When a dead grandmother comes back to life with a need to feed her family (and maybe feed on them too), one grandson needs to step up and take care of business.
Written and directed by Michael Gabriele, Unholy Night takes a familiar (and overuse by now) subgenre and twists it just enough to make it interesting again. While the living dead, zombies, revenants, whatever you want to call them, they have been used in film for decades, since the dawn of film really, and have started to get stale. Thankfully, this film takes on the subject with a fun approach, mixing it with the Holidays, a family that is a bit overbearing at times, and a lot of love (within the story and for the genre). It doesn’t reinvent the wheel or anything, but Unholy Night is a bunch of fun story-wise, so it’s all that matters here. Or is it? Because yes, the story is central to a film but how it’s brought to the screen matters a bunch too, and writer-director Gabriele makes the most of both his jobs here to create a good romp in the winter holidays with plenty of laughs and a few scares.
Leading the cast as the aforementioned grandson, Gino, is Marc Bendavid who does great work as the son that is not quite like the others but also incredibly normal. His work here is solid. Joining him in many scenes and stealing many scenes is Shailene Garnett as Rene. Garnett is fantastic here and needs more fun roles (she seems to lean on the more serious side with her work). And as the grandma, Nonna, the one who comes back from the dead with an urge to feed you, Jacqueline Robbins is subtle and funny while working in a limited matter as the undead. And that’s the thing here, even the undead are given personalities, something many films seem to forget in exchange for bloodlust and cheap thrills. The case in Unholy Night is fantastic and really sells the film as a whole (which likely wasn’t all that difficult given the writing and direction).
Now, the version reviewed here comes with a warning that the effects are not finished yet, so judging the special effects will be done with that solidly in mind. The work on the special effects available here is great, the living dead have fun, grey looks with shiny eyes that seem to glow and a glow that comes from within that is definitely bringing something new to the genre. Of course, these effects being unfinished, one can hope that nothing will be changed drastically but only enhanced a little bit between now and public release.
The cinematography here is great, making good use of the available light and making other lighting come off as normal outside and indoor lights while also showing dynamic movement without going overboard and into the land of shaky cam. This is how you film a family dealing with the undead. The cinematography makes the film look like almost a cozy zombie film.
Overall, Unholy Night is a bunch of fun, well-crafted, and a breath of fresh Holiday air in the living dead subgenre. It’s exactly what the Holiday season will need when it gets released to the public (no release date is known at the moment).
Fantasia 2026 runs from July 16th to August 2nd, 2026