Every time December comes around, it’s all too easy to watch the same old Christmas films year after year. From It’s A Wonderful Life to Love Actually, Elf and The Muppet Christmas Carol, we’ve seen these festive flicks umpteen times. If anything, the familiarity makes us feel it’s okay to snooze in front of one of them after one too many helpings of Roast Turkey.

Of course, the alternative for those who think they’re particularly edgy will always be Die Hard. However, it’s now considered among the most obvious choices of what to put on as the annual “Is it a Christmas movie?” debate has increasingly become a bore. (It’s obviously a Christmas movie, by the way and here’s 7 reasons why).

Now, not to put down those classics mentioned above, but apart from the excuse to let our eyelids glaze over with these films on in the background, the other reason we continue to go back to them is that they are, generally speaking, cinematic gold that resonates with us on a nostalgic level.

Yet it’s all too easy to go for yet another rewatch and overlook the hidden gems that you’ve probably never got around to actually seeing. Maybe you’ve not even heard of some of them, especially if they are relatively new. And who knows, maybe one will become your yearly go-to?

Speaking of which, here is our Top 12 most underrated Christmas movies ranked – a list that includes Mel Gibson’s action Santa Claus, a gory black comedy horror and what one star called “one of the tackiest movies I’ve been in”, before acknowledging that Brits love the festive flick in question.