The definitive Christmas film streaming guide

There's no shortage of Christmas movies around at this time of year - and, when it comes to what's available to watch online, sometimes it's handy to have some extra help navigating through the blizzard of festive flicks.

That's where we come in! Here's our guide to the Christmas - and Christmassy - movies you can find on various streaming and VOD services, as well as a few special mentions for your viewing consideration.

A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding (Netflix)

The streaming platform is quite well stocked with popular Christmas movies, like Love Actually and The Holiday, but it's also invested in its own original festive flicks.

It currently has titles like Christmas Wedding Planner and Once Upon A Holiday, as well The Princess Switch, with Vanessa Hudgens, and The Christmas Chronicles, starring Kurt Russell as Santa. One that is likely to do well this year is a sequel to last year's surprise hate-watch hit, A Christmas Prince.

If you liked that - and you're not all royal wedding-ed out this year - then A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding is probably the guilty pleasure watch for you. As you might guess from that title, the plot pivots on the royal nuptials of American journalist Amber (Rose McIver) and Prince Richard of Aldovia (Ben Lamb). There's a sub-plot too though. This time round, he has lost the support of some of his nation, but is he really to blame? 

A Christmas Story (Amazon)

If you have a Prime subscription with Amazon, you have access to festive faves like Elf, Bridget Jones's Diary, Jack Frost and Gremlins. But one worth checking out is the 1983 movie A Christmas Story. 

The tale of a young boy named Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) and his quest to get an air rifle gun from Santa, A Christmas Story is probably not very well known among UK audiences. But in the US, it has become a cult classic, and a permanent fixture in US TV schedules. Indeed, The AV Club calls it "the preeminent American Christmas movie" and an annual 24-hour screening marathon of the movie regularly attracts some 40 million viewers - though it has been criticised for a lack of diversity.

 In just one week, I get to have my annual fight w my dad about why watching the 24hr marathon of A Christmas Story on tv is better even though we own the DVD without commercials

Oh, and it turns out Ralphie himself makes a cameo (as an adult) alongside Will Ferrell in Elf.

Die Hard (NowTV)

Whether or not you believe it's a Christmas movie - and, boy, do people disagree on that - there's no denying that the Bruce Willis action movie is a stone-cold classic. It turned 30 this year too, so no better time to re-watch.

And although it's regularly on telly, you have options if you want to stream it. You can watch it on an entertainment pass on NowTV, where you'll also find A Muppet Christmas Carol, The Family Stone, Scrooged and Bad Santa. 

Home Alone (YouTube Movies) 

YouTube's movie rental service has many of the movies already mentioned available to stream, as well as Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas and that all-round-people-pleasing Christmas watch, Home Alone. 

Home Alone

There are other '90s festive films on there too that deserve a rewatch, like Sandra Bullock's While You Were Sleeping, and Arnold Schwarzenegger's Jingle All The Way, which has had something of a re-appraisal of late. 

Black Christmas (Shudder)

If you're into darker festive fare, online horror streaming service Shudder is a good bet, offering titles like Christmas Evil, and a 1974 slasher flick called Black Christmas.

Made four years before John Carpenter's more famous slasher classic Halloween, Black Christmas is now considered a major influence on the genre.

A Simple Plan (BBC iPlayer)

Finally, this one isn't strictly a Christmas movie, but it is set in the heart of wintry, snowbound Minnesota. And seeing as it's available to watch on iPlayer until 3 January, it could make for good alternative festive viewing.

Favorite Bill Paxton performance is still A Simple Plan, in which he plays a venal George to Billy Bob's Lenny.

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First released in 1998, the movie is like an American, snowier Shallow Grave. The late, great Bill Paxton plays Hank, a cash-strapped factory worker, who stumbles upon a bag containing $4 million in a crashed plane. All manner of increasingly desperate, violent twists ensue, especially as Hank's socially awkward brother Jacob (an Oscar-nominated Billy Bob Thornton) struggles with their big secret. 

 There are too many great Bill Paxton roles to mention, but it's worth highlighting Raimi's A SIMPLE PLAN, maybe his finest work as an actor.

Greed, arguments over money, sibling rivalry, cold weather - it's what Christmas is all about!