Christmas-Set ‘Red Snow’ Invites a Vampire Santa Claus Into the House

Charades brings Finnish filmmaker Ilja Rautsi‘s Christmas-set horror pic Red Snow to Cannes and delivers what they’re calling the world’s first vampire Santa Claus.

“In Finland, sixteen-year-old emo teen Johanna dreams of a glittering twilight vampire prince. What she gets instead is Martti — a balding, beer-bellied 49-year-old bloodsucker who slips into a Santa suit to gain entry to homes and devour entire families.

“When Johanna crosses paths with Martti on Christmas Eve, she thinks her dark fairy tale has come true. But instead of eternal romance, she finds herself trapped in a horrific and bloody nightmare of aging masculinity, family trauma, and festive slaughter. By morning, the snow will turn red.”

“I was thinking about Christmas and the pain of it all, this forced togetherness, and then suddenly I went: ‘What if Santa was a vampire?’ It just clicked. You invite him in, just like a vampire, and then he can eat your entire family,” Rautsi tells Variety.

Red Snow will be Rautsi’s directorial debut, following award-winning and bloody shorts Helsinki Mansplaining Massacre and Night of the Living Dicks.

As a screenwriter, he’s also behind Sundance success Hatching and Nightborn with Rupert Grint, which recently premiered at the Berlinale’s main competition, notes the site.

It stars Hannu-Pekka Björkman, Anni Iikkanen, Tommi Korpela, Krista Kosonen and Kari Hietalahti.

“I like the physicality of it all,” Rautsi tells Variety, who opted for prosthetics in the movie, ultimately combining various techniques.

“I like to see the shadows in the contours of the mask, and the slime. You can only do so much with CGI or AI, but liquids — and we are fire hosing people with blood here — just don’t feel right unless they actually land on someone.”

Still, despite some “creepy scares,” Red Snow is supposed to be fun.

“It’s more like a funhouse, carnival type of scariness. It deals with some heavy subjects, but I also wanted it to be really enjoyable.”