We’ve had more than a few horror movies that also double as Christmas classics over the years, with Black Christmas serving as one of the earliest slasher films. But the folks at 101 Films International are looking to add something new to the mix this holiday season as Werewolf Santa is coming to a theater near you. Yes, you read that right. Jolly old Saint Nick, only he’s a werewolf.
According to Screen Daily, 101 Films has acquired international rights to writer/director Airell Anthony Hayles’ film from Miracle Media International. Rather crucially, Miracle Media has retained rights in both the U.K. and North America, with a theatrical release planned for November. The film is set to hold its world premiere at Fright Fest in London later this month. While the title does, in some ways, seem self-explanatory, the folks at Fright Fest have a pretty detailed synopsis, which reads as follows:
“Lucy has a social media channel where she hunts evidence of actual monsters, but it’s not doing great, with just a few viewers following her disappointing posts. Everything changes on Christmas Eve when her camera witnesses Santa getting bitten by a werewolf before he turns lycanthrope himself! As Werewolf Santa starts wreaking bloody havoc in their seaside town, Lucy and her bickering family set off on a madcap adventure armed with a rusty skate and a vague understanding of how to kill werewolves gained from her collection of horror comics. The Beast must die to save Christmas!”
The cast includes Emily Booth, Mark Arnold, Katherine Rodden and none other than The Last Drive-In host Joe Bob Briggs. As for Hayles, some of his previous directing credits include Midnight Peepshow, Spider Inside Her and They’re Outside. We’ve also got a poster for the film, which you can check out below. Odds are, following the premiere later this month - or perhaps a bit before - we’ll get a trailer online. So keep an eye out for that.
This is far from the first attempt to make a new horror holiday classic in recent years. Last year saw the release of The Mean One, a parody of sorts of The Grinch, only with more murder. There was also 2018’s low-budget Santa Jaws, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. More recently, Bruce Campbell and Devon Sawa starred in the underseen Black Friday. Will this “Santa turns into a werewolf” flick serve as a welcome addition to the holiday horror movie canon? Time will tell.
Look for Werewolf Santa in a theater near you this November.
