15 Adult Christmas Movies to Watch After Your Kids Go to Bed
- - 15 Adult Christmas Movies to Watch After Your Kids Go to Bed
Lydia Price, Paris C., Carson BlackwelderDecember 23, 2025 at 8:00 PM
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Jason Bateman as Josh Parker in 2016's 'Office Christmas Party'; Kal Penn as Kumar in 2011's 'A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas' and Billy Bob Thornton as Willie in 2003's 'Bad Santa'
Though the holiday programming slate includes Christmas movies perfect for families, there are adult-only films that make for an exciting kid-free night.
Picture it: You've spent all day baking cookies, having a sing-along and spending time with your kids around the fireplace. However, once the children are nestled all snug in their beds, it's finally time to let loose with a more mature movie selection.
From horrifying films about a snowman's murderous rampage and folkloric Christmas demons who terrorize not-so-nice families to comedies with a bit of edge and raunchy humor, these titles would certainly make Santa's naughty list.
So, curl up with a seasonal spirit and enjoy these festive flicks that are equal parts merry, scary, brutal and sexy.
Jack Frost
Did someone say, Frosty the ... Killer Snowman? This campy, cult-classic horror flick tells the story of Jack Frost (Scott MacDonald), a convicted serial killer who dies in a freak accident only to be reincarnated as a homicidal snowman hell-bent on revenge. Packed with gore and dark humor, Jack Frost is one you'll want to put the kids to bed first before watching — unless you want them to fear snowmen forever!
Watch Jack Frost on Prime Video
Eyes Wide Shut
A less conventional choice — but one still set during the holiday season — the 1999 erotic thriller stars former couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. It also marked legendary director Stanley Kubrick's final film before he died.
The story follows Dr. William "Bill" Harford (Cruise) and his wife Alice (Kidman), a married couple whose relationship is fraught with unfulfilled desires. After Alice rattles Bill with the revelation of one of her sexual fantasies, he finds himself in danger after stumbling upon a secret society's masked orgy party.
Watch Eyes Wide Shut on Tubi
The Holdovers
Set in 1970s New England, The Holdovers follows a cranky prep school teacher (Paul Giamatti) who reluctantly supervises students stuck on campus over Christmas break. Unexpectedly, he forms deep friendships with a compassionate school cook (Da'Vine Joy Randolph in an Oscar-winning performance) and a mischievous student (Dominic Sessa). Against the isolated backdrop of a snowy winter, the unlikely trio strikes an unimaginable connection over their personal struggles and shared humanity.
Buy or rent The Holdovers on Prime Video
Bad Santa
A predilection for rude humor is a must in this Billy Bob Thornton-led 2003 dark comedy. Bad Santa follows an alcoholic scammer named Willie (Thornton) who poses as a mall Santa and plots to rob the stores on Christmas Eve with his sidekick, Marcus (Tony Cox). However, Willie's plans are foiled when he encounters Sue (Lauren Graham) and a boy named Thurman (Brett Kelly).
It's the perfect refresher when your inner cynic is fed up with artificial holiday cheer. After you've enjoyed Willie's first adventure, you'll definitely want to catch him again in the 2016 sequel.
Watch Bad Santa on HBO Max
Black Christmas
Missing Halloween? Relive the gory days with this seasonally appropriate slasher flick. The dread-fueling 1974 horror classic follows a group of sorority girls who become victims of grisly murders over Christmas break after receiving a series of disturbing phone calls. The original has a special place in our black hearts, but its two modern remakes have just as many jump scares and Christmas carnage.
Watch Black Christmas on Prime Video
A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas
Everyone's favorite stoner besties, Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn), attempt to mitigate holiday disaster in their third big-screen adventure, which sees them reunite after years of estrangement. The 2011 cult Christmas flick is filled with all the outrageous, irreverent humor fans have come to expect from the duo, with a side of touching friendship moments and franchise staple Neil Patrick Harris.
Watch A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas on Paramount+
Why Him?
What's a father's worst nightmare? Meeting his daughter's man-child boyfriend over the holidays. That's the exact plot of 2016's Why Him?, where Stephanie (Zoey Deutch) brings her parents, dad Ned (Bryan Cranston) and mom Barb (Megan Mullally) to Silicon Valley to meet her immature but well-meaning tech-millionaire beau, Laird (James Franco). Tensions rise, and antics ensue as Ned tries to stop Laird from proposing to Stephanie over Christmas.
Buy or rent Why Him? on Prime Video
The Night Before
Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Mackie star as a trio of lifelong friends seeking an epic final night of debauchery before committing to grown-up holiday traditions. Hilarious cameos by everyone from Miley Cyrus to Tracy Morgan will keep you on your toes during the shenanigans in this 2015 comedy — think The Hangover meets Christmas.
Watch The Night Before on Peacock
Die Hard
John McClane's (Bruce Willis) heroism in the face of a terrorist threat led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) takes place on Christmas Eve. For that reason alone, and despite what the naysayers would have you believe, Die Hard (1988) is an appropriate addition here — and one that requires yearly viewing, at that. You'll shout "yippikayay" when you find out there are four sequels, too.
Watch Die Hard on Prime Video
Office Christmas Party
Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston and Kate McKinnon are among the comedic powerhouses who join forces in this 2016 workplace comedy. Clay (T.J. Miller) and his co-workers at a computing tech firm embark on a more naughty than nice quest to throw an unforgettable office Christmas bash to impress a potentially job-saving client (Courtney B. Vance).
Buy or rent Office Christmas Party on Prime Video
Trading Places
When snooty executive Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd) and savvy street con man Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy) find their lives reversed as part of an expensive bet, hijinks arise — though not without dashes of controversial humor. It's Murphy, Aykroyd and a holiday-time switcheroo in this 1983 classic that's definitely worth putting the kids to bed early for.
Watch Trading Places on Paramount+
A Bad Moms Christmas
Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn and Kristen Bell reprise their roles as a rebellious trio of moms who receive the not-so-exciting surprise of their mothers visiting for Christmas. Chock-full of laugh-out-loud quips and wisecracks, Susan Sarandon, Christine Baranski and Cheryl Hines also join in on the fun in the boisterous 2017 sequel to the 2016 original Bad Moms.
Buy or rent A Bad Moms Christmas on Prime Video
Violent Night
A group of mercenaries will probably rue the day they ever decided to take a wealthy family hostage on Christmas Eve. In 2022's Violent Night, making the naughty list this way has deadly consequences as Santa Claus (David Harbour) arrives to save the holidays with butt-kicking action and a less-than-saintly cheer like you've never seen him before. In August 2025, Deadline reported that a sequel is slated for release for the 2026 holiday season, starring Harbour, Bell and Daniela Melchior.
Watch Violent Night on Peacock
Krampus
You'd better not lose your Christmas spirit — or else! Sarah (Toni Collette) and Tom (Adam Scott) learn this lesson the hard way when their clashing at Christmastime conjures the folkloric demon Krampus to their dysfunctional household, bringing doom and destruction in its wrath in the 2015 horror-comedy movie. Krampus, also known as the Christmas Devil, originated in Austrian and Bavarian folklore and has been depicted in various forms of popular culture throughout the years.
Watch Krampus on Peacock
The Lodge
A happy holiday turns cold when two children are snowed in during Christmas at a remote winter cabin with their soon-to-be stepmother (Riley Keough), whose visions of her cultist past trigger terrifying behavior for the trio in this 2019 horror thriller. Even worse, their father's (Richard Armitage) return home seems unlikely with each sleepless night.
Watch The Lodge on Tubi
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