Courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories

Though it’s ubiquitous this time of year, you probably never thought too hard about Christmas music. For people like Mitchell Kezin, however, it’s practically all they think about, all year long. Kezin is the filmmaker behind the documentary Jingle Bell Rocks!, which delves into the world of holiday music aficionados, guys like himself (all of the movie’s subjects are male) who obsessively collect holiday-themed songs and albums, the weirder and/or more obscure, the better. At the end of each year they put together a compilation mix of their best finds. It’s safe to say that the general public have never heard most of these songs (“Santa Claus is a Black Man,” “Séance with Santa”).

As the film shows, it all started for Kezin at the age of five, when he first hears Nat King Cole’s melancholy “The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot,” which includes “The laddie didn’t have a daddy” among its depressing lyrics. The young Kezin, whose parents were in the process of getting divorced, became fascinated with the song. Another revelation occurs in his teens upon first hearing Miles Davis and Bob Dorough’s caustic “Blue Xmas (To Whom It May Concern),” from the Jingle Bell Jazz compilation LP. Thus began the filmmaker’s obsession with alternative, not necessarily upbeat, Christmas tunes.

Ashamed of his unusual hobby, Kezin initially thought he was alone in his Christmas music fixation, but to his joy it turns out that there are others as fanatical as he. Several of these fellow collectors are included in Jingle Bell Rocks!, along with musicians and other figures behind offbeat and memorable holiday tracks.

Courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories

Prominently featured is Bill Adler, former director of publicity for Def Jam Records and Rush Artist Management, an avid Christmas music fan. He and Kezin visit Joseph “Rev Run DMC” Simmons, who tells the story behind the making of the iconic (at least in NYC) rap track “Christmas in Hollis.” Kezin also visits bebop pioneer (and eternal hipster) Dorough, who recalls writing the lyrics to the still-scathing “Blue Xmas.” Kezin and Adler eventually connect with renowned Calypso singer Mighty Sparrow in their quest for a Calypso version of “The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot.” Also included in Jingle Bell Rocks! are interviews with Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips, John Waters, and DJ Dr. Demento, all of whom are (unsurprisingly) enthusiasts of offbeat holiday fare. Various other musical acts (Clarence Carter, The Free Design, Low, El Vez) talk about their own unusual Christmas offerings. As the film shows, holiday music is truly genre-spanning, with hip hop, jazz, folk, funk, soul, Latin punk, and alternative rock, among other styles, all represented. It’s also theme-spanning, including songs both “adult” (“I Saw Mommy Spanking Santa Claus”) and regional (“I Want the South to Win the War for Christmas.”). It’s not surprising that the subject is a goldmine for music geeks.

Entertaining and informative, Jingle Bell Rocks! also manages to be a bit heart-warming. The sharing of all this odd Christmas music actually evokes holiday spirit for Kezin, who finds peace and goodwill via his community of like-minded collectors. For more information about the film: jinglebellrocks.vhx.tv

On the topic of unheralded holiday gems, here are a few films of Christmases past that you may not be familiar with:

(Classic) The Cheaters (1945). Directed by Joseph Kane and rarely shown on TV anymore, this darkish, offbeat (for its time) movie stars Billie Burke as the matriarch of a shallow, wealthy family who decide to take in a homeless man for the holidays. Lessons are learned.

(Modern): Off Season (2001), This drily witty TV movie, directed by actor Bruce Davison, stars Rory Culkin as a depressed, recently orphaned kid living with his aunt (Sherilyn Fenn), who works at a motel. When he suspects that a cranky motel guest (Hume Cronyn) is actually Santa, things get interesting. Clever and unsentimental.

(So bad it’s awful): Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny (1972). For those perverse souls who like their holiday fare weird and incomprehensible, there’s this. Considered by some the worst Christmas movie ever made – quite a distinction – the movie (directed by and starring virtual unknowns) boasts a nonsensical plot involving Santa’s sleigh stuck in Florida sand, the story of Thumbelina, and Pirate World amusement park. Plus very bad music.

Happy Holidays!

—Marina Zogbi