the spotlight. Some of these baddies are among the most devious ne’er-do-wells in fiction, not just for the Christmas season...and even for those who really do only work around this time of year, they often deserve more credit than I think they get. So, without further ado, here are My Top 12 Christmas Villains...one for every day of the holiday. ;)

12. Toy Santa, from The Santa Clause 2.

I’m in the minority, it seems, in that I like the sequel to the cult classic film “The Santa Clause” more than the original. Taking place a few years after the first film, the new Santa Claus (a.k.a. Scott Calvin) discovers there are troubles with his family back home. He also discovers that, in order to remain Santa, he needs to get married; a bargain called “The Mrs. Clause.” However, Christmas is fast approaching, so the problem becomes how to deal with this problem AND run the factory at the North Pole. To that end, Santa/Scott enlists the help of an inventive elf named Curtis to create a toy replica of himself. The lifesized Toy Santa is essentially an android, who has been given one basic purpose: to run the factory and make sure the kids get what they deserve for Christmas. At first, the Toy Santa seems...well...weird, but he’s doing a competent enough job helping to run things...but as the story goes on, the flaws in the “programming” soon show. Much like a computer, this Toy Santa doesn’t understand that there has to be a balance between control and leniency. When he realizes children who have done naughty things are on the nice list, he’s horrified: the elves try to explain that “everybody misbehaves sometimes,” but he flat out states, “I don’t understand that!” This desire to see Christmas “done right” causes the Toy Santa to go increasingly more off the rails, eventually leading to him taking over the factory and changing it from a toy shop to a coal mine, running it with a tyrannical iron fist. It’s then up to Scott and his allies to put things back the way they were. At times the Toy Santa can be a bit obnoxious, but a.) I think that’s kind of the point, and b.) I think the concept of this character is really freaking cool, in terms of his motives and portrayal. Plus, it gives Tim Allen (who plays both the Toy Santa AND the real one) a chance to make a Toy Story joke. I call that a win!

11. Gustafson, from Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey.

This movie is only about a year old, and I already think it’s got the stuff to be a true Christmas classic. This musical movie tells the story of a toymaker, Jeronicus Jangle, who - after being betrayed by his apprentice, who steals his ideas and sells them off as his own creations - abandons his craft and becomes estranged from his family, as despair takes over his life bit by bit. The plot revolves around Jangle and his family trying to stitch their bonds back together, all while the old toy-master tries to create a new invention that could put his life’s work back on track. The movie features an all-star cast, and perhaps most impressive among them is Keegan Michael Key as the main antagonist, Gustafson. Gustafson is the aforementioned apprentice; even though he idolized Jangle, he felt like his ideas weren’t getting the attention they deserved, and (thanks to the wicked, wily dealings of the secondary villain, a living toy named Don Juan Diego who goes amok) decided to turn on his former employer and hero. However, he’s run out of ideas to rip off, and his own ideas aren’t working the way they’re supposed to. So, when Gustafson discovers that Jangle is making a new invention, he tries to figure out a way to steal that idea, too, and keep his business going just a little longer. Gustafson is largely a comical antagonist (as you would expect, given the actor), but he has his dramatic and serious moments, too, and there are even elements of Key’s performance that seem to indicate leanings towards madness in his character. I really love this guy - he’s equal parts entertaining, sympathetic, and yet deliciously dastardly - but as I said, the movie has only been around for about a year. Gustafson hasn’t had as much time to “settle” as all the other villains here, who have been around for ages. Speaking of which...

10. Jack Frost, from Frosty’s Winter Wonderland.

Rankin/Bass is the home of so many Christmas classics. Their many films and TV specials have been described to me, by a friend, as “Christmas B Movies,” and I actually think that’s pretty accurate. While almost never perfect, the Rankin/Bass canon has a surprising fanbase, and no Christmas feels right without watching a few of them. It’s hard to say just what makes them so charming and wonderful, but they remain eternal. They are also home to a LOT of great Christmas antagonists, and I had a lot of trouble deciding which one I would choose, because honestly, I could make a whole separate list of my favorite Rankin/Bass baddies on my own (and I just might do that, now that I think about it), and I wanted to try and limit myself here to just one from their canon. So, which one to pick? The Miser Brothers are very popular, but I don’t actually consider them villains in the truest sense of the word; King Winterbolt is a personal favorite of mine, and has an EPIC (albeit totally out of nowhere) death scene, but he has the unfortunate problem of having perhaps a few too many evil schemes going on at once, which leaves the movie - and his character - a fair bit jumbled; characters like Burgermeister Meisterburger and the Abominable Snowmonster are classics...ultimately, the winner is one that some people may argue doesn’t deserve the title of “villain.” Jack Frost is a recurring character in the Rankin/Bass canon, and in his later appearances he was decidedly a heroic figure, in one case even having a special all to himself. However, in his very first appearance in “Frosty’s Winter Wonderland” - the official sequel to “Frosty the Snowman” - Jack was the bad guy, without question. At the start of the special, this icy sprite grows envious of all the attention Frosty gets, and - feeling rather neglected - Jack decides to...well...basically MURDER Frosty, as he feels all the love and affection Frosty earns belongs to him. Jack is a pretty powerful bad guy, and causes problems several times...but near the end of the special, he repents and reforms from his more nefarious ways when he realizes that, really, all he ultimately wanted was a friend. The funny part is, even AFTER Jack turns over a new leaf, he STILL causes trouble without meaning too! He become so determined not to LOSE his new friends, he nearly causes an eternal winter a-la Frozen! Jack is my favorite character in the Rankin/Bass canon, and it’s mostly because of him that I think Frosty’s Winter Wonderland is actually better than its more acclaimed predecessor. The only reason he gets so low on the list IS that Jack turns over a new leaf much sooner than most of the other characters here (who, with one exception, usually don’t turn over a new leaf till the last minute, if they turn over a new leaf at all), and again, in all his later appearances he’s one of the good guys.

9. Stripe & the Gremlins, from Gremlins.

These little hobgoblins and their signature leader are pretty infamous; they hardly require any introduction. The Gremlins are one of two villains on this list who are not “typical” Christmas villains, because the movies said antagonists come from are not typical Christmas movies. In the case of “Gremlins,” it’s a really a horror-comedy film that just so happens to take place around Christmastime. The plot focuses on heinous hijinks that happen in a town when a horde of mischief-making monsters begin causing havoc, wrecking homes and murdering people in horrible fashion left and right. The Gremlins have no real motivation for their destructive activities, except that they love doing it: they’re chaotic creatures who simply love to cause trouble and inflict pain and death on anyone who comes into their path, and they generally always come in packs. The film received mixed reactions in its day, but nowadays is widely regarded as a classic of many kinds: it’s a classic among horror movies, a classic among dark comedies, and yes, for some people, even a classic for Christmas, albeit a very unorthodox one.

8. Ebenezer Scrooge, from A Christmas Carol.

From an unorthodox set of antagonists, to arguably the most iconic Christmastime rogue of all. In fact, a lot of you are probably stunned to see the infamous Scrooge so low in the ranks. Yes, he’s in the top ten, but only by a couple of placements. It’s especially stunning, I imagine to those of you who know me well: “A Christmas Carol,” rather notoriously, is one of my favorite stories. I’ve seen NUMEROUS interpretations of the tale onscreen, read the book more than once, and have even been an actor in no less than SEVEN different interpretations of the story onstage, and one time on radio! So how come this iconic curmudgeon only ranks at eight? Well, the honest answer is this: coming from someone who has played Scrooge, and seen so many takes on him…I’m not really sure Ebenezer Scrooge counts as a villain. At least, not in the traditional sense. He starts off the story as a horrible no-good miser, make no mistake, but the whole story of “A Christmas Carol” is essentially a story of redemption: a person who is bad becoming good. And even with that in mind, while Scrooge is certainly unpleasant at the start of the story, nothing he does is especially awful when compared to so many other characters I can think of. Scrooge is not a GOOD person, but he’s not an EVIL person, either; he’s someone who has had a very, VERY bad life, and this has caused him to make some very, very bad choices that need correcting. I include him mostly because he IS so iconic and unfathomably mean at the start of the story, but I don’t feel comfortable putting him any higher because, really, Scrooge is more of a “reverse hero” than a “villain” at the end of the tale.

7. The Mouse King, from The Nutcracker.

“The Nutcracker” is, of course, a staple of Christmastime: it’s right up there with “A Christmas Carol” as quite possibly the most popular Christmas story ever done, and the most frequently produced. Numerous films and TV pieces inspired by the story have been done over the years (most of which, to be fair, are not very good), but what really keeps the story alive is the classic ballet, composed by the great Tchaikovsky. And in all the different interpretations of the tale - from the original fairy-tale, to the ballet, to the majority of screen treatments - the main antagonist is the evil Mouse King (sometimes called the Rat King, presumably because rats are less adorable than mice). The Mouse King is a monstrous rodent (in some versions, he has multiple heads, like a freaking rat hydra) who is responsible for turning the Prince into the titular Nutcracker, and has been at war with the fairy kingdom the Prince hails from for many years. In the course of the story, when the Mouse King finds his old nemesis has been taken in as a toy by a young girl (named Clara in most versions), he leads his rodent army to attack and try to destroy his hated foe once and for all. With Clara’s help, however, the evil cheese-muncher is finally vanquished. I love the Nutcracker (especially the ballet), and I do consider the Mouse King to be a pretty iconic villain...but the problem is that how much of a threat he really poses tends to fluctuate. In the original story, as well as the ballet, the Mouse King is actually defeated pretty early on, and most of the story focuses on Clara and the Nutcracker’s relationship after the fact, as well as on all the surreal imagery and whimsical fun that comes with the Prince’s homeland of living toys, candies, and so on. He’s usually given a bigger role in screen treatments, but again, most of those interpretations are pretty lousy, to be honest, so it’s sort of a pick your poison kind of deal. He was played by Tim Curry in the Barbie version, though...that ALMOST made me like that one...almost.

6. Marv & Harry, from Home Alone.

Home Alone is one of those Christmas movies that I think you can watch almost any time of the year and be happy about it...but, much like other films of the same nature, it just hits home in a different way when you DO see it around Christmastime. A big part of what makes the original film work so well (as well as its immediate sequel, which I personally do like; everything after that point isn’t even worth thinking about) is its villains: a pair of bumbling thieves called Marv and Harry, immortalized by Daniel Tern and Joe Pesci. I think when people think of stereotypical bungling thugs - the sort of dimwitted lowlifes who fall for crazy traps and are more of a comedic nuisance than a real threat - these two are among the first to come to mind. Home Alone basically created a whole new genre of slapstick-via-traps; “trapstick,” you might say. And by that same token, it created its own kind of villain; so many movies after this followed the Home Alone formula, and so many cartoons and concepts referenced it, that you can basically call Marv and Harry the forerunners of a very specific kind of antagonistic duo. It’s telling that they’re the best part of both the first two movies (excepting Tim Curry in the sequel...that’s twice I’ve mentioned him here), and among the most iconic comedy film villains of all time, not just for Christmastime.

5. Barnaby, from Babes in Toyland.

“Babes in Toyland” is less of a story and more of a concept. I say this because it started off as an operetta, but not a single screen adaptation bearing the title really FOLLOWS the operetta, and even most stage versions tend to use altered or reinterpreted versions of the script and score for various reasons. So, basically, anytime this title is used, you never know what you’re going to get. Really, only three things remain consistent: the story features a world of Mother Goose characters, has something to do with Christmas along the way (to a greater or lesser degree depending on the version), the climax features the staple “March of the Wooden Soldiers”...and the villain is Barnaby. Barnaby is the Crooked Man of Mother Goose fame, and is basically a stereotypical melodrama pantomime villain. He’s usually not very sympathetic or complex, he’s just kind of evil for the sake of being evil, and gloriously so. You could very much call him a Moustache Twirling Villain, even though he doesn’t always have a moustache TO twirl. Since the story of Babes in Toyland changes in more or less drastic ways from version to version, Barnaby’s actual goals are constantly changing as well: sometimes he wants to try and swindle people out of inheritance, sometimes he wants to destroy a toy factory, sometimes he wants to marry a virtuous ingenue because creepy old creepster, sometimes he wants to murder his own family...whatever he’s up to, it’s NEVER good news. Over the years, through various interpretations, Barnaby has been played by countless people, and he’s usually a featured role; one given to major stars or even a role that MADE a person a star. He’s been played by Ray Bolger, Christopher Plummer, Ian Richardson, Jonathan Winters, and my personal favorite, Henry Brandon (pictured above) - all fantastic actors, and that’s just to name a few. Barnaby is more or less threatening depending on the rendition, but he is almost always the best part of the story, and highly entertaining no matter what.

4. Hans Gruber, from Die Hard.

This is the other villain, alongside the Gremlins, that I would say is a sort of atypical Christmas villain from an atypical Christmas film. “Die Hard,” much like Gremlins, isn’t really a Christmas movie so much as a movie that takes place at Christmas time. In this case, it’s a gritty, suspenseful, explosion-and-bullet-heavy action thriller, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest action movies ever made! A major part of the appeal (aside from the many one-liners of Bruce Willis) is the villain of the story, Hans Gruber, played by the late, great Alan Rickman. (Oh, Snape, how I miss you…you and Christopher Lee, both…) Gruber is a notorious criminal who stages a phony terrorist attack as a means of trying to rob a vault full of untraceable moolah. He runs afoul of a police detective, John McClane, who happens to be in the building during the takeover, and begins a one-man assault on Gruber and his cronies to try and save his family, who are caught in the proverbial (and sometimes literal) crossfire. Rickman plays Gruber with a coolness and a cunning that makes him a truly wonderful antagonist to watch; even though he and McClane rarely ever even see each other, you really do feel the sort of chess game they’re playing against one another in every scene, and the intensity of their rivalry as Gruber’s cold-blooded schemes counter McClane’s “avenging angel” persona throughout the story. This was the role that put Rickman on the map, many say, and it remains one of his most lauded and iconic performances. Although, let’s be honest, the Sheriff of Nottingham is the REAL Christmas villain in his roster...if you know what I’m talking about, I don’t have to reference that any further. :P

3. Oogie Boogie, from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Well, if you know me, you knew this Gambling Boogieman had to be somewhere in the ranks. “Nightmare” is one of my favorite movies of all time, and Oogie Boogie is, therefore, one of my favorite villains of all time. In the film, Oogie really doesn’t become a major threat till the last third or so of the picture, although his presence is teased and foreshadowed well before that. In the original picture, this monstrous sentient bag of creepy crawlies attempts to kill and eat Santa himself! Why? Well...why not? Seems like fun, and he’s hungry! Later spin-offs would give Oogie more power-hungry ambitions (as well as carnivorous ones), as he basically became “Disney’s Holiday Villain.” In most stories Oogie shows up in, he’s trying to show someone up and steal their holiday, from kidnapping the Seven Holiday Kings, to teaming-up with Maleficent to take over Christmas Town, to other acts of yuletide depravity. With his rowdy personality, powerful voice, nasty demeanor, sadistic sense of humor, and musically-inclined ways, Oogie is always a ton of devilish fun to watch, no matter how horrific his actions may be.

2. Mr. Potter, from It’s a Wonderful Life.

Remember how I said I don’t think Ebenezer Scrooge counts as a true villain, when you really look at it? Mr. Potter is, in many ways, the American Scrooge...and by gadfrey, he DEFINITELY counts. Played by Sir Lionel Barrymore (who, probably not coincidentally, actually played Scrooge numerous times over the course of his long and stellar career), Potter starts off the story as a nasty grump who nobody really likes, but most people at least respect. As the story goes on, however, we start to realize more and more just how much of a monster this rich, slimy geezer really is. To Scrooge’s credit, while he’s not by any means a nice guy at the start of his story, nothing he does is ILLEGAL; Potter is a different story. He doesn’t care who has to suffer or what less-than-moral things have to happen; he doesn’t care if he has to bend or even break the law to get what he wants. And what does he want? Money and power. And as the film makes clear in its ultimate sequence, no amount of it is enough: it’s revealed in the sequence where George Bailey sees what the world would be like if he’d never been born that, among other things, Potter would literally take over the town - possibly even the COUNTRY - and turn the home George loves so much into “Potterville.” I don’t think Scrooge would go THAT far. Potter can be entertaining in some scenes, but for the most part he’s one of those villains you just want to see punched in the face...in fact, I’ve always had mixed feelings about the fact that his ultimate punishment is never actually shown in the film itself. In a deleted scene, Potter actually sees visions of Hell while suffering a fatal heart attack, giving the audience a chance to see this rotten, wizened wretch get his comeuppance. On the one hand, I can see why it was ultimately cut, because it WOULD be sort of a drastic tonal shift with how the final act of the movie plays out...but on the other hand, seeing Potter pay for his crimes against humanity would have been SO satisfying.

Mr. Potter may be one of the nastiest scumbags to ever sour up the holidays, but there’s one Christmas Villain I like even more...well, actually, I lie. There are lots of villains I LIKE more than Mr. Potter (I actually hesitated to put him at number two because he’s just so repugnant a being; in terms of actual favoritism, I don’t even think he’d be on the list), but regardless, there’s one villain who tops them all here!

1. The Grinch, from How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

While Dr. Seuss’ famed Mean Green One DOES turn away from the dark side in his tale, that doesn’t actually happen till basically the last minute. It’s not really a redemption story like with Scrooge, nor does it happen even as soon as Jack Frost’s redemption in “Frosty’s Winter Wonderland.” And, unlike with Jack, I don’t think there’s ever been a version of the Grinch where he plays the good guy from any point on to a great degree. (The only case I can think of is “Seussical,” where he’s basically just a cameo.) The Grinch, like Potter, is arguably the American Scrooge, but once again, he goes above and beyond Scrooge’s nastiness: the Grinch doesn’t just complain about Christmas, he decides that he doesn’t want it to EXIST, and tries to actively DESTROY the holiday by stealing all the presents, decorations, and feasting supplies he can gather from the Whos of Whoville. He does all of this with a smile on his face, showing neither hesitation nor remorse, thoroughly delighting in his devious deeds. Some versions give him a sympathetic backstory to explain his nastiness, while others just sort of make him a grump who goes to extreme lengths to basically quiet those noisy kids on his lawn. The Grinch’s story and character have been adapted and reimagined multiple times; there’s been an animated special, no less than two movies, a stage musical, and even spin-offs and sequels that have had the Grinch tackle other Dr. Seuss characters AND other holidays, such as Halloween! He’s always an entertaining rogue, and I think a lot of people can empathize with the guy, as well as enjoy just how delightfully wicked he can be. He’s been played by many actors, as well, and no matter how good or bad the version, all of them clearly bring a great deal of fun and effort to the part, all trying to make it their own while still adhering to certain concepts. Right alongside Scrooge, I would argue the Grinch is the single most iconic Christmas Villain of all time, and there is not a single doubt in my mind that he takes the cake as my number one spot. Considering the guy’s theme song - which never even mentions Christmas - is a staple tune of the holiday, I think it’s fair to say his infamous immortality is thoroughly cemented.

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