Christmas Horror Short Review: An Unexpected Guest For Christmas Dinner (2023)

From ZMT Productions, written and directed by Zach Murphree, An Unexpected Guest for Christmas Dinner stars Chris Bryant, Taylor McGuffie, and Michael McCormack.

A lengthy, but well-done intro and credit crawl, leads to the introduction of John and Martha, Who, like many couples at Christmas, are hoping to have a nice and relaxing time together. Which they seem to be having, until there is a knock at the door.

It’s a man. A man with a Santa hat on his head and blood over his clothes. He asks them for help, saying he hit a deer and needs to call a friend for help. Hearing his story, they decide to let him in, and as Martha goes to make him some tea, John asks some more questions about the deer.

Here, through POV flashbacks, we see that the stranger may not be telling the truth and that this happy couple are likely to regret letting him inside their house.

It’s at this point, it becomes clear that An Unexpected Guest for Christmas Dinner isn’t taking itself too seriously. As we see the ‘blood’ on the stranger’s shirt is quite clearly a bloody handprint. Something John seems to not notice at all, or not care about.

Immediately, it makes the wooden acting and awkward dialogue more palatable as there’s a sense that there’s a twisted vein of humour running through the short.

Something that will turn out to be true as it goes on. No spoilers, but An Unexpected Guest for Christmas Dinner doesn’t quite go in the direction many might expect. It’s far better for it too. It’s fun, and the clear passion and energy from everyone involved makes for a much more enjoyable watch.

It’s a decent festive short, so check it out yourself below.