PLOT: The Severson family moves to a suburban neighborhood where their neighbors, the Kringles, celebrate Christmas year-round and harbor sinister intentions to hypnotize and indoctrinate them.
Key Insights
- Release Timing: Releasing a Christmas horror movie just before Halloween may not be ideal.
- Character Dynamics: The lead character, Mark, is portrayed as intensely dislikable, impacting audience engagement.
- Supporting Cast: Tom Lennon and Arden Myrin bring energy to their roles, enhancing the film’s appeal.
- Genre Confusion: The film struggles with its identity, leaning more towards comedy than horror.
REVIEW: I’m not sure when the best time is to release a Christmas horror movie, but I’m pretty sure it’s not the day before Halloween. As someone who takes a pretty strict “No Christmas before Halloween” approach to life, it hurt me a little to see Christmas at the Kringles before I had even taken down my festive decorations. But with a surprisingly fun trailer, I was really hoping it would be worth it. Boy, was I wrong.
Christmas at the Kringles follows the Severson Family as they move from the big city out to a small town. Mark and Julie (Livingston and Bilson) have a marriage that’s on the rocks, and it only gets worse when they meet their neighbors, who have an unhealthy obsession with all things Christmas. With a boring, depressing life all around her, Julie takes to the more joyful viewpoint of the Kringles, while Mark doesn’t fully trust them. Obviously, this is a horror movie, and we know that he’s onto something with that distrust. And when they’re all trapped in the Kringles’ house, they have to do what they can to escape with their lives.
Ron Livingston’s Mark is one of the most intensely dislikable leads I’ve ever experienced in a horror film. Whether it’s his approach to gift-giving, suggesting they split up in a dangerous situation, or his completely ignorant investment in Cryptocurrency, it’s really hard to root for him. And to make matters worse, it genuinely feels like the actor doesn’t even want to be there. His chemistry with Rachel Bilson is essentially non-existent, and there’s not a single moment where they feel like a believable couple. Given that most of the tension in the film relies on us caring about the fate of the Seversons and whether they can escape the house, I found myself not really caring.
I would consider Tom Lennon and Arden Myrin to be two of the most underrated actors in the comedy scene, always popping up in bit parts but never getting the acclaim they deserve. And while their roles are very generic on the page, they’re able to make them so much more interesting with their manic energy. Arden in particular seems to be absolutely relishing in getting to play such an over-the-top character. They are the best part of the movie and it suffers whenever they’re not on screen. Beverly D’Angelo, Donald Faison, and Rob Riggle also appear in bit parts, which is too bad as they can bring a bit of life to the film. They all should have been used more. David Wain also pops up, but he’s mostly just there for exposition.
The look of Christmas films always tends to stand out as they’re able to light scenes with all the holiday fixings. The sheer number of lights can make for a really interesting visual palette that puts it above non-holiday-themed horror. But this is really more of a comedy than a horror film, with only a few deaths and most of the emphasis on the jokes. From the trailer, I figured this would be the case, but I was disappointed in how little respect it seemed to have for the genre, often relying on very stereotypical plot beats and lazy story progression. Yet it’s likely too dark for comedy purists so I’m not sure who this is for.
Christmas at the Kringles fails to muster anything other than the occasional laugh and plenty of Yule Tide visuals. The emphasis is often in the wrong place and it can never stick to a cohesive tone. It doesn’t help that every other character manages to be more interesting than our leads. It’s also a very strange choice for the film to mostly be set on Valentine’s Day despite clearly being a Christmas movie. It’s one of many elements that clash with each other and add up to an overall unsatisfying film experience.
Christmas at the Kringles is playing in theaters on October 30th, 2026.
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