CHRISTMAS AT THE KRINGLES movie poster | ©2026 Briarcliff Entertainment

Rating: R
Stars: Ron Livingston, Rachel Bilson, Rob Riggle, Arden Myrin, Beverly D’Angelo, David Wain, Jack Jewkes, Ryan “Rhino” Michaels, Donald Faison, Thomas Lennon, Zeke Jones, Alexis Kemp, Elliott Egler
Writer: Zack Imbrogno
Director: Kevin Lewis
Distributor: Briarcliff Entertainment
Release Date: October 30, 2026

CHRISTMAS AT THE KRINGLES is a quasi-horror/dark comedy about a family discovering that their seemingly nice but weird neighbors are indeed weird, but not so nice.

We open with a pretty Christmas tree display that gives way to a woman running for her life from an axe-wielding man, who decapitates her. This has us bracing for a scare factor that never quite coagulates, although there is what might be termed merry menace throughout.

After the opening, we’re in a car with the depressed-looking Severson family – dad Mark (Ron Livingston), mom Julie (Rachel Bilson) and little boy Bobby (Jack Jewkes) –on their journey to suburbia. Julie has insisted on moving here, hoping that getting away from the big cynical city will bring out the best in her husband and son, both of whom heartily resent the relocation.

Across-the-street new neighbor Daryl (Donald Faison) is welcoming, if extremely nerdy. And next door, there are the Kringles, who keep their extensive Christmas decorations up throughout the year.

Patriarch Nick Kringle (Thomas Lennon) and his wife Carol (Arden Myrin) are parents to silent teen Rudolph (Zeke Jones), solemn teen Merry (Alexis Kemp) and Elf (Elliott Egler), who is Bobby’s age. Loopy elder Mama K (Beverly D’Angelo) is also part of the household.

Nick and Carol are so relentlessly cheerful (and hard on poor Rudolph) that Mark finds them alarming, though Julie is charmed. Between Bobby’s happiness at finding a new friend in Elf and Nick almost literally saving Christmas at the Seversons, Mark is willing to make allowances for the Kringles’ eccentricities.

But then Mark gets dire warnings about the Kringles from both Daryl and a drunken mall Santa (Rob Riggle) and things take an unsettling turn.

Written by Zack Imbrogno and directed by Kevin Lewis, one of CHRISTMAS AT THE KRINGLES’ best assets is its momentum. Apart from that early bit of being stuck in the car, the movie romps forward, holding our attention throughout, as we wonder what odd twist or revelation will come next.

Also worthy of special commendation are the performances of Lennon and Riggle, both presenting different but equally impactful turns of men who can go from unflappable to rage and back again in an eyeblink.

But CHRISTMAS AT THE KRINGLES has its rote aspects. No new twists are wrung on the emotionally blocked workaholic father, the mother who wants to hold family together by doing things that are counterintuitive, and the sad child. Likewise, we’re with Mark in finding Carol phony and scary rather than endearing; Julie seems borderline mentally challenged rather than appealingly trusting in taking Carol at face value.

And then there’s the way the movie ties itself into knots, repeatedly verbally explaining that it’s pro-Christmas, just anti-Christmas overkill. There’s a fine line in there somewhere, but CHRISTMAS AT THE KRINGLES is too broad to define it satisfactorily.

As its subgenre goes, CHRISTMAS AT THE KRINGLES is sort of a stocking stuffer, something agreeable that’s neither a lump of coal nor a full gift.

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