Once Upon a Time at Christmas

Name: Once Upon a Time at Christmas
Released: 2017
Duration: 97 min

44/100Festive FactorWhy it scores 44 ↓

UK certificate 1597 min
Horror

A slasher built on a carol: two killers in Santa and Mrs Claus costumes work through a snowy small town one…

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Explore this film 5 sections

The CineClaus Christmas score

Festive Factor

Christmas in good measure.

Two paper elves inspect a miniature snowy shop with a magnifying glass. Red baubles, including a broken one, line its glowing Christmas window. — A little magic in the making.

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

Christmas in the storyChristmas drives it, but another occasion could stand in.20/30

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 most of it.15/20

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.

14/100

Cosiness Rating Rating

Chilly in tone. Genuinely frightening. 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 →

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Where to watch

United KingdomChecked 19 Oct 2026

Apple TV

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The story

About Once Upon a Time at Christmas

In a small town over the twelve nights before Christmas, a pair of killers dressed as Santa and Mrs Claus work through the residents, each night's victims staged after a verse of The Twelve Days of Christmas, with the body count rising as the song does. Sheriff Mitchell and his deputy, Sam Fullard, try to read the pattern, and every thread leads back to Jennifer, a young woman working as a shopping-centre elf. A low-budget slasher that plays its festive gimmick straight.

The CineClaus verdict

A slasher built on a carol: two killers in Santa and Mrs Claus costumes work through a snowy small town one verse of The Twelve Days of Christmas at a time. The gimmick is a good one and the film plays it entirely straight, which is its problem.

The police take ten days to read a song the audience solves in ten minutes, and the twist arrives exactly when you expect it. Much of the gore is computer-made and more cheap than shocking. One for collectors of the Christmas body count.

The family desk