The Naughty List of Mr. Scrooge – a new Christmas slasher

Sponsored Feature: Ninth House Films

The Naughty List of Mr. Scrooge is a new Christmas slasher film written and directed by Jake Helgren. The film releases on Friday, December 20th, 2024 on streaming platforms Plex, Tubi, Chilling, Google Play, and Roku.

Watch the trailer here:

Former college friends reunite 10 years after a tragedy during a production of A Christmas Carol. Gathering at a winter chalet, they are stalked and killed one by one by someone dressed as a terrifying Ebenezer Scrooge.

A Q&A with director Jake Helgren

Welcome, Jake! Thanks for chatting with us about your new Christmas horror film, The Naughty List of Mr. Scrooge. What sparked the idea for the film?

I have always had friends and fans ask me “You do so many Christmas movies and so many horror thrillers. How come you haven’t done a holiday horror movie?” Well, the truth is, I’ve always loved them…the original 1974 Black Christmas is one of my favorite films of all time, so I’ve always wanted to do an original holiday horror film where a group of characters were stuck at a chalet in a snowstorm with a killer inside the house. And then I figured Scrooge would make the perfect, creepy-looking holiday villain. So, putting a special spin on the classic Christmas Carol Scrooge story just fell into place.

The Naughty List of Mr. Scrooge by Jake Helgren

The Naughty List of Mr. Scrooge joins a legacy of Christmas horror slashers like Black Christmas and Silent Night, Deadly Night. Did any of these films influence your approach?

I’ve already mentioned my love for Black Christmas – both the 1974 version, as well as the 2006 trashy spin of a remake — so yes, both of those films had an influence on my approach. Perhaps not as much as Silent Night, Deadly Night, but I do love that film, as well as 1980’s To All A Goodnight, which was actually the first slasher movie I saw featuring a killer Santa. More recently, Christmas Bloody Christmas and It’s A Wonderful Knife are both really fun holiday horror romps as well, so yes, it’s great fun to join a legacy of holiday slashers bringing the holiday fear to holiday cheer.

It’s great fun to join a legacy of holiday slashers bringing the holiday fear to holiday cheer.

How does The Naughty List of Mr. Scrooge differentiate itself from other Christmas horror classics, and what unique twists can audiences expect from your film?

Scrooge introduces an all-new scary villain, a ten-year reunion gone wrong, and my advice to anyone going in who likes to try and solve the twist I’d just say this: sometimes the mystery isn’t only in solving “who is the killer?” but why??

The cast brings together a talented group of actors, including our friend Adam Bucci! How did you go about finding the perfect actors to bring your characters to life?

Adam is actually a longtime friend of mine, and was the first person we cast. I knew he’d be a great and funny Tucker. Same goes for Ali Zahiri and Liz Fenning, the latter of whom plays the delightfully devious Chandler…I had seen both of them in other thrillers, and thought they’d be perfect for their roles (and they were!). We already knew Colin Koth and Kim Whalen as well…Colin had been in a movie of ours I didn’t direct, and Kim’s husband was in another one I did direct. After watching their reels during casting, I knew immediately they each had what it took to play the versatile roles of our final girl’s boyfriend and best friend, respectively. And then Skye, our final girl who plays Tabby, we discovered during the casting process. She destroyed her audition, and vocalized her excitement at the end of her audition for the script and the role. Seeing how excited she was about the project, and seeing her level of commitment to her craft…it was like discovering the person I’d written on the page in real life. And what fun it was to work with each of them! Not one bad egg in the bunch.

The killer’s costume is based on the classic Ebenezer Scrooge character. Can you walk us through the design process for creating the killer’s unsettling appearance?

Our Costume Designer La did a fabulous job bringing the wardrobe for Ebenezer Scrooge to life after I gave her some inspirational photos of iconic Scrooge I loved, but the creepy old man mask actually came from an incredible, family-owned mask design studio called ZAGONE STUDIOS out of Illinois. I reached out to them telling them how much I loved their mask, and asked them if we could license their mask to use in the film. They were incredibly generous and helpful in bringing our dreams to life in order for Scrooge to have the perfect look onscreen.

As audiences watch The Naughty List of Mr. Scrooge this holiday season, what do you hope will linger with them after the credits roll?

After the credits roll, my only hope is that worst case scenario, they had enough fun that they might remember the movie being something that brought some fun and life to their annual holiday experience. Best case scenario, they enjoy the movie enough to want to watch it again next year, and the year after that, and so on. 🙂 And if we have it our way, the movie will eventually see a physical media release so that people can own it for themselves!

Watch The Naughty List of Mr. Scrooge on Plex, Tubi, Chilling, Google Play, and Roku.

To learn more, follow @ninthhousefilms on Instagram and visit ninthhousefilms.com.