Unholy Night enjoyed its World Premiere at the 30th edition of Fantasia International Film Festival.
Director Michael Gabriele became well known in Fantasia circles for his shortfilms, making his latest, Unholy Night, a welcome feat for the crowd. I’m a bit more jaded when it comes to horror films, although it will always fascinate me when I watch any movie with a good story that keeps me guessing just when I thought I’d seen it all, which is precisely where Gabriele’s efforts earn my praise.
This one centers on the events leading up to an Italian family’s Christmas Eve reunion dinner. The youngest, Gino (Marc Bendavid) can’t catch a break while prepping the melon and dealing with judgemental family members over his profession as a career painter, having most recently done work on the town’s church basement. For all intents and purposes, it’s a “normal” holiday dinner, one that’s about to get all kinds of weird and bloody.
The movie opens with an extended flashback, followed by the present-day shot of a decrepit-looking elderly figure wandering in the neighborhood and into the home. Throughout the film’s opening sequence, that same figure is seen emerging from the basement and appearing in the kitchen just as Gino pops in aghast at the sight of who looks to be the family’s undead Nonna Pina (Jacqueline Robbins), hankering over the stove with a pot boiling water, and eventually garnering the interest of the entire family moments before the kitchen descends into brutal calamity.
The family barely manages to extinguish the event with a bodycount that’s already started while Gino rushes across the street, concerned for the safety of an old flame named Renee (Shailene Garnett). It’s not long before the two realize that the whole suburban town has been enveloped by violent acts from reanimated loved ones, and from the moment they cross paths with a lost girl named Emma (Alissa Mahar) to when they finally arrive at Gino’s home, it’s only a matter of time before Gino’s epic search for the real, albeit shocking answers arise.
Unholy Night pulls some of its inspiration from folklore and feels like the right kind of film if you’re a horror hound with a fondness celebrate the holidays. I wasn’t really pulled in by some of the jumpscares throughout which feel more like low-effort ornaments the more a watch horror films, but where the film is strongest, apart from it’s visual gore, effects and supernatural allure is the writing. This comes especially if you’re holding out for a happy ending between Gino and Renee as the two come to terms with past heartbreak and latent miscommunication.
I particularly enjoyed some of the banter shared between Gino and brother Frankie (Olivier Renaud) as well as parents Giuseppe (Ron Lea) and Lucia (Toni Ellwand), whose character is the centerpiece of the film’s prologue as she mournfully reflects on why Pina has suddenly returned from the grave with such a murderous intent.
There’s a clever moment that happens earlier that alludes the possibility that Gino and Renee unearth in their quest, alluding to themes of regret and certain kinds of unfinished business. Well into the film’s final act when it’s clear that there’s more to the story, the film truly goes its distance, delivering something bittersweet and poignant at its core, and then ending pretty much as just about any horror movie does.
Provided that you’re not too attached to the characters in Unholy Night, there’s a fair chance you’ll be less of an emotional wreck from the gutpunch that awaits. Beyond that, it’s a family Christmas dinner-turned-splatterfest with modest reprieve, and worthy of a fair watch for fans of the genre regardless of the time of the year.