Fantasia World Premiere Unholy Night Lands on Our Must-Watch List for 2026

An undead Italian family crashes Christmas Eve in the upcoming holiday horror comedy Unholy Night.

Unholy Night Sets World Premiere at Fantasia and Immediately Lands on Our Must-Watch List

There are always a handful of films each year that quietly sneak onto our radar long before audiences get a chance to see them.

Unholy Night is officially one of them.

The upcoming holiday horror comedy will make its World Premiere at Fantasia Festival, and based on the premise alone, we would not be surprised if this becomes one of the breakout genre titles of the second half of the year.

Written and directed by Michael Gabriele, Unholy Night marks the filmmaker's feature debut after his short film Get Away won the Gold Audience Award for Best International Short at Fantasia in 2023.

The film appears to blend family dysfunction, holiday chaos, and supernatural horror into one blood-soaked Christmas Eve nightmare.

The story follows Gino, whose traditional family Christmas celebration takes a horrific turn when his long-dead grandmother unexpectedly returns and begins a murderous rampage.

Things only become more complicated when deceased relatives start appearing throughout the neighborhood, forcing Gino and his ex to work together to survive the night and figure out how to stop these festive revenants before it's too late.

The cast includes Marc Bendavid, Shailene Garnett, Jacqueline Robbins, Toni Ellwand, Ron Lea, Christina Rosato, Olivier Renaud, Celia Owen, Ellen David, Frank Spadone, and Al Sapienza.

Behind the scenes, Michael Gabriele serves as writer and director, with producers Jason Levangie, Marc Tetreault, Jenna MacMillan, and Gabriele himself attached to the project.

Holiday horror continues to be one of the genre's most reliable subgenres because it allows filmmakers to blend humor, heart, and absolute mayhem into one package. Based on the synopsis, Unholy Night appears poised to embrace all three.

The setup also feels refreshingly personal. Instead of another haunted house or masked killer story, audiences are getting undead Italian relatives crashing Christmas dinner.

Honestly, that's enough to grab our attention.

This is absolutely one of the films we have our eye on for the remainder of the year, and while Fantasia gets first dibs, we fully expect to see this one continue its festival run elsewhere before an eventual wider release.

We'll definitely be keeping tabs on this one.

Official Synopsis

Gino's traditional family Christmas Eve turns into a bloody battle for survival when his long-dead grandma drops by and goes on a murderous rampage. Amid the chaos, Gino reunites with his ex and the dysfunctional duo must avoid his dead Italian relatives popping up all around the neighborhood as they search for a way to get rid of these Yuletide revenants and survive his family Christmas.