Driven by a chaotic holiday-horror premise, ‘Christmas at the Kringles’ explores the dark possibilities lurking beneath the familiar comforts of the titular celebration. The new action-comedy horror film plays with the contrast between seasonal cheer and the unsettling realities of a bizarre world. By blending holiday expectations, seasonal absurdity, and darker themes, the film offers a suitably twisted alternative to traditional Christmas entertainment.
Kevin Lewis, who directed the 2021 action-comedy horror movie, ‘Willy’s Wonderland,’ helmed ‘Christmas at the Kringles.’ Fellow genre veteran, ‘Slayers’ scribe Zack Imbrogno, wrote the new horror comedy. Ron Livingston, Rachel Bilson, Rob Riggle, Thomas Lennon, Arden Myrin, Beverly D’Angelo, David Wain and Donald Faison lead the film’s ensemble cast.
The horror comedy is now playing exclusively in theaters, courtesy of Briarcliff Entertainment. The movie’s official release comes after it had its world premiere last night, October 15, as the closing-night film of the 2026 Screamfest Horror Film Festival
‘Christmas at the Kringles’ follows the Seversons, a family starting fresh in a quiet suburban neighborhood. However, their next-door neighbors, the Kringles, celebrate Christmas year-round. What begins as charming quickly turns unsettling.
Mark and Julie (Livingston and Bilson) grow concerned about their son’s growing attachment to the quirky family next door. After a heated confrontation with Nick and Carol (Lennon and Myrin) about their yearlong devotion to Christmas, Mark heads next door to bring his family home.
The Severson’s patriarch then uncovers the Kringles’ true intentions: to hypnotize and indoctrinate his family. What follows is a life-or-death rescue mission, as Mark teams up with a rogue Santa in a high-stakes fight to save his family.
One of the feature’s most immediately appealing assets is its ensemble cast. The production brings together an impressive collection of familiar performers, who arrive with an established dramedy sensibility, creating expectations for an entertaining group dynamic. Their collective presence provides a welcome foundation for a movie operating within increasingly unpredictable territory. Seeing such recognizable actor assembled for an outrageous holiday-horror adventure is part of the film’s initial appeal.
The cast’s familiarity also helps establish the horror comedy’s unusual tonal identity. There’s an inherent entertainment value in watching accomplished performers navigate material that frequently prioritizes ridiculousness over conventional storytelling.
The comedic possibilities are apparent, particularly when the film allows its performers to lean into the story’s inherent absurdity. Some exchanges genuinely land, offering moments of unexpected amusement. While other situations feel less inspired, but the willingness to embrace unconventional humor remains one of the production’s more enjoyable qualities.
Visually, ‘Christmas at the Kringles’ offers several intriguing choices through its costume and production design. The aesthetic contributes considerably to the movie’s peculiar holiday atmosphere. Rather than relying exclusively on familiar Christmas imagery, the production establishes an identity that feels deliberately strange. Its design decisions suggest an interest in pushing traditional seasonal iconography into more unsettling territory. These details help distinguish the film, even when its broader creative ambitions occasionally outpace its execution.
The resulting experience brings to mind ‘Willy’s Wonderland,’ particularly in its willingness to combine absurdist comedy with an outrageous horror premise. Like that film, ‘Christmas at the Kringles’ seems comfortable operating within an exaggerated universe where conventional logic takes a backseat. Its appeal comes partly from watching the increasingly bizarre circumstances unfold. The comparison is especially fitting when considering the peculiar intersection of recognizable performers, heightened situations and deliberately ridiculous genre entertainment.
That approach, however, is not without its limitations. Balancing comedy and horror requires a particular rhythm, and the movie doesn’t always find the right balance. Some comedic moments work precisely because of their unexpected delivery and sheer ridiculousness. Others struggle to achieve the same impact. The material occasionally feels caught between wanting to be genuinely frightening and embracing its own ridiculousness. A more consistent tonal direction might have strengthened both sides of its genre ambitions.
Nevertheless, there is something refreshing about a holiday-horror film willing to embrace such an eccentric identity. Christmas-themed horror has considerable room for creative experimentation, especially when filmmakers abandon conventional seasonal sentimentality.
‘Christmas at the Kringles’ clearly understands the entertainment potential of juxtaposing holiday traditions with increasingly bizarre genre elements. Its stranger impulses often prove more memorable than its conventional storytelling components. Even when individual moments miss their intended targets, the film maintains an identifiable commitment to its unusual premise.
Ultimately, ‘Christmas at the Kringles’ is an uneven but occasionally entertaining holiday-horror curiosity. Its talented ensemble gives the production considerable personality, while its costume and production design provide intriguing visual flourishes. The comedy delivers enough amusing moments to make its more outrageous stretches worthwhile. However, inconsistent tonal execution prevents the film from fully realizing its potentially entertaining combination of horror and absurdist humor. Fans of unconventional genre mashups may find something to appreciate, particularly those who enjoyed the bizarre sensibilities of Willy’s Wonderland.
As the closing-night film of the 26th Screamfest Horror Film Festival, ‘Christmas at the Kringles’ certainly made an impression through its unconventional approach. It might not deliver a perfectly assembled holiday-horror package, but perfection hardly seems to be its objective. Instead, it offers a strange, chaotic and occasionally hilarious alternative to traditional Christmas entertainment. Sometimes, the most memorable holiday celebrations are the ones that go spectacularly wrong.
