The 21st Annual Holiday Challenge


OFFICIAL RULES

-Movies, TV shows/specials, Short Films & Cartoons Count

-The movie or TV show DOES NOT need to be holiday oriented. It could simply take place during the holiday season (i.e. Batman Returns, Gremlins, Die Hard, etc.)

-Although the movie doesn't have to take place during the holiday season, a MAJORITY of the film HAS to take place during the holiday season. No movies with just one scene during the holiday season. If you're not sure, ASK!

-Any holiday from Thanksgiving through New Years Day may count

-A film can only be viewed once, UNLESS you watch it and then watched it again with a commentary

-There is no global goal, shoot for a personal goal. Whatever you want your goal to be go for it. For returning participants maybe your goal should be to beat a previous year's goal.

-Again, like past years there will be a THREE Wild Card option to include movies or TV shows you might watch during the holiday season that is not holiday oriented. Some families have watched movies like Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory every Christmas So anything is allowed, up to 3.

-Specials such as the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, New Years Rockin' Eve, etc. can count, but you MUST watch the entire special in order to count it.

-PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE number your lists! If you do not number your list it will not count towards the challenge

-It doesn't matter how you see the film, VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, Laserdisc, YouTube, Streaming services, Theatrical release, it can be counted. Just have fun.

-The challenge will begin at dusk on Saturday, November 22, 2025 and will end on Saturday, January 3, 2026.

I'm putting this thread up as the discussion thread as I'm eager to get started.

Please keep lists in the List Thread linked below.

LIST THREAD

Ive got Terrifier 3 on the TV right now as a warm up before starting the challenge tomorrow. I was afraid of these movies for the longest time due to the extreme blood and gore. Once you see its all practical effects it doesn't bother me at all.

Wasn't long before I went to bed that the challenge kicked off last night. I did get one of my annual traditions out of the way however. I watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on Apple TV. Along those lines, I remember a couple months ago I was looking up The Mouse on the Mayflower for potential challenge viewing. Unless things have changed, at least at that time, I seem to recall it being either on Dailymotion or Vimeo.

I guess the official start date is kind of informal so its all good. I plan to start watching for my list tonight.

Jen and I just had our annual Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving viewing. Own multiple versions of it, but usually end up pulling out the original DVD. Our least favorite of their big three holiday specials, but still nostalgic joy.

My first movie to start the challenge is Thankskilling. For anyone who's never seen it here's a taste of this piece of trash.

I hate that Apple bought the rights to the Charlie Brown specials. They aren't meant to be watched on DVD or streaming, they are meant to be watched on TV interspersed with commercials for Dolly Madison pastries and Coca-Cola, preceded by the CBS special bumper that let you know you were in for a good time..

That CBS spinning logo is required Viewing for any Christmas Special from the 70s or 80s. They also recreated it for the Christmas episode of Supernatural in Season 3.

I'm also someone who avoids those kind of movies (like I've only ever seen the first Saw and 0 Hostel movies) but I watched the first Terrifier randomly last month and even though it was disgusting I think I actually want to finish the series next year.

I didn't finish Terrifier 3 yet so I'll watch the rest of it soon and add it to my list. They are almost like dark comedies when I watched the first two movies.

I'm heavy on watching TV so far as I've only watched two movies. I'll save Thanksgiving, Grumpy Old Men, and Planes Trains & Automobiles once I'm off from work after Wednesday.

Anyone ever watch Eyes Wide Shut for the Challenge as if heard it could count as a Christmas movie.

I haven't seen it in years so don't recall any Christmas connection.

However, I do see it mentioned in the thread about unexpected Christmas movies.

https://forum.dvdtalk.com/movie-talk...as-movies.html

And don't forget the McDonald's commercials.

If people are still nostalgic, I do recall seeing specials on YouTube complete with the commercials from the era

On another note, I was searching online for Planes, Trains and Automobiles and apparently not only is it available on Pluto, but tomorrow one of their channels will be airing a marathon of the same movie 3 times back to back to back.

Regal’s daily classic has been holiday related all month iirc. Yesterday’s The Holdovers was a great ftv for me.

Blood Rage is really fun as an 80s slasher set at Thanksgiving. Sadly the bluray put out by Arrow is out of print and had to watch it on YouTube. Maybe Vinegar Syndrome can get a hold of the rights for a new 4k in the near future.

I got White Christmas on 4k off of Amazon for $13.99 this week. I've never really watched classic old Hollywood type Christmas movies so I'm excited to see it.

That's a fun one.

I really liked Champagne Problems (2025) and Jingle Bell Heist (2025), both on Netflix right now. On Hallmark, the best of the year so far for me has been Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper (2025) and Holiday Touchdown: A Bulls Love Story (2025).

Thank you for keeping this challenge going!

I've seen the Hallmark movie lineup and it appears they have really cut back on the number of movies they've put out this year. I hope it improves the quality and I'd still like to check out Hallmark plus. So far I've really made watching Christmas movies in my physical media collection a big priority.

I should have my copy of White Christmas today.

I know the number of participants is down but I love getting to participate in the Holiday Challenge to go along with the season. It's not meant to be serious just fun for all who participate. I hope we keep having more discussion in this thread for the rest of the challenge.

^ I can't say on the rest because have not watched any yet. However I can say that Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story, despite the fact that it was actually filmed in Buffalo has not gotten high praise from local media personalities. In fact, I will go so far as to say that a common comment is that it is one of the worst Christmas movies ever, even comparing to other Hallmark movies.

When they made the Chiefs Hallmark movie last year i think my complaint was they could have used more Kansas city local spots and I find it odd how it was made in the summer. Its a real stretch to make that believable when its supposed to be set at Christmas. Im sure thats a similar problem for the Bills movie.

I hate seeing all the Hallmark talk here when the long-running thread sits abandoned and someone actively tried to kill it.

I rewatched White Christmas on Thanksgiving. So much good stuff in it, but also random things like the “Choreography” number. Vera-Ellen is often paired with a high-powered dancer named John Brascia, who was never a star but scored a few of these featured spots in films.

Watched Black Friday yesterday. It was ok, but not enough Bruce Campbell.

Think we’re done with all the Thanksgiving stuff, will transfer to all Christmas all the time from here on out (and comedy too for the next 36 hours).

I picked up my copy of White Christmas last night and overall I really enjoyed the movie. I even received a slipcover with the 4k which I wasn't expecting as it was released last year. It was great to see the movie where many classic Bing Crosby Christmas songs came from. The plot was pretty basic just to set up the song and dance numbers but that's not a bad thing here.

It's been hard to watch anything for the challenge this week but I'm glad it's Friday and I can get caught up all weekend.

I don't know why, but I feel behind in my holiday viewing. I just started my annual Doctor Who Christmas specials, and hopefully I can make a dent in my ever-growing list this weekend. I have enjoyed the new Netflix movies: A Merry Little Ex-Mas, Champagne Problems, and Jingle Bell Heist.