Horror Short Review: The Ho Ho Howling (2019)

A holiday horror short with some fangs, The Ho Ho Howling was directed by Andrew Neill and written by Marcus Mann and Eric W. Carlson.

On a snowy Christmas Eve with a full moon, a young girl is being tucked in bed by her parents. It’s all so very wholesome especially as the camera pans across the living room and we see a beautiful tree, the presents under the tree, a plate of cookies and a glass of milk.

All through the house, not a creature was stirring…

Until the sound of someone on the roof wakes the parents up. Smartly they grab some weapons (a baseball bat and a rifle) and go to investigate. The mother checks in on their daughter who is soundly asleep while the father goes downstairs.

It’s him who finds Santa hunched over the presents. As the mother arrives, she steps on a creaky floorboard getting the attention of the jolly fat man. Now, the expectation is that when Santa turns on around, things are going to go bad but what we get is a Santa you might expect to see in a department store. Rosy cheeked, warm and with a beard as white as snow.

The father is dumbstruck as Santa approaches, only snapping out of it when Claus bares some sharp looking teeth. He points the gun and shoots Santa right in the chest seemingly killing him.

When the father goes to check on him though, Santa rises and bites him on the chest. The mother manages to save him and batters Santa to death with her baseball bat. It’s too late though, the bite on the father was infectious and he is beginning to transform.

Into what? Check it out yourself below.

The Ho Ho Howling is a ton of fun with one of the silliest and most unique ideas seen in a Christmas horror for some time. It takes the whole ‘werewolf’ idea and gives it a sinister holiday spin. One with strong Christmas vibes and a deeply dark story. There’s an air of gleefulness to the events that occur and it makes the near 10 minute runtime seem half that.

A really enjoyable holiday horror.