Christmas at the Kringles is a horror comedy about a family that moves in next door to the Kringles, who celebrate Christmas all year and plan to hypnotize them. It opened only in theaters on Friday, October 30, the day before Halloween, with Ron Livingston and Rachel Bilson as the parents and Rob Riggle as the drunk Santa who helps them fight back.
What Christmas at the Kringles Is About
Kevin Lewis directed Christmas at the Kringles, and Briarcliff Entertainment is releasing it. Lewis also directed Willy’s Wonderland, the 2021 film in which Nicolas Cage spends a night fighting possessed animatronic mascots in an abandoned family fun center.
The Seversons are starting fresh in a quiet suburban neighborhood, next door to the Kringles, who celebrate Christmas year-round. What begins as charming turns unsettling when Mark and Julie Severson grow worried about their son’s attachment to the Kringles. After a heated confrontation, Mark goes next door to bring his family home and finds that the Kringles mean to hypnotize and indoctrinate them, so he teams up with a rogue Santa to get his family back.
Briarcliff released the official trailer on October 8, after a teaser on September 16. The trailer shows a holiday feast, killer nutcrackers and chainsaws, All Hallows Geek reported.
Who Stars in Christmas at the Kringles
Ron Livingston and Rachel Bilson play Mark and Julie Severson, and Thomas Lennon and Arden Myrin play the Kringles, with Beverly D’Angelo as Mama K Kringle. Rob Riggle is the drunk Santa, Donald Faison plays a neighbor, and David Wain is also in the cast, according to Rotten Tomatoes’ cast list and All Hallows Geek.
Rating, Runtime and Where to See It
Briarcliff released Christmas at the Kringles only in theaters on October 30, and Rotten Tomatoes lists it as now playing. On November 5, it had a 3% Tomatometer score from 32 critics’ reviews and a 38% Popcornmeter score from more than 100 verified audience ratings. Rotten Tomatoes’ listing rates it R for language, some strong bloody violence and some sexual material, puts the runtime at 1 hour 38 minutes, and credits the script to Zack Imbrogno.
It opened the same day Paramount brought the original Scream back to select theaters for its 30th anniversary, in my Scream re-release story. The trailer and poster are on the film’s site, kringlesmovie.com.
More Christmas Horror This Season
- On screen: Violent Night 2 opens in theaters December 4, and the classics are streaming, from Krampus on Peacock to Black Christmas free on Tubi, in my Christmas horror movies guide.
- At Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood: Art the Clown takes over the Terror Tram at Universal Studios Hollywood in a Christmas-gone-wrong overhaul called “Every Day Is Artmas,” in my Terror Tram story.
- At Spirit Christmas: Art in the Attic, a Terrifier holiday doll of Art the Clown in an elf hat, is turning up at Spirit Christmas stores, in my Art in the Attic story.
- On TV: The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror XXXVII opens with a stop-motion Nightmare Before Christmas sequence on Sunday, October 25, at 8 p.m. on Fox, in my Treehouse of Horror story.
- At Hersheypark: The Estate of Evil haunted house reopens as a holiday open house at Christmas Candylane on select dates November 13 through January 3, in my Estate of Evil story.
- In toys: Monster High’s $70 Krampus Skullector doll goes on sale December 3 and 4, in my Skullector story.
