I mean, do I really need to go through the story of A Christmas Carol? I’ll be brief. In Ti West‘s potential Christmas classic, Ebenezer, Johnny Depp plays the titular Ebenezer Scrooge. As you know, Scrooge is a moneylender in Victorian London, and he has no use for Christmas, the holiday, or any sort of merriment.
His only friends are his business partner Jacob Marley (Ian McKellen) and, barely, his clerk, Bob Cratchit (Rupert Grint). After Marley dies, Scrooge grows even more resentful of the holiday, thanks to an unwanted visit from his nephew Fred (Sam Claflin) and having to give Cratchit Christmas Day off.
On Christmas Eve, Scrooge is home alone when Marley’s ghost visits and warns him that three Spirits are coming (played by Andrea Riseborough, Tramell Tillman, and a CG puppet). They will hopefully show Scrooge the error of his ways by taking him to Christmas past, present, and future.
The Ghost of Christmas Present leans in toward a wary Ebenezer Scrooge in Ebenezer.
“On Christmas Eve, Scrooge is home alone when Marley’s ghost visits and warns him that three Spirits are coming…
Sorry to be brief, but we’re basically retelling A Christmas Carol, which has been made into about 35 movies, and The Muppet Christmas Carol is still the best. I first want to point out one of the great ironies of this film. It was shot with 2026 cameras, film stock, and effects. But it looks and sounds like it came out of the ’70s or ’80s, with nary a sharp image and sound that lives in the highs with very little bass. It’s almost as if Ti West shot the film in the ’70s and just held onto it for 50 years. Not a complaint, because this film still looks better than most modern films, including The Odyssey.
So how does Ebenezer stand out from a very large pack? In two ways: director Ti West has turned his version into a horror film with ghoulish, grotesque ghosts and a few jump scares. He doesn’t hold back… well, not really—these are PG-13 ghosts, but scary nonetheless. I like that they’re not humorous ghosts; they are meant to be dark and scary.
Bob Cratchit stands nervously beside a scowling Ebenezer Scrooge on a foggy London street in Ebenezer.
“…it is about as faithful an adaptation of Charles Dickens’s original source material as I’ve seen in a while.”
The second way this film stands out is Johnny Depp. Let’s be real: this film exists only because Johnny Depp wants to play Scrooge, and it shows. No slacking here; Depp does the research and fully develops the character. He admirably pulls off the all-important character arc from devil to angel. Depp does what he does best. He immerses himself in the role, and this is definitely his interpretation.
What surprised me most about this version of A Christmas Carol is that, despite being a horror film starring Johnny Depp, it is about as faithful an adaptation of Charles Dickens’s original source material as I’ve seen in a while. It may not be word-for-word perfect, but it unapologetically nails the Christian themes of grace, forgiveness, redemption, and kindness. The cast singing “Silent Night” in the second act also had me in tears. If there was ever a Christian horror film, this is it.
I highly recommend Ebenezer… especially today when, as a society, we are more divided than ever. The message is simple: we must find the ability to see the good in others and know that it is never too late to become a righteous person. Christmas still matters, and its message is needed now more than ever.
"…If there was ever a Christian horror film, this is it."
