Classic Christmas Movies That Really Didn't Need Sequels

In some families, like mine for instance, watching Christmas movies is as much of a holiday tradition as opening presents, overeating, and arguing about current events after a few too many glasses of spiked hot chocolate. Christmas movies may hit their watchable peak once a year, but when just about everyone who celebrates the holiday is watching the same rotation of roughly 25 films, that seasonal peak allows a film to survive for generations. With this highly profitable surge in return viewings year after year, it's understandable why a studio or filmmaker would want to want to cash in on the festivities, but sometimes people give in to the evil temptress known as capitalism a little too hastily, and crank out unnecessary sequels to Christmas classics. Here are eight sequels to Christmas classics that no one asked for but hey, we got 'em.

To call Bob Clark's "A Christmas Story" a classic feels like an understatement, considering the existence of the yearly tradition of 24-hour "A Christmas Story" marathons on Christmas Eve, the fact the Parker family home is a year-round tourist attraction, that the film has been turned into two separate Broadway productions, and that leg lamps and pink bunny slipper pajamas are part of some families' holiday decor. In 1994, a film based on Jean Shepherd's writings, "My Summer Story" was released and while technically sequel, it's a film that exists on its own merit. However, the direct-to-DVD "A Christmas Story 2" from 2012 is billed as an "official sequel," taking place six years after the events of the original film. Brian Levant of "Beethoven," "The Flintstones," "Are We There Yet," and the Christmas classic (I said what I said) "Jingle All The Way" served as director on this cute attempt at capturing 1940s Midwest living that ultimately couldn't compete with such a juggernaut predecessor. Especially not with the unforgivable blonde dye job they slopped on the actor playing teenage Ralphie.

I'm a child of the '90s, so I have genuine and sincere nostalgia for the "Arnold Schwarzenegger learns to be a better dad" Christmas classic, "Jingle All The Way." The film gets a bad rap, but it's legitimately funny, home to one of the late Phil Hartman's best performances, and focuses on the superhero toy craze before Marvel took over all of the wishlists of our littlest family members. It's a fun Christmas movie, people are just mean. What is not a fun Christmas movie, however, is "Jingle All The Way 2" which swaps out Arnold for *checks notes* Larry the Cable Guy. The worst part? He's actually good in this movie! The movie has no need to exist but by god, Larry the Cable Guy pulls it off. It's Christmas schlock that no one asked for or needed but of all of the films on this list, it's the one that I'm the least upset about existing. It's bad, but it's so bad that it's almost enjoyable ... like most family get-togethers.

As a '90s kid who grew up in Chicago, I have an innate relationship with the "Home Alone" movies, which means that I definitely owned "Home Alone 3" on VHS like some sort of serial killer in the making. Despite a noticeable lack of Macaulay Culkin, John Williams' score, and Chris Columbus as director, this movie had a theatrical release and marked the directorial debut of seasoned editor Raja Gosnell, who would later direct the films "Never Been Kissed," the live-action "Scooby-Doo," and "The Smurfs." The film is responsible for one of Scarlett Johansson's earliest on-screen roles, and Roger Ebert actually prefers this sequel to the first two films. It's like they say, there's an audience for everything.

I know plenty will argue that there was no need for "Silent Night, Deadly Night 2" considering 40 minutes of the film's 88 minute runtime is just footage from "Silent Night, Deadly Night," but those people are wrong because otherwise we wouldn't have gotten the "Garbage Day!" scene or Eric Freeman's dedicated performance that should be taught in film school. "Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!," however, we didn't need. Bill Moseley takes over the reins as Ricky, and the film genuinely tries to do something different than the first two, but it lacks the absurd charm of the previous two and feels like a run-of-the-mill slasher. "Silent Night, Deadly Night" isn't a good movie, but it's a Christmas horror staple because it's so unique to itself. The third installment sucks that life out a little bit, but it does thankfully set the stage for the next two unrelated sequels. "Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker" is legitimately awesome.