# Unholy Night (film)
**Unholy Night** is a 2026 Canadian Christmas horror-comedy film directed, co-written, and co-produced by Michael Gabriele, in which an Italian family's [Christmas Eve](https://www.edgepedia.org/christmas-eve) dinner is wrecked when the family's long-dead grandmother returns and goes on a murderous rampage, followed by other dead relatives rising around the neighborhood.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/unholy_night_2026) It premiered at the 2026 Fantasia International Film Festival and won the festival's Gold Audience Award for Best Canadian Film.[2](https://sitgesfilmfestival.com/en/film/2026/unholy-night)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writer | Michael Gabriele, his feature debut, after the award-winning short films Get Away (2022) and Room Tone (2022)[2](https://sitgesfilmfestival.com/en/film/2026/unholy-night) |
| Genre / country | Comedy, horror, holiday; Canada; English language[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/unholy_night_2026) |
| Premiere | World premiere at the 2026 Fantasia International Film Festival[3](https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3960688/unholy-night-review-christmas-zombie-film-stumbles-on-its-own-rules-fantasia-2026/) |
| Award | Gold Audience Award for Best Canadian Film at Fantasia[2](https://sitgesfilmfestival.com/en/film/2026/unholy-night) |
| Runtime | Reported as 91 minutes by Popcorn Frights, 93 minutes by Sitges, and 94 minutes by The Film Catalogue[4](https://popcornfrights.com/film/unholy-night/) • [2](https://sitgesfilmfestival.com/en/film/2026/unholy-night) • [5](https://www.thefilmcatalogue.com/films/unholy-night) |
| Principal cast | Marc Bendavid (Gino), Shailene Garnett (Rene), Jacqueline Robbins (Nonna Pina), Toni Ellwand (Lucia), Ron Lea (Giuseppe)[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/unholy_night_2026) |
| Critical score | 64% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 22 reviews[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/unholy_night_2026) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Gino ([Marc Bendavid](https://www.edgepedia.org/marc-bendavid)) returns home for a traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner, dreading the smothering family traditions, judgment from relatives, and an awkward reunion with his ex-girlfriend Rene (Shailene Garnett), whom he left without ever telling his family they were dating.[4](https://popcornfrights.com/film/unholy-night/) • [3](https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3960688/unholy-night-review-christmas-zombie-film-stumbles-on-its-own-rules-fantasia-2026/) During dinner his grandmother, Nonna Pina (Jacqueline Robbins), who has been dead for several years, appears in the kitchen making her famously too-salty pasta sauce, and soon goes on a killing spree.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/unholy_night_2026) • [3](https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3960688/unholy-night-review-christmas-zombie-film-stumbles-on-its-own-rules-fantasia-2026/)
The returned dead, called "ritornati" in the film, are zombie-like versions of deceased loved ones who rise throughout the neighborhood.[3](https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3960688/unholy-night-review-christmas-zombie-film-stumbles-on-its-own-rules-fantasia-2026/) Unlike conventional zombies, they can converse, and at first they seem to have regrets or unfinished business: Gino can apologize for his behavior in the days before Nonna's death, and his mother Lucia (Toni Ellwand) can confess doubts about whether her mother loved her.[3](https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3960688/unholy-night-review-christmas-zombie-film-stumbles-on-its-own-rules-fantasia-2026/) The film opens decades earlier with a shocking scene at a family party, witnessed by a teenage girl, which is later revealed as an incident from Lucia's childhood.[6](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/unholy-night-2026-film-review-by-jennie-kermode)
## Production
Michael Gabriele directs, co-wrote the screenplay with Jef Burnham, co-produced, and edited the film.[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt39386269/) • [2](https://sitgesfilmfestival.com/en/film/2026/unholy-night) The producers are Jason Levangie, Marc Tetreault, Jenna MacMillan, and Michael Gabriele, for the companies Club Red Productions and Shut Up & Colour Pictures; Ryan French is the cinematographer.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/unholy_night_2026) • [2](https://sitgesfilmfestival.com/en/film/2026/unholy-night) The Film Catalogue lists Blue Finch Film Releasing as the sales company and additional cast including Al Sapienza, Cristina Rosato, and Joe Pingue.[5](https://www.thefilmcatalogue.com/films/unholy-night)
## Release and reception
Unholy Night had its world premiere at the 2026 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, followed by a US premiere at Popcorn Frights on August 9, 2026, a Spanish premiere at the Sitges Film Festival in the Midnight X-Treme section, and a Polish premiere at Splat!FilmFest.[3](https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3960688/unholy-night-review-christmas-zombie-film-stumbles-on-its-own-rules-fantasia-2026/) • [4](https://popcornfrights.com/film/unholy-night/) • [2](https://sitgesfilmfestival.com/en/film/2026/unholy-night) • [8](https://splatfilmfest.com/en/film/unholy-night-en/) Release information beyond festivals was listed as to be determined as of July 2026.[3](https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3960688/unholy-night-review-christmas-zombie-film-stumbles-on-its-own-rules-fantasia-2026/)
**Critical response.** On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 64% Tomatometer from 22 reviews.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/unholy_night_2026) Reviews were mixed. Michael Talbot-Haynes of Film Threat gave 7.5/10 and recommended adding it to holiday viewing lists, while Jared Mobarak of Hey, Have You Seen ...? gave 6/10 and praised how Gabriele leans into the genre mash-up's tone.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/unholy_night_2026) Matt Donato of Daily Dead gave 3/5, calling it one for Italian horror lovers, and Roberto Tyler Ortiz of Geek Vibes Nation gave 4/10, writing that "there is a fun movie somewhere in Unholy Night".[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/unholy_night_2026) Niall Browne of Movies in Focus gave 2.5/5, judging the film not the perfect showcase for Gabriele's abilities as a director.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/unholy_night_2026)
Reviewers singled out the central relationship and the cathartic living-dead interactions as the film's strongest material. [Bloody Disgusting](https://www.edgepedia.org/bloody-disgusting)'s review criticized inconsistent rules for the undead, an overstuffed cast of underdeveloped characters, and a second half that grows repetitive, while crediting the film with good violence and solid emotional beats between Gino, his critical family, and Rene.[3](https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3960688/unholy-night-review-christmas-zombie-film-stumbles-on-its-own-rules-fantasia-2026/) iHorror's reviewer, covering the Fantasia premiere, gave 3.5 out of 5, noting generous CGI, appealing makeup effects, and some effective jump scares alongside others driven by cranked-up audio.[9](https://ihorror.com/unholy-night-review/) Eye for Film described the film as a zombie film of sorts exploring the place of the dead in extended family structures, and noted that Marc Bendavid, who plays Gino, has no Italian roots.[6](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/unholy-night-2026-film-review-by-jennie-kermode) On IMDb the film held a 7.1/10 rating from 24 users as of one crawl and 7.7/10 from 17 ratings as of another, with Canada and the United States the countries with the most ratings.[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt39386269/) • [10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt39386269/ratings/)
## Other films of the same name
The title has been used several times. *The Unholy Night* (1929) is an MGM sound film directed by [Lionel Barrymore](https://www.edgepedia.org/lionel-barrymore), produced in a French-language version, *Le spectre vert*, directed by Jacques Feyder.[11](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/12950) *Unholy Night* (2019) is a Canadian comedy-horror film directed by Chris Chitaroni, 1 hour 24 minutes, about a lonely nurse working the Christmas Eve overnight shift, released on streaming on October 20, 2020.[12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/unholy_night) A separate project titled Unholy Night, an action-adventure reimagining the Three Wise Men as thieves led by [Balthazar](https://www.edgepedia.org/balthazar), entered development in December 2011 with screenwriter [Seth Grahame-Smith](https://www.edgepedia.org/seth-grahame-smith), producers David Heyman, Jeffrey Clifford, and David Katzenberg, and Warner Bros. Pictures attached; no release was announced.[13](https://www.movieinsider.com/m9721/unholy-night)
## References
1. [Unholy Night (2026), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/unholy_night_2026)
2. [Unholy Night, Sitges Film Festival](https://sitgesfilmfestival.com/en/film/2026/unholy-night)
3. ["'Unholy Night' Review: Christmas Zombie Film Stumbles on Its Own Rules [Fantasia 2026]", Bloody Disgusting, July 27, 2026](https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3960688/unholy-night-review-christmas-zombie-film-stumbles-on-its-own-rules-fantasia-2026/)
4. [Unholy Night, Popcorn Frights](https://popcornfrights.com/film/unholy-night/)
5. [Unholy Night, The Film Catalogue](https://www.thefilmcatalogue.com/films/unholy-night)
6. [Unholy Night (2026) Film Review, Eye for Film](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/unholy-night-2026-film-review-by-jennie-kermode)
7. [Unholy Night (2026), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt39386269/)
8. [Unholy Night, Splat!FilmFest](https://splatfilmfest.com/en/film/unholy-night-en/)
9. ["Deck the Halls with Nonna's Blood in the World Premiere of 'Unholy Night' at Fantasia Festival", iHorror](https://ihorror.com/unholy-night-review/)
10. [Unholy Night (2026) Ratings, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt39386269/ratings/)
11. [The Unholy Night (1929), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/12950)
12. [Unholy Night (2019), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/unholy_night)
13. [Unholy Night (Development), MovieInsider](https://www.movieinsider.com/m9721/unholy-night)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Comedy horror films › 2020s comedy horror films*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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