The Christmas Spirit

I recently watched the Canadian film 🇨🇦 The Christmas Spirit (2023) on Shudder. The story follows a man whose head becomes trapped by the spirit of Christmas. To free himself, he must kidnap and sacrifice a teenage girl. However, the girl views her predicament as a social media opportunity-until things take a dark turn with the sacrifice plan.

Written and directed by Bennet De Brabandere (Salvation), the film stars Matia Jackett (Crimson Peak), Nicolas Grimes (Taken), Zion Forrest (Firestarter), and Christian Potenza (The Tuxedo).

The main character oddly reminded me of Jason Kelce, and the Christmas Spirit's voice sounding like The Rock added to the humor. This horror-comedy had a promising premise, and I appreciated how it satirized social media culture. The main character's banter with himself (and the Spirit) was entertaining, and the kill scenes were fun, though not particularly scary. Unfortunately, the film leaned more into comedy than horror, leaving the scares underwhelming. The ending was solid but could've pushed the chaos further.

In conclusion, The Christmas Spirit is a unique horror-comedy with some enjoyable moments but not enough to stand out in the genre. I'd score it 5.5/10 and only recommend it with the appropriate expectations.

A boy who believed he was the cause of his sister's death on Christmas, ends up getting the Christmas Spirit trapped within his mind. As a grown up, he's either gone crazy or the Christmas Spirit really is possessed within him but after years of being trapped, the Christmas Spirit wants yo be freed from this prison. This is a film on the lower end of budget spectrum and it shows at the beginning when this guy tries to kidnap a social media conscious teenager who's having problems of her own with her mother. This is a comedy of errors and modern day contrivances that is light on any horror or gore. It's not an entirely bad film, just wasn't what I was expecting and it does have some added value during the second act once the first act gets passed the set up for the entire film. If you're looking for a horror film, check somewhere else as you will be disappointed.