There is always one unexpected guest at any Holiday get together and for the family at the center of Michael Gabriele’s horror-comedy Unholy Night, it’s zombie grandma. Navigating family dynamics around the Christmas dinner table is a scary enough scenario, especially for the supposed directionless Gino (Marc Bendavid), but adding an undead element into the mix always makes for fun yuletide terror.
One aspect that immediately sets Michael Gabriele’s Unholy Night apart from the rest of the pack is how his zombies operate. Much more “Living Dead” than “Ravenous Monsters”, the undead of this silly monster movie are very much the people they were when they died. Just because grandma is dead (and probably about to murder everyone in the house) doesn’t mean that she’s stopped loving her family or forgotten how to sing songs from the old country after a few glasses of vino. That said, she will go full ghoul on any unfortunate soul that’s in her path, but the family learns that if they keep her distracted, she quickly slips back into her old routines and becomes (mostly) human again.
“Just because grandma is dead (and probably about to murder everyone in the house) doesn’t mean that she’s stopped loving her family…”
The concept of Gabriele’s zombies comes from arcane Italian/Catholic superstition about relatives returning from the grave to punish their children for disrespecting their elders. A detail that would make the family’s patriarch Giuseppe (Ron Lea) all too happy to know that even when it comes to zombies, Italians did it first. It’s a fun angle, especially for a Christmas set horror-comedy, and a great use for unexplored mythology. However, our lead and his family are a pretty stereotypical mix of Italian caricatures and Hallmark Christmas characters, including a girl-next-door romantic interest, and a lot of talk about who makes the best pasta sauce. On the other hand, this might be the first zombie movie where characters escape death after distracting a ghoul by spilling breadcrumbs on the carpet.
Unholy Night is sure to make a splash at the holidays this year because if there is one thing more ravenous than a horde of zombies for brains, it’s horror fans ready to devour 100,000 snowy movies between Thanksgiving and the New Year. The characters are a little one-note and there are quite a lot of convenient breaks in the action to give every space to vent their frustrations at one another, but the zombies themselves are a fun twist. This new indie horror-comedy may not break the mold but it’s a bit of good fun and another new addition to the Christmas Horror canon. Buon Natale 🧟♀️🎄
Michael Gabriele’s Unholy Night celebrated its World Premiere at the 2026 Fantasia International Film Festival. Click HERE to follow our continued coverage of the fest and let us know what you would do if Zombie Grandma showed up for the holidays this year. Share your preferred weapon, and your ideal hiding place over in the Nightmare on Film Street Discord! Join ussssss…
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