‘Werewolf Santa’ Review – A Terribly Fun Holiday Horror Comedy [FrightFest 2023]

Airell Anthony Hayles’ new horror-comedy Werewolf Santa is a sublime blend of low budget filmmaking and a self aware script. Starring Katherine Rodden, Mark Arnold, and Emily Booth, the film follows an aspiring monster hunter with a vlog and her family and friends as they try to hunt down werewolves in Hastings, a seaside town in South Sussex, England. It’s Christmas Eve, and jolly ole Saint Nick himself has been turned into a werewolf. Lucy (Rodden) and the gang must find a way to turn him back into Santa Claus to save Christmas before he devours the whole town.

To hear the premise itself is outlandish enough, but to see the follow through with such prime execution is such a joy to behold. It’s abundantly clear that writer-director Airell Anthony Hayles knows exactly what he’s doing with this story. The use of found footage and handheld camera techniques are extremely effective ways to frame the narrative and a good way to pick and choose the spots where the hilarious practical effects can be shown off. Films like this are hard to pull off, especially for the actors involved. They must be consciously looking at and talking to the camera, which in most other settings they are trained to do precisely the opposite. One of the greatest achievements of the film is not falling prey to some of the classic found footage tropes like excessive or long shots where the camera doesn’t move with nothing quite in frame (see this year’s Skinamarink which, while not exactly found footage, has some of the longest studies of blank walls ever committed to film) or characters staring aimlessly to the side of the camera without showing what they’re looking at. The aspiring monster hunter framing device allows an easy way to maneuver around these tropes as the characters are more so fascinated with the beast than scared of it.

Horror films often benefit from short run times, allowing the monster, demon, and whatever else to only truly reveal itself in the latter stages without keeping the audience waiting terribly long. The werewolf in this film makes an appearance early, and continues to pop up throughout the film visually, perhaps more than the average horror outing. Werewolf Santa is packed with werewolf sightings throughout its brisk 70 minute run time, and honestly leaves the audience wanting for more. Despite the shaky, handheld camera technique on display here, there are some solid looks at the absurdly designed creature littered across the film. The werewolf hilariously looks like a character straight out of a theme park, making shots that most horror movies would classify as jump scares turn into jump laughs. 

While some may find a low budget film like this hard to digest, there is genius to be found here. It is incredibly difficult to craft a movie that amalgamates such self awareness and camp to where everyone, audience and filmmakers, are completely in on the joke. Not only is the concept and gore funny, but much of the humor comes from the dialogue unrelated to any werewolf incidents. One of the funniest lines in the whole film comes from a line regarding one of the character’s unnatural hair color. There is balance between horror as comedy and just genuinely comedic quips which make this film stand out against some others cut from a similar cloth. 

With Christmas horror films on the rise as it becomes a genre in its own right, this movie makes a strong argument for consideration in the annual rotation. Whether pairing with other edgy holiday movies like last year’s Violent Night or the great Bad Santa, or setting up a double feature with another Christmas horror-comedy like Krampus, Werewolf Santa and its low budget offering makes for an exquisite change of pace. This film is terribly fun, and will be a welcome addition to the vast pool of things to boot up as family and friends gather together around the fire and pass around the Bailey’s. 

Werewolf Santa had its World Premiere at FrightFest 2023. 

Director: Airell Anthony Hayles

Writer: Airell Anthony Hayles

Rated: NR

Runtime: 70m