2008 was a brilliant year for Summer blockbusters, but an awful year for Christmas flicks.

It's strange, because you can make a festival film out of annything. Just look at Die Hard.

To give Hollywood a few pointers for next year, totalfilm.com has gone back over the best summer movies of 2008 and "re-imagined" them, Christmas style.

1. The Dark Elf (2008) 

Plot: A young Elf discovers that he’s not actually an Elf at all; he’s a despotic psychotic clown.

Clown Elf goes on a rampage, blowing up some other elves and permanently scarring half of Rudolph’s nose (uttering the immortal line: “Now your nose is really red!”) before Santa captures him using futuristic toy-making technology.

Sadly, Rudolph is killed, and Santa is forced to go on the run from the police. No-one is really sure why.

2. Iron Santa Man (2008)

Plot: Drunk millionaire playboy Tony Stark has a crisis of confidence and decides to put his wealth to better use – by building an Iron Santa suit and flying around the world delivering presents to children and punches to terrorists.

3. Lapland Thunder (2008)

Plot: A motley group of actors are tasked with shooting a Christmas movie in Lapland. But a jet-lag mix up means that they arrive on Christmas Eve and they don’t realise that they are shooting a Christmas film at Christmas! Hilarity ensues.