Christmas at the movies

There are so many great Christmas movies to watch this time of year. I still swoon every time Bing Crosby croons a ballad or Danny Kaye dances in White Christmas, even though Paul makes fun of the "Snow, Snow, Snow" song and always says Rosemary Clooney looks like a man. Jimmy Stewart's promise in It's a Wonderful Life to lasso the moon for Donna Reed if she wants it is quite possibly one of the most romantic gestures I have ever heard of. I get teary-eyed everytime the old man with the snow shovel embraces his estranged family at the end of Home Alone. And I find myself quoting Elf pretty much year-round because it is so over-the-top hilarious.

But last night, Paul made me watch a totally different kind of Christmas movie. I had no idea that Gremlins was a Christmas movie. Have you seen it? It was absolutely awful. Quite possibly the worst Christmas movie ever, although Die Hard takes a close second in my book.

But the completely ridiculous part of it all was that those freaky little monsters actually scared me. Its completely moronic to be scared of claymation beasties running amuck on an unassuming small town the night before Christmas, but I was truly disturbed. I like scary movies that are intense thrillers, but throw in a deranged creature with pointy teeth and a tendency to use claws to draw blood and I end up with nightmares. And to top it all off, there was the absolutely frightful acting. That is two hours of my life that I will never get back. Shudder.