Vulture’s 2024 Holiday Gift Guide

A cheap and wearable gift for the Letterboxd obsessive in your life. —Morgan Baila

Of course no one really needs a kitchen timer anymore. Your phone (or smart speaker of choice) works just fine. But since receiving this kitchen timer from A24 — a promotional tie-in for a movie I have not seen — I have completely stopped asking Alexa to tell me when my pizza rolls can come out of the oven. Now I get to ask Andrew Garfield. That’s a much nicer experience. —Emily Palmer Heller

Keep the Gaga obsessive in your life regularly hydrated with a delightful conversation piece. True or False? Artpop is her best album. —Julie Kosin

Give this to someone you hate. —Rebecca Alter

Gift your friend who’s really into Beetlejuice this German Expressionist horror masterpiece about a demented doctor and the sleepwalker under his control going on a killing spree, and blow their mind for its clear influence on Tim Burton’s whole deal. (Under the guidance of the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation, the film’s been gorgeously restored and upgraded into starkly haunting 4K, and the release also features a new orchestral score.) —Roxana Hadadi 

Criterion is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, and in honor of that they’ve put together 40 of their greatest Blu-rays into a box. What determined a film’s placement in the set? These are curated from the titles that were most frequently picked up in the Criterion Closet, that magical room full of the company’s releases that visiting filmmakers and luminaries are invited to peruse and pillage. Think Bicycle Thieves, think Do the Right Thing, think Barry Lyndon. It’s an extraordinary journey through film history, for buffs and novices alike. —Bilge Ebiri

Columbia (a.k.a. Sony) has been doing a heroic job in recent years rereleasing some of the studio’s most storied films in new 4K UHD editions, with a bevy of extras. Volume Five might be the most eclectic set yet, as it includes The Age of Innocence, Tootsie, On the Waterfront, and Greta Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation of Little Women. For those of us who’ve had other versions of these films over the years — be it on VHS, laserdisc, or DVD — it’s a relief to finally have these upgrades all in one convenient release. —B.E.

This gallery, created by Brian Chankin in partnership with Robert Kofi in Accra, Ghana, honors the longstanding tradition of bootleg movie posters designed by Ghanaian artists. Those posters advertised movies that were part of the Ghanaian Mobile Cinema, which traveled around the country organizing public screenings of American and Bollywood blockbusters, Hong Kong martial-arts movies, and Ghanaian and Nigerian productions in villages without electricity. That traveling cinema may have faded away, but the tradition of hand-painted movie posters continues with the works featured in this gallery. Nearly all of the works from various Ghanaian artists have an unexpected visual twist, like a demon hiding in the corner of the frame, a surprising sexual element, or an outburst of violence between characters that isn’t in the movie itself (like the hilariously bloody Mrs. Doubtfire print). They’re a fantastical way to show your cinephilia and support individual artists. Our pick? This gorgeously lifelike depiction of Michael Mann’s classic Heat. —R.H.

Is that Delola cocktails? The same pre-made cocktails that reportedly put a strain on Bennifer’s marriage. Yes, yes it is. While premixed, low-calorie drinks might not have saved a relationship, maybe it could save a Christmas party. As someone who’s trying to clear out space on their bar cart, having a ton of bottles to make one drink isn’t fun and can also just be messy. A glass of Delola make me feel like I’m ordering an overpriced cocktail from a trendy bar without leaving the house. The packaging was also cute enough where I brought it to a few parties as a gift — I don’t drink vodka but my friends who do loved the Berry Spritz. Personally, the newest Margarita flavor has been my favorite and will probably be the one I’ll be taking with me to Christmas parties this season. —Alejandra Gularte

What do you get for the theme-park enthusiast who has everything? Their own robot bird, of course. Garner Holt is responsible for such animatronics as Abe Lincoln in Disneyland and the Halloweentown invaders of Disney’s Haunted Mansion Holiday. This kit has everything you need to make an animatronic bird, very similar to the one that first charmed Walt Disney and inspired the Enchanted Tiki Room. But the bird you make won’t have a racist accent. And isn’t that what the holidays are all about? —Bethy Squires

To vent all your frustrations about how we live in an era of endless AI slop. —R.H.

Homesick is known for making candles that smell like specific states, which always make a great gift for anyone who moved out of their hometown, but what if you’ve always wanted to know what it smells like in Gotham City? (With top notes of smoke, violet leaves, and leather, we’re guessing this smells more like Seal’s version of Gotham than Chris Nolan’s.) —E.P.H.

This was a massive hit at my friends’ annual grab bag last year, and given how few TV moments met the Zeitgeist in similar fashion this year, I have a couple ideas for who’ll be getting this hat from me. (Spoiler: also me.) —J.K.

McSweeney’s “occasionally actually quarterly� literary magazine recently celebrated its 74th issue by packaging it in a lunch box designed by Art Spiegelman. Inside you’ll find McSweeney’s Anthology of Contemporary Literature, a portfolio of inkblot art by Spiegelman, and, for your friends who follow the literary world like its a sport, three packs of author trading cards. —E.P.H.

If you read Matt Zoller Seitz’s piece interrogating why the Miami Vice pilot changed TV as we know it, and want to experience 100-plus more episodes of what he described as that “pastel-soaked, cocaine-coated� feeling, here you go. —R.H.

For all those times you want to imagine Bill Skarsgård in your home, or even on your person. Focus Features has a whole line of Nosferatu-themed merch for Robert Eggers’s Christmas-release film, and this special-edition perfume and candle feel like the perfect gifts for your favorite goth. The perfume, meant to evoke “an encounter with an apparition in the cold, damp caves of Count Orlok’s castle,� smells like a bouquet of rotting hothouse flowers (complimentary) and lingers for quite some time. The candle ($36) smells like tonka (Great British Baking Show viewers know that’s similar to vanilla) and musk, another unexpected but winning combination. Get your decay on! — R.H.

Nothing says the holidays like getting cucked by a tentacled monster! This limited edition shirt from Metrograph features Barbara Baranowska’s classic artwork for the Possession poster, printed on a midnight-blue T-shirt. “Paying homage to the iconic dress that Anna (Isabelle Adjani) wears in that subway scene,� naturally. —E.P.H.

This calendar comes with all the normal calendar holidays, plus major events from The Twilight Saga. Things like the date Bella finds out that Edward is a vampire (January 18), or Renesemee’s birthday (famously 9/11). It really puts in sharp relief how quickly Bella goes from Arizona Teen to Undead Trad Wife. Poor papa Charlie, you never saw it coming. —B.S.

Now that the Eras Tour is coming to an end, the Swiftie in your life is ready to channel their creative energies into something other than friendship bracelets. (Yes, there’s a pattern for a red scarf.) —E.P.H.

The ever-delightful sitcom about vampire roommates on Staten Island and their gloriously stupid hijinks is ending, but that doesn’t mean you have to end your relationship with Matt Berry’s Laszlo Cravensworth. Plop a witch’s-asshole hat on him and set up a tape player to hear those purring line deliveries for however long as you like. Or pose with him for an inappropriate-yet-fitting-for-WWDITS photoshoot, whichever. —R.H. 

With Wicked fast approaching, you may feel inclined to rewatch director Victor Fleming’s masterpiece, so hell, might as well own it. To celebrate its 85th anniversary, Warner Bros. Discovery has released a gorgeous Blu-ray and 4K steelbook for the huge The Wizard of Oz fans in your life. The best part is that it’s chock-full of collectibles with lobby cards and posters, so it’s basically a gift within a gift. —Savannah Salazar

Of all the random Wicked movie collabs, a nail-polish collection at least makes some sense. The dueling color palettes have always been part of Wicked’s appeal. But the best part of this promotional Advent calendar? They actually spelled the name Galinda correctly. —E.P.H.

Perfect for your John Dutton–memorial shrine. As Blazing Saddles so eloquently hinted, the Wild West probably smelled more like bean farts than this gorgeous scented candle. But if you want to set the mood before watching Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1 at home (we know you didn’t watch it in theaters), light up this understated woodsy yet sweet candle. It smells like a beautiful man with a horrible 1800s mustache wrapping you in his strong, shearling-coated arms. —B.S.

When the NYC arthouse theater Metrograph opened its Lower East Side doors in 2016, it did so with an identity that was impressively fully formed: There was a clear vision behind the film experience it wanted to provide, which was expressed through its savvy curation and the community of moviegoers it cultivated.

It’s no surprise, then, that the theater’s foray into print is similarly considered: Its magazine, which launches December 10 and is available for preorder now, offers more than 150 pages of cinephilia that are equal parts thoughtful and beautiful. Steve Martin in conversation with movie-magic consultants? A guide to action cinema from the Philippines? Daniel Clowes and Ari Aster weirding out? That’s all there plus more with a crossword puzzle to boot. —Neil Janowitz