‘Christmas at the Kringles’ Review – An Uneven Holiday Horror Tale with Nice Wrapping and Not Much Else

This Halloween, Christmas comes early with Kevin Lewis’ (Willy’s Wonderland) holiday horror-comedy, Christmas at the Kringles. But despite a talented cast of comedians, Lewis’ latest is a Santa’s sash filled with more coal than gifts. Neither all that funny, scary, nor even gory, it’s a film where the greatest horror is the reminder that some people take the holiday season a little too seriously.

Penned by Zack Imbrogno (Slayers), the film stars Ron Livingston (Office Space) as Mark. His wife, Julie (Rachel Bilson), has convinced him to move back to the suburbs so their son, Bobby (Jack Jewkes), can have a more “magical” life. Whatever that means. When they arrive at their new home, they meet their neighbors, the Kringles, an obnoxiously upbeat family that celebrates Christmas every day of the year. If you think that’s a red flag, you’re right, because Nick (Thomas Lennon) and Carol (Arden Myrin) Kringle also have a habit of murdering anyone who gets in the way of their “joy”.

I grew up in the suburbs, and, while I hate to say it, you’re likely to find a Kringle family on almost any street (minus the murder…I hope). There’s always that one house that goes way too big for Christmas, or that couple who’s way too nice and definitely hiding something. They’re almost always very weird, very annoying, and casually racist (cue Nick referring to foul language as “ghetto”). Think the Flanders from The Simpsons, but knife-happy. And just as obnoxious, if not more so.