Why Die Hard belongs among EW's top 10 holiday movie moments

Watch the full episode of EW Presents: The Top 10 Holiday Movie Moments, streaming now on People/Entertainment Weekly Network (PEN). Go to PEOPLE.com/PEN, or download the PEN app on Apple TV, Roku Players, Amazon Fire TV, Xumo, Chromecast, iOS, and Android devices.

When most people think of “classic” Christmas movies, they probably don’t typically list Die Hard — unless, of course, you’re Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Jake Peralta or EW’s Kevin Sullivan.

“It is absolutely set during Christmas,” says Sullivan as he makes his case in the video above from PEN’s EW Presents: The Top 10 Holiday Movie Moments. “Christmas is everywhere in the movie.” He even points out that the film’s main character, New York cop John McClane, flies to L.A. to meet his estranged wife at her office’s Christmas party.

But the movie isn’t just beloved for its holiday cred. It also features two star-making turns from actors Bruce Willis, who plays McLane, and the late Alan Rickman as German terrorist Hans Gruber.

“Hans Gruber is probably the perfect Cold War-era villain because he does have that air,” explains EW senior editor Amy Wilkinson. “He’s chilling, but also suave in that role. You know he’s scary and you dislike him, but he’s also slightly charming.”

EW.com editor Christopher Rosen’s favorite scene features a moment where McClane leaves Gruber the body of a dead terrorist in an elevator, with the words “Ho Ho Ho” written on his sweatshirt in blood.

“It’s just a really cathartic moment for the audience, where he’s getting one over the terrorists in a really chippy way that will certainly get under the skin of Hans Gruber,” says Rosen. “It’s just a great scene all around, and the Christmas element adds a lot of fun to that as well.”