Unholy Night

Unholy Night

A bloody black comedy where beloved grandma turns into a bloodthirsty zombie

Gino comes home for a traditional Italian Christmas Eve. One thing is certain: there will be plenty of food, plenty of Italian-style noise, and plenty of unsolicited advice from loving relatives who know better than he does what he should do with his life. But nothing goes according to plan. His beloved grandmother, who has been dead for years, turns up at the door, although her culinary tastes have changed somewhat since she died. Before long, the dead and slightly decomposed relatives are wandering around the neighborhood. Sweet old aunts turn into bloodthirsty beasts, while mild-mannered uncles become ravenous zombies. Gino and his family must somehow make it through the holidays, patch up their family ties, and, as if that weren’t enough, survive an encounter with his ex-girlfriend.

“Unholy Night” is a bloody black comedy brimming with absurdity and dark humor, cleverly blending horror with the chaos of family life. Forget slow-moving zombies. Here, the undead are your relatives, and despite the fact that they’re dead and smell like they’ve been buried for years, they’ve somehow managed to hold on to their old habits, making them surprisingly hard to kill. It’s a welcome breath of fresh air in the increasingly stale zombie genre. Set in an Italian family home overflowing with absurdity, mouthwatering kitchen aromas, old grudges, and genuine affection, “Unholy Night” turns out to be an unexpectedly perfect Christmas movie.

“Unholy Night” is Michael Gabriele’s feature debut. He directs, co-wrote the screenplay, and co-produced the film. Marc Bendavid stars as Gino, alongside Shailene Garnett, Jacqueline Robbins, Toni Ellwand, and Ron Lea. Gabriele previously made waves with his award-winning short film “Get Away”, which won the Gold Audience Award for Best International Short Film at the Fantasia Festival in 2023.