Alternate versions

The 99-minute 'Badder Santa' was assembled by the studio without any input from the director. The 88-minute 'Director's Cut' was assembled and approved by Zwigoff.

The director's cut of 'Bad Santa' has these changes:

• The jingling bells heard on the Dimension Films logo are omitted.
• Willie's voice-over at the beginning of the film is not heard.
• The scene in which Willie and Marcus are at the bar after the first robbery, as well as the scene of Willie at the Miami Beach are both deleted, and it cuts straight to Willie's apartment instead.
• The scene of Willie throwing the alarm clock and bottles is slightly longer, with him saying an additional "fuck you" and throwing another bottle.
• Much of David Kitay's original score is removed and replaced with classical music.
• When Marcus is berating Willie behind the Santa set, his line is changed to "You blow this, we're broke for the whole fucking year!" Also, in between this line and his line just before it, "What the fuck you doing?", a brief vulgar argument regarding Willie saying "fuck stick" in front of the boss is inserted.
• There's a longer and more vulgar conversation between Marcus and Willie in the mall parking lot on the first night.
• The pinball scene with the underage girl is the same as on the unrated cut.
• There's a longer and more vulgar argument between Marcus and Willie regarding the pinball scene.
• There are some alternate scenes when Marcus discovers the BMW, and when beer containers spill out of the car, Marcus yells, "You cocksucker!" Also, there is an alternate shot of Marcus yelling, "Ever hear of the open bottle law?" He then adds, "You dumb, dip-shit motherfucker!"
• The scene of Chipeska telling Gin about Willie having sex in the dressing room is removed.
• All scenes of The Kid's advent calendar are removed.
• The food court scene is the same as the unrated version.
• The scene of Lois taking notes on what she wants Marcus to steal is extended.
• The scene of Willie destroying the decorations is longer, with him also saying "fucking spic" before punching the donkey decoration.
• All scenes of Willie trying to teach The Kid to stand up for himself, including the boxing scene, are removed.
• The car death scene is the same as on the unrated version.
• An alternate car chase scene. Also, Willie does not say, "This is Christmas, and the kid's getting his fucking present."
• The ending scene is changed to The Kid scrubbing Willie's blood off the front porch.
• The end credits are different.

The unrated cut of 'Bad Santa' includes these changes:

• There's an alternate take of Willie leaving the mall at the start of the movie with a more vulgar exchange with the security guard.
• There's a whole new subplot at the beginning of the movie with Willie stealing a car and robbing someone's house, and then going to a strip club and bringing a stripper home before hearing the phone message telling him it's that time of year again.
• There is more footage of Willie having sex in the dressing room.
• The pinball scene with the underage girl is extended with more thrusting, and Marcus grumbling, "Motherfucker! Oh, you lousy fucking motherfucker!" in annoyance.
• There's more swearing and berating in the food court scene.
• There's some more footage of Willie yelling at The Kid after losing a game of checkers.
• The Jacuzzi sex scene is slightly longer.
• The scene with Willie confronting a security guard outside the mall is extended.
• A small extension of the Granny Death scene.
• An extended car death scene.
• A longer shoot out at the mall.