What Christmas Movie Does Kevin Bacon Watch In The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special?

Contains spoilers for "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special"

For a while, it seems to go so well for Kevin Bacon in "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special." His yard is decorated. He's picked up the presents for everyone, confirmed his Holiday plans with his wife, and is just relaxing in his house. Then, all of a sudden, his day takes a turn for the dramatically worse as Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) burst in his house, chase him down the street, and abduct him to outer space.

Before his Holiday plans are rudely (but ultimately heartwarmingly) interrupted by the well-meaning but clueless Guardians, Bacon is chilling with a rather peculiar Christmas movie that he seems to enjoy a whole bunch. If you want to emulate the famous actor's moment of solitary bliss before two aliens turn his day into a horror movie, here's the exact film you should check out. 

The movie Bacon is watching is the 1964 sci-fi comedy "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians," and the obscure must-watch Holiday movie is actually one of the cleverest Easter eggs in "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special." The film's plot, you see, actually telegraphs what's about to happen to Bacon in a pretty fun fashion.

The central story of "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" revolves around aliens who are interested in Earth's Christmas, and set out to kidnap a figure they perceive to be crucial to the celebrations. In the movie, said figure is Santa Claus (John Call), but that sentence can also be applied verbatim to what Mantis and Drax do to Bacon himself mere moments later. The plots of the movie and the Holiday special differ in many ways, of course, but the fact that Gunn chose this specific movie for Bacon to watch before he himself gets abducted is a testament to the filmmaker's eye for detail. 

"The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special" is available for streaming on Disney+.