Rampaging Bad Santas Shut Down Movie Theater

'60s B-movie 'Santa Claus Conquers the Martians' ranks worst: poll

(NEWSER) - What are the top 10 most cringe-inducing, holiday-ruining, Santa-offending Christmas movies of all time? Online ticket seller Fandango set out to find out, and polled its customers. Among the films that you probably shouldn't watch tonight:

1. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians : a 1964 ultra-low budget fantasy flick; good luck making it all the way through the 1:22 trailer, at left
2. Silent Night, Deadly Night : a 1984 horror film featuring a murderous man in a Santa suit
3. Jingle All the Way : Sinbad and Arnold Schwarzenegger fight over a toy action figure

Letter carrier who threatened to 'go rogue' allowed to don red suit

(NEWSER) - After getting some bad publicity, the US Postal Service has decided not to prevent a kindly, bearded man from wearing a red hat and jacket as he makes his mail deliveries. For the last decade, letter carrier Bob McLean had worn a Santa hat and jacket during the holiday season, but after a colleague this year complained that he was violating the dress code, supervisors told McLean to leave the get-up at home, the Los Angeles Times reports. Management relented after the story got nationwide attention and McLean threatened to "go rogue" and wear the Santa suit anyway. More»

Activists oppose 'Black Pete' Christmas character

(NEWSER) - One newcomer to the Netherlands says her worst faux pas is to question "Black Pete"—the little African slave who helps out Santa Claus. The Dutch react "in anger and frustration," and even defend their tradition of dressing up publicly in blackface, writes Jessica Olien on Slate . They say Black Pete is only dark from coming down the chimney, but that "doesn't wash": The character dates back to the 1840s, when the Dutch empire was "deeply involved in the slave trade." More»

Billboard there to spark conversation, church says

(NEWSER) - A church in Auckland, New Zealand, has irked traditionalists with a billboard showing a shocked Virgin Mary looking at a pregnancy test. St. Matthew-in-the-City Church says the portrait was intended to “spark thought and conversation in the community." Christmas is "about a real pregnancy, a real mother and a real child," the church's vicar says. "Mary was young, unmarried and poor. She was certainly not the first woman in this situation or the last." More»

Girl, 15, may have been given date rape drug

(NEWSER) - A ho-ho-horrible story out of Berlin, where police say a man dressed as Santa drugged a teenager Saturday night at a Christmas market. The suspect offered the 15-year-old girl and her friend a shot of alcohol; the friend refused, but the victim drank both and soon began vomiting. Police say she was apparently given a date rape drug, the AP reports; she was hospitalized and released. Eight other people have recently been left ill or unconscious after similar attacks at Christmas markets in the city, although the suspect is usually dressed normally. More»