With Love Actually turning 20 this year, it’s time for a change to the regular Christmas movie programming, which is why Beavertown Brewery is launching ‘Christmas Nasties’, a season of alternative Christmas movies curated by British FIlm Critic, Mark Kermode, at London’s Flat Iron Square.
As a nation, we’re subject to the same Christmas schmaltz year in and year out, it’s just Elf, The Holiday and Miracle on 34th Street on repeat. But Beavertown, known for its love of all things spooky, dark and horror-esque, is offering an eerie and mysterious alternative to traditional festive season viewings.
For Beavertown’s Christmas Nasties, Mark has handpicked a lineup of cult classics with a dark twist. Hailed by Stephen Fry as “the finest film critic in Britain”, Mark is the former Chief Film Critic for The Guardian, The Observer, current BBC News Film Critic and one half of the Kermode and Mayo podcast.
Taking place on Wednesdays throughout December (6th, 13th and 20th), ‘Christmas Nasties’ will channel the essence of late-night slasher showings, where attendees can delve into the realms of cult classics like Comfort and Joy, directed by Bill Forsyth and starring Bill Paterson as a radio disc jockey whose life undergoes a bizarre upheaval; Brazil – Terry Gilliam’s classic future-retro dystopian fantasy or Die Hard – once dubbed cowboys and Indians in the Towering Inferno – at Christmas. Also on show will be Gremlins – Joe Dante’s classic comedy/creature hybrid, The Nightmare Before Christmas – Tim Burton’s stop motion masterpiece’ and Rare Exports – an icily satirical tale that plays like a cross between The Thing and Miracle on 34th Street
Commenting on his choice of films, Mark said,
“Yuletide may be the season to be jolly, but many of us fancy something with a bit of bite to take the edge of all that seasonal sugar. So I’ve teamed up with Beavertown Brewery to pick six darkly entertaining cinematic treats that will put some spice in your Christmas stocking, and ensure that your festive viewing is both naughty and nice.“
Beavertown’s limited edition festive beers, ‘Spresso + Saint Neck’Olas, will of course be flowing, and everyone who books into watch the films will be able to enjoy food from one of the vendors on site at Flat Iron Square like Breddos Tacos, Gamekeeper, Choy House or Cluck Farmyard.
Throughout December Beavertown has teamed up with Flat Iron Square to create a giant rocket advent calendar of events, taking Christmas to the moon and back, revealing a different festive moment each day. Events and giveaways taking place include a festive gift-swap, free Christmas jumpers and a rare opportunity to take home illustrated Beavertown glassware.
Advance booking options will be available for Londoners eager to secure their spot at Christmas Nasties via the Flat Iron Square website, and walk-ins will also have a chance to join in on the fun – with each evening featuring a double bill of screenings at 7 pm and 9 pm. See the full guide and timings below:
Wednesday 6th December
7pm: Comfort and Joy
“Alan Bird is getting nothing he wants this Christmas” declared the posters for this absurdist tragi-comic treat (billed as a “serious comedy”) from Scottish auteur Bill Forsyth. Bill Paterson is simply superb as the Glaswegian radio DJ who is dumped by his kleptomaniac girlfriend as Yuletide approaches, and then finds himself embroiled in a mafia-style turf war being rival ice-cream vendors (yes, really), leaving his boss wondering whether his contract includes a “sanity clause”. Somehow, Forsyth turns all this into an anti-festive marvel that combines frostiness and warmth in equal measure. Pure joy!
9pm: BRAZIL
Father Christmas can’t come if we haven’t got a chimney”. And yet he can – albeit in the form of violent government stormtroopers who crash through the ceiling and take an innocent man prisoner in Terry Gilliam’s classic future-retro dystopian fantasy. Dark satire and bureaucratic nightmares collide; dreams and reality intertwine. Jonathan Pryce is in career-best form as Sam Lowry, while Peter Vaughan becomes cinema’s most sinisterly avuncular Santa.
Wednesday 13th December
7pm: Die Hard
“Now I have a machine gun. Ho Ho Ho”. Bruce Willis stars as vest-wearing anti-hero John McClane, but it’s Alan Rickman’s splendidly villainous Hans Gruber who steals the show in John McTiernan’s seasonal genre mash-up. Infamously dubbed “cowboys and Indians in the Towering Inferno – at Christmas!” Die Hard turns the glittering Nakatomi Tower into a giant chimney through which John must crawl to save his estranged wife, the seasonally named Holly. Yippee Ki Ya!
9pm: Gremlins
Joe Dante’s classic comedy/creature-feature hybrid sees an initially cuddly Christmas present spawning a horde of destructive beasties who overwhelm the wholesome Capra-esque smalltown of Kingston Falls. Madcap destruction ensues. Yet amid all the onscreen anarchy, the film’s most memorable sucker punch comes when Phoebe Cates’s Kate Beringer recounts how she first discovered that “there was no Santa Claus” – a shocking tale indeed.
Wednesday 20th December
7pm: The Nightmare Before Christmas
Tim Burton’s stop-motion masterpiece (directed by Henry Sellick) has become a Creepy Christmas favourite, and deservedly so. Gasp in wonder as Jack Skellington, Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, gets his minions to “Kidnap the Sandy Claws”, with riotous results. Earworm songs and eye-watering visuals combine to make this the perfect dark Christmas treat – a film you can watch over and over again, and always spot something new.
9pm: Rare Exports
This Finnish gem from co-writer/director Jalmari Helander takes us to the mountains of Lapland where a mysterious dig dovetails with reindeer slaughter and stolen children, leading an intrepid schoolboy and his dad to uncover the awful truth about old St Nick and his elves. Taking his lead from archaic Finnish folk tales, Helander conjures an icily satirical tale that plays like a cross between The Thing and Miracle on 34th Street, with a hint of Troll Hunter thrown in for good measure.
