Deadly Little Christmas

Name: Deadly Little Christmas
Released: 2009
Duration: 74 min

34/100Festive FactorWhy it scores 34 ↓

Not BBFC rated74 min
Horror

A micro-budget slasher that borrows the shape of Halloween almost scene for scene, then moves it to December…

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Explore this film 4 sections

The CineClaus Christmas score

Festive Factor

A different kind of Christmas.

Two paper elves inspect a snowy house model with half its porch bulbs dark. A curtain is drawn aside at an unlit window, and a toy train rests on wrapping by the front door. — A little magic in the making.

Five ingredients make the Festive Factor.
Open an ingredient to find out more.

Christmas in the storyChristmas is the deadline.15/30

What we ask: Take Christmas out. Does the plot survive? Worth up to 30 of the 100 points.

A world dressed for ChristmasVisibly Christmas for about half.10/20

What we ask: How much of the running time is visibly Christmas? Worth up to 20 of the 100 points.

The little seasonal details4 of the 10 kinds of Christmas icon we count turn up on screen.6/15

What we ask: How many kinds of Christmas icon turn up on screen: trees, lights, snow, carols and the rest? Worth up to 15 of the 100 points.

A Christmas heartHow far the ending rests on goodwill, family and belief: not at all.0/20

What we ask: Does the ending depend on what Christmas means: goodwill, family, redemption, belief? Worth up to 20 of the 100 points.

A returning traditionNiche at Christmas (under 25,000).3/15

What we ask: Is it actually watched at Christmas in the UK? Worth up to 15 of the 100 points.

18/100

Cosiness Rating Rating

Chilly in tone. Grim. A bleak ending.

How we score →

What do these scores mean?

Festive Factor measures how Christmassy a film is. Five ingredients add up to 100: story (30), setting (20), seasonal details (15), emotional heart (20) and returning tradition (15).

Cosiness is a separate score for warmth of tone, sense of safety, visual comfort, a reassuring ending and how easily you can settle into it.

How the Festive Factor works →

The story

About Deadly Little Christmas

On Christmas Day a young boy, Devin, is blamed for stabbing his father and the family's housekeeper to death. Fifteen years later he slips out of the institution that has held him ever since, mute and apparently catatonic, and as Christmas comes round again a masked killer starts working through the people around his mother, Mary, and his sisters, Taylor and Noel. A micro-budget, straight-to-video slasher that wears its debt to Halloween openly, with a late twist about the family.

The CineClaus verdict

A micro-budget slasher that borrows the shape of Halloween almost scene for scene, then moves it to December with a Santa suit, a tree and a community nativity play. The stabbings are clumsy and the late twist about the family plays more like soap opera than shock.

Felissa Rose is the main reason a horror fan might press play. Best enjoyed with friends who like a bad film for what it is.

The family desk

Can the kids watch?

Not BBFC rated

Our take: no. It opens with a child blamed for a double stabbing on Christmas Day and is a run of killings from there, so it is one for adults.

Content advice & accessibility

Not BBFC rated: The BBFC has no classification for this film, so it has no UK certificate. Our age guidance above is editorial, not an official rating.