‘Christmas at the Kringles’ Brings Holiday Carnage to Screamfest Closing Night
Screamfest Horror Film Festival will wrap its 2026 edition with some decidedly twisted holiday cheer as Christmas at the Kringles takes over Closing Night at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres in Hollywood on Thursday, Oct. 15.
Directed by Kevin Lewis and written by Zack Imbrogno, the holiday horror film stars Ron Livingston, Rachel Bilson, Rob Riggle, Arden Myrin, Beverly D’Angelo and David Wain, with Thomas Lennon and Donald Faison.
The film follows the Seversons, a family hoping for a fresh start after moving into a quiet suburban neighborhood. Their new next-door neighbors, the Kringles, initially seem like an eccentric but harmless family whose primary quirk is celebrating Christmas throughout the entire year.
The endless holiday spirit becomes considerably less charming when Mark and Julie Severson grow concerned about their son’s increasing attachment to their neighbors. A confrontation sends Mark next door to retrieve his family, where he discovers that the Kringles’ enthusiasm for Christmas is hiding something much more sinister.
The family intends to hypnotize and indoctrinate the Seversons, leaving Mark with the increasingly difficult task of getting his family out alive. His rescue attempt eventually puts him alongside a rogue Santa for what becomes an action-heavy fight against the Kringles and their followers.
The newly released trailer suggests Lewis isn’t approaching the premise as a restrained piece of holiday horror. The footage offers an escalating collection of Christmas-themed chaos, bizarre neighbors, masked attackers, chainsaws and other violent holiday imagery as the Seversons discover exactly what is happening next door.
There are also glimpses of BDSM imagery and an assortment of increasingly unhinged characters, pointing toward a film willing to push its suburban Christmas setting into deliberately outrageous territory.
Lewis previously directed the 2021 Nicolas Cage horror film Willy’s Wonderland, which similarly combined horror, action and an intentionally heightened premise. Christmas at the Kringles appears positioned to operate in comparable territory, trading murderous animatronics for a neighborhood where year-round Christmas celebrations conceal something considerably darker.
Its Screamfest screening will give the film a prominent launch ahead of its theatrical rollout later in the month. The festival’s Closing Night selection follows 10 days of genre premieres and events running Oct. 6-15 in Hollywood.
Christmas at the Kringles closes the 26th annual Screamfest Horror Film Festival at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres on Thursday, Oct. 15.
Briarcliff Entertainment will release Christmas at the Kringles exclusively in theaters Oct. 30, just in time to add a considerably more chaotic kind of Christmas celebration to Halloween weekend.
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