New on DVD: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: A Very Sunny Christmas

If you’re a fan of sick humor, twisted plotlines, morally bankrupt characters and raunchy language, then you’re missing out if you don’t catch this underrated series, now in its fifth season on FX. The deal is this: Danny DeVito is Frank, the mean, backstabbing father of Dee (Kaitlin Olson) and Dennis (Rob McElhenney), who owns an Irish bar in the City of Brotherly Love with his buddies Mac (Glenn Howerton) and the occasional inhalant user and never-all-there Charlie (Charlie Day). Since 2005, the quintet has been entangled in myriad un-PC storylines involving such topics as dumpster babies, drug use, scamming The Man, dating the retarded, beating up the homeless and glory holes—in their own bar restroom.

Such ink-black comedy doesn’t exactly scream “Christmas cheer,” but in their first-ever special (available on DVD and Blu-ray) helmed by series director Fred Savage, the gang’s back in full force to celebrate yuletide the only way they know how: in true unholy, f-bomb-laden style. This year, they decide to rediscover the joy of the season, which means revisiting their childhoods: Dee and Dennis want revenge on Frank for pranking them with empty wrapped boxes; Mac realizes his folks stole every present he ever got; Charlie’s happy memories of many visiting Santas on Christmas Day turns sour when he discovers his sweet mom was really a prostitute; and Frank gets naked at his former company’s party. Everything culminates in a grisly encounter with a mall Santa and the most bloody, R-rated, old-school Claymation scene you’ll ever see onscreen—all in a mere 43 minutes. Ho, ho, heyooo!

Best Extras: “Young Charlie & Young Mac”—deleted scenes of well-cast youngsters setting things on fire and throwing rocks while they contemplate their childhoods—are short, funny and worth a look. The making-of the special will entertain fans of the show, although there isn’t a lot to it.