There’s something about holiday horror that just works. Christmas already comes with enough stress, awkward conversations, and family drama, so turning all of that into a horror movie feels like a natural fit. Writer and director Michael Gabriele‘s “Unholy Night” leans into that idea with a fun mix of gore, dark comedy, and surprisingly relatable family dysfunction.
The film follows Gino (Marc Bendavid), who already feels like the black sheep of his loud Italian Canadian family. He still lives in his parents’ basement, works at a paint store, and can never seem to measure up to his successful siblings. Christmas Eve is tense enough before his long-dead Nonna (Jacqueline Robbins) crashes dinner as a murderous revenant. Soon, the neighborhood is overrun by the undead, and the family has to stop fighting each other long enough to survive.
The horror here actually means something. The grandmother’s return becomes a clever way of bringing buried family secrets, old grudges, and generational trauma to the surface. It also pokes fun at the pressure to keep holiday traditions alive even when the family itself is falling apart. Even with monsters outside, people are still arguing over inheritance, gifts, and who’s always been the favorite. You know, a typical holiday with the relatives.
The comedy works quite well because it constantly pits the ordinary against the outrageous. One minute the family is bickering over something trivial, and the next they’re dodging chainsaws or fighting undead relatives with Christmas lights, ornaments, and candy canes. The slapstick action is bloody, chaotic, and genuinely funny without losing the horror.
It’s also impressively polished for an indie film, with smart sound design helping stretch the budget without it becoming distracting. This isn’t a slick and glossy horror movie, but it’s one that’s actually highly creative and a lot of fun.
The ending runs a little longer than it needs to, but that doesn’t take away from how entertaining the ride is. Unholy Night succeeds because it takes the familiar anxiety of holiday family gatherings and pushes it to a ridiculous, terrifying extreme. It’s a witty, high energy horror comedy that’s sure to entertain fans of the genre, with enough charm to earn a spot among the indie Christmas films worth revisiting every December.
By: Louisa Moore
Screen Zealots 