The Best Holiday Movies and TV Shows on Free Services

What it's about: A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Sony Crackle & PopcornFlix), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & CBS All Access) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: The Machinist is the story of Trevor Reznik, a lathe-operator who is suffering from insomnia. In a machine shop, occupational hazards are bad enough under normal circumstances; yet for Trevor the risks are compounded by fatigue. Trevor has lost the ability to sleep. This is no ordinary insomnia...

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, CBS All Access & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: We meet Jesse and Celine nine years on in Greece. Almost two decades have passed since their first meeting on that train bound for Vienna.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (IMDb TV), stream on a subscription service (Sundance Now) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (IMDb TV) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Oakland, California. Young Afro-American Oscar Grant crosses paths with family members, friends, enemies and strangers before facing his fate on the platform at Fruitvale Station, in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009…

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 2 others).

What it's about: Between two Thanksgivings, Hannah's husband falls in love with her sister Lee, while her hypochondriac ex-husband rekindles his relationship with her sister Holly.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Vudu) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: For Norman and Ethel Thayer, this summer on golden pond is filled with conflict and resolution. When their daughter Chelsea arrives, the family is forced to renew the bonds of love and overcome the generational friction that has existed for years. Norman must find his way through his anger and fear of growing old, while Chelsea struggles to rebuild their relationship. Ethel's consistent support of her "Knight in shining armor" is inspirational in its simplicity. This is a movie to ponder and always keep in your heart.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix), stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 2 others).

What it's about: A young boy makes a snowman one Christmas Eve, which comes to life at midnight and takes the boy on a magical adventure to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Vudu), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Ameba) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: On a quiet suburban street tucked within a 'safe neighborhood', a babysitter must defend a twelve-year-old boy from strangers breaking into the house, only to discover that this is far from a normal home invasion.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Sony Crackle, Tubi & Vudu), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Shudder) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: High school graduation just wouldn’t be complete without an un-chaperoned, uninhibited and unforgettable final holiday. At least that’s what Will, Jay, Simon and Neil think when they book a two-week stay on an exotic Greek island. As their dreams of sun-drenched days and booze-filled nights are left hopelessly unfulfilled, the lads fight their way into the party scene with hilariously humiliating results in this smash hit UK raunchy comedy.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & Vudu) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: In 1976, Tony Wilson sets up Factory Records and brings Manchester's music to the world.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Vudu), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: In this modern take on Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," Frank Cross (Bill Murray) is a wildly successful television executive whose cold ambition and curmudgeonly nature has driven away the love of his life, Claire Phillips (Karen Allen). But after firing a staff member, Eliot Loudermilk (Bobcat Goldthwait), on Christmas Eve, Frank is visited by a series of ghosts who give him a chance to re-evaluate his actions and right the wrongs of his past.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a subscription service (CBS All Access) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: An acclaimed writer, his ex-wife, and their teenaged children come to terms with the complexities of love in all its forms over the course of one tumultuous year.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Sony Crackle, PopcornFlix, Tubi & 1 other), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & Microsoft).

What it's about: A couple's marital troubles are put on hold while they host an unhappy reunion of former college pals gathered for the funeral of one of their own, a suicide victim named Alex. As the weekend unfolds, the friends catch up with each other, play the music of their youth, reminisce, smoke marijuana, and pair off with each other.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Sony Crackle), stream on a popular subscription service (Showtime & fuboTV), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Showtime) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A sorority house is terrorized by a stranger who makes frightening phone calls and then murders the sorority sisters during Christmas break.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix, Tubi & Vudu), stream on a subscription service (Shout Factory TV, Shudder & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: It's the eve of Christmas in northern Finland and an archaeological dig has just unearthed the real Santa Claus. But this particular Santa isn't the one you want coming to town. When all the local children begin mysteriously disappearing, young Pietari and his father Rauno, a reindeer hunter by trade, capture the mythological being and attempt to sell Santa to the misguided leader of the multinational corporation sponsoring the dig. Santa's elves, however, will stop at nothing to free their fearless leader from captivity.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Sony Crackle, PopcornFlix, Tubi & 1 other), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hulu & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A depressed man moves back in with his parents following a recent heartbreak and finds himself with two women.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a subscription service (Sundance Now) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Five people find themselves in a tomb. The Crypt keeper explains why they are there through a series of frightening stories. Based on the classic comic book.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix & Tubi) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 2 services (Google Play & PlayStation Store).

What it's about: Set in 1944 France, an American Intelligence Squad locates a German Platoon wishing to surrender rather than die in Germany's final war offensive. The two groups of men, isolated from the war at present, put aside their differences and spend Christmas together before the surrender plan turns bad and both sides are forced to fight the other.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (IMDb TV) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: When Ann, husband George, and son Georgie arrive at their holiday home they are visited by a pair of polite and seemingly pleasant young men. Armed with deceptively sweet smiles and some golf clubs, they proceed to terrorize and torture the tight-knit clan, giving them until the next day to survive.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Vudu) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Quirky and rebellious April Burns lives with her boyfriend in a low-rent New York City apartment miles away from her emotionally distant family. But when she discovers that her mother has a fatal form of breast cancer, she invites the clan to her place for Thanksgiving. While her father struggles to drive her family into the city, April -- an inexperienced cook -- runs into kitchen trouble and must ask a neighbor for help.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Christmas Eve. On his way to his in-laws with his family, Frank Harrington decides to try a shortcut, for the first time in 20 years. It turns out to be the biggest mistake of his life.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & IMDb TV) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: An endearing light comedy about a woman who spontaneously becomes a resident of Venice after her family left her begin. While enjoying the wonderful people she meets she achieves a new life and the first time independent of her family.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & Vudu) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (Google Play & YouTube).

What it's about: After an extremely regrettable one night stand, two strangers wake up to find themselves snowed in after sleeping through a blizzard that put all of Manhattan on ice. They're now trapped together in a tiny apartment, forced to get to know each other way more than any one night stand should.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & Vudu), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: After losing her job, making out with her soon to be ex-boss, and finding out that her daughter plans to spend Thanksgiving with her boyfriend, Claudia Larson has to face spending the holiday with her family. She wonders if she can survive their crazy antics.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A man who suspects his wife is cheating on him begins having nightmarish visions of an evil presence that he believes inhabits his house.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hulu, Shudder & 1 other) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: When their regal matriarch falls ill, the troubled Vuillard family come together for a hesitant Christmastime reunion. Among them is rebellious ne'er-do-well Henri and the uptight Elizabeth. Together under the same roof for the first time in many years, their intricate, long denied resentments and yearnings emerge again.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & Prime Video).

What it's about: During shopping for Christmas, Frank and Molly run into each other. This fleeting short moment will start to change their lives, when they recognize each other months later in the train home and have a good time together. Although both are married and Frank has two little kids, they meet more and more often, their friendship becoming the most precious thing in their lives.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Sony Crackle) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: Young filmmakers trying to hawk a movie titled "Bradykillers" about a serial killer who goes after victims Marcia, Jan, and Cindy meet their screen idol, William Shatner. The two young men, who idolize him and in their fantasies have seen him as a shadowy fairy godfather figure, are alarmed at the reality of the middle-aged non-Captain Kirk man that they meet.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & Prime Video).

What it's about: Two street-wise Chicago cops have to shake off some rust after returning from a Key West vacation to pursue a drug dealer that nearly killed them in the past.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & Vudu) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 2 others).

What it's about: Angel City trooper Jack Deth is sent back in time from 2247 to 1985 L.A. to inhabit the body of his ancestor. Deth's assignment is to find his archenemy, Whistler, who turns people into zombies, before the fiend is able to kill all the ancestors of the future's governing council.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a subscription service (Full Moon) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 2 services (Prime Video & Vudu).

What it's about: Jessica, the daughter of an impoverished apple farmer, still believes in Santa Claus. So when she comes across a reindeer with an injured leg, it makes perfect sense to her to assume that it is Prancer, who had fallen from a Christmas display in town. She hides the reindeer in her barn and feeds it cookies, until she can return it to Santa. Her father finds the reindeer an decides to sell it to the butcher, not for venison chops, but as an advertising display.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Vudu) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Prime Video & Vudu).

What it's about: While conducting a seance during a Halloween party, high-school seniors unlock the demon that remains locked in the crematorium.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Shout Factory TV) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Four friends lose themselves in a carefree South-East Asian holiday. Only three come back. Dave and Alice return home to their young family desperate for answers about Jeremy's mysterious disappearance. When Alice's sister Steph returns not long after, a nasty secret is revealed about the night her boyfriend went missing. But it is only the first of many. Who amongst them knows what happened on that fateful night when they were dancing under a full moon in Cambodia?

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & Vudu) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: 19-year-old Billy Lynn is brought home for a victory tour after a harrowing Iraq battle. Through flashbacks the film shows what really happened to his squad - contrasting the realities of war with America's perceptions.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (IMDb TV) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 2 others).

What it's about: After a breakup with her boyfriend, a young woman moves in with her older brother, his wife, and their 2-year-old son.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix), stream on a subscription service (CBS All Access) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Four lost souls—a disgraced TV presenter, a foul-mouthed teen, an isolated single mother and a solipsistic muso—decide to end their lives on the same night, New Year's Eve. When this disillusioned quartet of strangers meet unintentionally at the same suicide hotspot, a London high-rise with the well-earned nickname Topper's Tower, they mutually agree to call off their plans for six weeks, forming an unconventional, dysfunctional family and becoming media sensations as the Topper House Four and searching together for the reasons to keep on living.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix & Tubi) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: After her widowed father dies, deaf teenager Dot moves in with her godparents, Olivia and Paul Deer. The Deers' daughter, Nina, is openly hostile to Dot, but that does not prevent her from telling her secrets to her silent stepsister, including the fact that she wants to kill her lecherous father.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: Angela, a corporate climber, gets stuck working late on Christmas Eve and finds herself the target of an unhinged security guard. With no help in sight, the woman must overcome physical and psychological challenges to survive.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, Vudu & IMDb TV) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Two turkeys from opposite sides of the tracks must put aside their differences and team up to travel back in time to change the course of history—and get turkey off the holiday menu for good.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & IMDb TV), stream on a popular subscription service (Hulu) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A group of young people leave a disco and bump into a shepherd who is ready to spend his night worshipping Satan.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix) & stream on a subscription service (Kanopy).

What it's about: A toy factory worker, mentally scarred as a child upon learning Santa Claus is not real, suffers a nervous breakdown after being belittled at work, and embarks on a Yuletide killing spree.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Vudu), stream on a subscription service (Shudder & fuboTV) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 1 service (Vudu).

What it's about: Christmas Eve in New York, and the lonely divorced publisher, Rose Collins, needs a miracle to improve the health of her mother, interned in a hospital with Alzheimers. She feels sorry for another patient and meets his visitor. Meanwhile, Nina Vasquez breaks her engagement with her beloved fiancé Mike due to his suffocating jealousy, but misses him. Mike is stalked by a stranger, bartender Artie Venzuela. The poor Jules arranges to spend Christmas Eve in the hospital, where he spent the best Christmas of his life when he was a teenager. The lives of some of these characters cross with others along the night.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix & Vudu) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: In JINGLE BELL ROCKS!, director Mitchell Kezin delves into the minds of some of the world’s most legendary Christmas music fanatics and hits the road to hang with his holiday heroes – including hip hop legend Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons of RUN-D.M.C., The Flaming Lips’ frontman Wayne Coyne, filmmaker John Waters, bebopper Bob Dorough, L.A. DJ and musicologist Dr. Demento, and Calypso legend The Mighty Sparrow. In his search for the twelve best, underappreciated Christmas songs ever recorded, Kezin both asks and answers the question, “Why, when Christmas rolls around, are we still stuck cozying up with Bing Crosby under a blanket of snow?”

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Vudu), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Fandor) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: The multi-platinum selling comedian performs his first holiday-themed stand-up special with his friends.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix & Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix & Prime Video) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: When four generations of the Cooper clan come together for their annual Christmas Eve celebration, a series of unexpected visitors and unlikely events turn the night upside down, leading them all toward a surprising rediscovery of family bonds and the spirit of the holiday.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: A tight-knit, but slightly dysfunctional family of five, gather in their hometown of Chicago for the “perfect” holiday. From break-ups to arrests to sharing one bathroom, each family member is packing his/her own eccentricities and hiding secrets from the others – as if the holidays were all about carols and eggnog!

Where to Watch: 5 episodes (83%) are available to watch free online (FOX). 6 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Hulu & fuboTV). 1 episodes (17%) are available to stream on a TV everywhere service (FOX). 6 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 3 services (Google Play, Vudu & YouTube).

What it's about: A Foreign Service Officer in London tries to prevent a terrorist attack set to hit New York, but is forced to go on the run when she is framed for crimes she did not commit.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, Vudu & IMDb TV) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).