Summary

• Christmas villains add conflict and excitement to festive movies, making them more fun to watch.
• Whether it's harmless villainy or true evil, Christmas villains contribute to the holiday movie experience.
• From sophisticated Hans Gruber to comical Clark Griswold, these memorable Christmas villains bring out the holiday spirit in their own twisted ways.

The holiday season inevitably leads to many fans enjoying charming and cozy movies about the festive and joyful aspects of this time of year, but even these types of movies need conflict supplied by the Christmas villains. While it is best to avoid the naughty tendencies and show kindness to people this time of the year, these bad guys prove there are some who are moved by the Christmas spirit, or that the idea of yuletide celebrations is causing some mayhem and destruction.

Some of these villains come from the most classic Christmas stories, like A Christmas Carol or How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Some of them offer the kind of harmless villainy that is fitting for a family-friendly movie. However, there are also some Christmas villains from those rare R-rated movies that really show they belong on the naughty list. In any case, these villains from memorable Christmas movies help to make the holidays a little more fun with their bad behavior.

20 Hans Gruber - Die Hard (1988)

Played By Alan Rickman

There are people who disagree that Die Hard is a Christmas movie. However, the entire movie's plot is about a group of criminals who show up at a Christmas party and hold them captive while their boss sets up a scheme to steal a fortune. The villain in Die Hard is one of the best in movie history, Hans Gruber. He was the perfect sophisticated and cultured villain to go up against Bruce Willis' down-to-earth hero. From his over-the-top line delivery to his genuine threat of violence, Alan Rickman delivered in spades in this movie. He also has a dry sense of humor that makes it easy to root for him a little as well. The entire franchise is fun, but no one ever met the level of brilliance of Hans Gruber.

19 Frank Cross - Scrooged (1988)

Played By Bill Murray

Frank Cross ended up as a good guy by the end of Scrooged. However, this was a remake of A Christmas Carol and Frank was a perfect modern-day version of Scrooge. He did so many bad things that it was easy to see him deserving everything that happened to him. He ordered his employees to work overtime on Christmas. He fires one underling for daring to question him. He suggested a prop man staple antlers to a mouse's head. He even demanded his girlfriend abandon the charity she was working at in order to spend time with him. Given his selfishness, the torment Frank gets at the hands of the ghosts is fitting.

18 Jack Frost - Jack Frost (1997)

Played By Scott MacDonald

This is not the family Christmas movie from 1998 with Michael Keaton. Instead, this movie hit one year earlier and was a black comedy horror slasher about a killer snowman coming to life. The entire premise was ridiculous, but it was enough to develop a cult following. The villain here was a serial killer named Jack Frost. The truck transporting him to his execution crashed into a truck with "genetic material." Thanks to the genetic material, Jack ended up merging with the snow on the ground and turning into a killer snowman. With laughable death scenes and terrible special effects, this is a fun movie to watch at the least.

17 Billy - Black Christmas (1974)

Played By Albert J. Dunk

While most people mention Halloween as creating the slasher horror movie genre, there was a slasher film that came out four years earlier. This was Black Christmas, which saw Margot Kidder star in the movie about a sorority terrorized by an unknown serial killer. It was the first Christmas movie by director Bob Clark, coming years before his masterpiece, A Christmas Story. The best thing about this killer was that no one saw him, especially when the movie ended with the twist that he got away with it. He is a lurking menace the entire run of the movie and delivers some truly memorable kills which cements him as an underrated horror movie villain.

16 Professor Hinkle - Frosty the Snowman (1969)

Played By Billy De Wolfe

When it comes to Christmas movie villains, some aren't scary but provide a good antagonist for younger viewers to love to hate, like in the original Frosty the Snowman. In this film, the bad guy is Professor Hinkle. He was a man who wanted the magical hat that brought Frosty to life. Professor Hinkle got his chance at redemption at the end when Santa Claus gave him an ultimatum. However, before this, he was almost irredeemable. He was a childish scoundrel who only wanted the hat once he knew it was actually magic. He even tried to melt Frosty in order to get his hands on the magical garment.

15 Mayor Maywho - How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

Played By Jeffrey Tambor

It's easy to cast a crooked politician as a villain, but it takes a certain amount of skill to outdo Jim Carrey's Grinch in terms of meanness. Yet while the green ghoul living on Mount Crumpit is open with his general not-niceness, Mayor Augustus Maywho in Whoville is a different kind of wicked. He prefers a more underhanded approach to his misdeeds. Beneath that smiling and glad-handing exterior lives the heart of the movie's real monster. If the flashbacks are right, it was the mayor who triggered the Grinch's dislike of all things festive, a point that is tragically driven home with his "gift of a Christmas shave." He even belittles a young girl for trying to be nice to The Grinch.

14 The Abominable Snow Monster - Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)

Played By Larry D. Mann

The Bumble might get away with a little wiggle room after his teeth are removed, but that's not saying he isn't terrifying before the film's ending. To quote Sam the Snowman, "He's mean, he's nasty, and he hates everything to do with Christmas." By that logic alone, he should qualify as the film's biggest villain. He stalks around the North Pole, threatening any creature that dares to cross his path. Of course, like so many Rankin/Bass baddies, he's redeemed and made into one of the good guys. After being tamed by the eccentric Yukon Cornelius, he goes from abominable to adorable shockingly fast.

13 Clark Griswold - National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

Played By Chevy Chase

He might be the star of the show, and he is one of the funniest characters in Christmas movies, but Clark Griswold is definitely the villain of Christmas Vacation. He's so blinded by his ambition to create the perfect Griswold family Christmas that he cannot see how much damage he's doing despite his good intentions. His motivations might not be necessarily evil, but there's a certain tipping point in the film where he goes from dopey to damaging. From his verbal abuse of his cousin to his outright destruction of his neighbor's property, it's hard to call Clark a good guy. That's all before his famous Christmas meltdown.

12 The Gremlins - Gremlins (1984)

Played By Frank Welker

The Mogwai are adorable creatures, but while Gizmo seems to be inherently nice and gentle, the others are interested in mischief and mayhem right from the beginning, including throwing Gizmo down the laundry chute. However, it is when they eat after midnight that their truly vicious side comes out and they are no longer cute and cuddly. They set about wreaking havoc all over town, including launching an old woman through her roof with her chair life and driving a snowplow into a house. While they are all demonic, Stripe their leader is the worst of them all.

11 Maestro Forte - Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997)

Played By Tim Curry

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas might not win any accolades like its predecessor, but it does have one of the most interesting and underrated Disney villains. It's hard to make a pipe organ look threatening, but Disney did a marvelous job with this member of the enchanted castle. Forte is also an interesting villain for the mythology of the story as he is the one member of the enchanted castle who prefers the curse which makes him one with his beloved instrument. By keeping the Beast out of love, he maintains his power over his broken heart. When he sees a romance blooming between Belle and the Beast, Forte is willing to bring down the entire castle rather than see the curse lifted.

10 Scut Farkus - A Christmas Story (1983)

Played By Zack Ward

A Christmas Story relies on a lot of nostalgic elements of growing up, including Ralphie's memories of his childhood bully, Scut Farkus. His offenses might be juvenile and obnoxious in their delivery and scale, but it's the familiarity of his bullying that makes him so dastardly. Many people dealt with a bully back in their school days, and many wish they could have gotten half the vengeance that Ralphie did. After seeing Farkus torment the young kids with such glee and for no reason other than his own twisted amusement, it is completely satisfying to see Ralphie beat him up.

9 The Grinch - How The Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)

Played By Boris Karloff

One of the first villains many are introduced to as kids is that infamous Christmas saboteur, the Grinch. He might not be as violent as Farkus, but he is a bitter old curmudgeon with a fiendish reputation who steals Christmas from the peaceful and cheerful Whos of Whoville. The fact that the Grinch has an entire song dedicated to all the ways he is so villainous is enough to solidify his reputation. A Christmas villain whose entire purpose is to take the holiday away from people who enjoy it is the perfect example of how Christmas can inspire some truly dastardly characters.

8 The Wet Bandits - Home Alone (1990)

Played By Joe Pesci And Daniel Stern

The so-called Wet Bandits set themselves up to be real-life Grinches in Home Alone as they plan to rob houses at Christmas time. Though they prove themselves to be about as dangerous as any typical low-level burglars, Harry Lyme and Marv Murchins don't stand a chance against Kevin McAllister and his arsenal of booby traps. Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern give great performances to sell these roles and make the movie all the more hilarious as they get thrown through Kevin's traps and pranks. The slapstick violence inflicted on these greedy home invaders is endlessly fun to watch.

7 Burgermeister Meisterburger - Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town (1970)

Played By Paul Frees

The Grinch tried to steal Christmas, but Burgermeister Meisterburger used his position of power to have gift-giving outlawed. He even goes as far as to declare toys illegal, immoral, unlawful, and anyone found with a toy in his possession to be placed under arrest and thrown in the dungeon. Rather than being a truly intimidating villain who gets redemption like in many of the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials, Meisterburger is a goofy bad guy who remains a villain for the entire story, constantly getting outwitted by Santa Claus.

6 Winterbolt - Rudolph And Frosty's Christmas In July (1979)

Played By Paul Frees

If one were to grant Saruman power over ice, snow, and blizzards, they'd get Winterbolt. With his sleigh pulled by snakes, pet dragons, and his ice-cold demeanor, he's easily one of the biggest villains that stop-motion filmmakers could have devised. Winterbolt not only steals Frosty the Snowman's hat and tries to steal Santa's job, but he also frames Rudolf for theft. He's one sinister spellcaster who gives Christmas revelers shivers in more ways than one. He's also one of the few Rankin/Bass characters to be killed on screen, also preventing him from the customary redemption at the end of the story.

5 Oogie Boogie - The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Played By Ken Page

The Nightmare Before Christmas is filled with ghoulish creatures, but Oogie Boogie seems to be the one all others fear. Though this jazz-singing creep is Halloween Town's resident troublemaker, he becomes one of the biggest baddies of Christmas for attempting to torture Santa Claus while Jack Skellington goes on his holiday spree. It's not a wide scale of evil, but the fact he has Santa tied up, placed on a roulette wheel, and then attempts to dunk him and Sally in a vat of boiling acid is more than enough. Oogie Boogie also gets his own memorable villain song that further cements him as one of the greats.

4 Ebeneezer Scrooge - A Christmas Carol (1951)

Played By Alastair Sim

Definitely the most famous Christmas villain of all time but probably not the most powerful, Ebenezer Scrooge is easily one of the evilest, depending in part on who portrays him. While most actors play Scrooge as a cold and indifferent old miser, Alastair Sim is often regarded as the best with his 1951 version of A Christmas Carol. Sim made him bitter and heartless, as he regarded the entire world around him with disdain. His heartless way of interacting with people and brushing off Christmas with his famous "humbug" only makes it all the more satisfying when he finds the error of his ways in the end.

3 Mr. Potter - It's A Wonderful Life (1946)

Played By Lionel Barrymore

Taking a page from Ebenezer Scrooge's business plan is mean old Mr. Potter from It's a Wonderful Life. Where Scrooge is driven by greed, Potter is driven by power, namely the power to control the town of Bedford Falls. It's on his quest to snuff out the Bailey Savings and Loan company that his actions drive George Bailey to almost take his own life. He doesn't steal Christmas, but he tries to take an entire town and force its population into poverty. He even steals money he knows belongs to George in order to ensure his business collapses and he goes to prison. It is also worth noting, that unlike most villains, Potter is never punished for his crime.

2 Santa Claus - Santa's Slay (2005)

Played By Bill Goldberg

Though he is the hero in countless Christmas stories, Santa has been depicted as a villain as well, including in the holiday horror comedy Santa's Slay. Though a cheesy horror movie, it features a mad, murdering, demonic version of Santa Claus played by professional wrestler Bill Goldberg. The plot is bogged down, but the stunts by the famous WWE star are worth the watch. In this twisted tale, Santa is actually a demon tricked by an angel into a millennium of good deeds. However, when that millennium is up, he goes right back to his bloody rampage. It's a side of Kris Kringle most people aren't used to seeing during the holidays.

1 Krampus - Krampus (2015)

Played By Luke Hawker

Some call him "The Shadow of Saint Nicholas" but perhaps a more accurate way of thinking about Krampus is as the Anti-Claus. Just as Santa comes to give Christmas cheer, Krampus comes to take and spread holiday fear. Assisted by his army of festive friends, he sets out to punish naughty non-believers in Michael Dougherty's 2015 film. Krampus and his gang of nasties are the antitheses of everything the holiday stands for. The demon of Christmas is what happens when hope dies, taking away happy holidays and replacing it with his own brand of "cheer."