Merry Christmas, Creepazoids!

This Christmas Day we bring you an episode all about A Christmas Story Christmas! Yet another attempt at an ‘official’ sequel to Bob Clark’s holiday classic, this one finds Peter Billingsley returning as a middle-aged Ralphie, now tasked with giving his family the fabled Perfect Christmas.

Is this a brazen attempt to cash in on our nostalgia? Or is it a genuine, warm-hearted plea to…er…cash in on our nostalgia? You may be surprised to hear where we land on this one! We’ll dig into the original Jean Shepard stories, the nostalgia of assorted casseroles, and a whole lot more!

Questions/Comments? Email us at XmasCreeps@gmail.comTweet us @ChristmasCreepsVisit us on the web at ChristmasCreeps.com! Join us on our Discord channel!

Intro: Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You (Billy Squier) Outro: Happy Christmas, You Guys! (Simon Panrucker) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Home for the Horrordays continues with one of the more bizarre films we’ve ever covered: Blood Beat!

A family hunting trip in the Wisconsin wilderness is interrupted by the vengeful spirit of a dead samurai, and it’s up to the two psychic women of the house to stop him. Or at least, that’s what we think is going on here… Blood Beat is a bunch of loosely interpreted ends in search of a movie and it’s our job to twist those ends into some kind of narrative sense.

We also spend some time discussing apple picking, mellowcrème candies for old people, waterbeds, the films of Jim Wynorski and James Cameron, and so much more!

Questions/Comments? Email us at XmasCreeps@gmail.comTweet us @ChristmasCreepsVisit us on the web at ChristmasCreeps.com! Join us on our Discord channel!

Intro / Outro: Carol of the Bells by Bards Bizarre

For years, internet sleuths have tried to identify a cartoon based on nothing but an old family Christmas photo. In an amazing turn of events, not only was the cartoon identified, but it turned out to be an obscure Christmas special titled The Christmas Gift of Light. So you know we had to watch that thing ASAP!

And watch it we did. On this Stocking Stuffer, Joe and Johnny-5 break down this odd little relic, spending entirely too long looking into the IMDb profiles of most of the voice cast, pondering the cartoon’s purpose, and asking the big questions like “Why did we even want to watch this in the first place?”

Questions/Comments? Email us at XmasCreeps@gmail.comTweet us @ChristmasCreepsVisit us on the web at ChristmasCreeps.com! Join us on our Discord channel!

Intro / Outro: Happy Christmas, You Guys! (Simon Panrucker) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

This edition of Stocking Stuffers is unique, in that the episode of TV we’re covering is only 7 minutes long. “All Through The House” is the lone Christmas episode of Netflix’s animated anthology series Love Death & Robots. It’s also a perfect fit for our show’s often macabre and off-kilter grasp of the holidays.

But since the episode is so short, Joe and Bradford take the opportunity to discuss a wide array of subjects. Bradford’s experiments with DIY salsa, Brach’s latest attempt to ruin candy corn forever, and the recent news of HBO Max’s impending demise. We cover a lot of ground on this episode, and we hope you’re okay with that!

(The actual show discussion begins at 17:00)

Questions/Comments? Email us at XmasCreeps@gmail.comTweet us @ChristmasCreepsVisit us on the web at ChristmasCreeps.com! Join us on our Discord channel!

Intro/Outro: Happy Christmas, You Guys! (Simon Panrucker) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Stocking Stuffer #27: Love Death & Robots, “All Through The House”

We’re back with more holiday action hijinks! This week, in honor of the recently departed Ray Liotta, we take a look at his 1997 airplane thriller Turbulence!

It’s Christmas Eve and the feds need to escort a number of criminals, including the Lonely Hearts Strangler, from New York to Los Angeles. When all hell breaks loose and every officer and pilot onboard have been killed, it’s up to flight attendant Lauren Holly to fend off the killer and safely land the plane.

Turbulence is more of a Christmas movie that we honestly expected. Join us as we examine all of its holiday trappings, as well as how it relates to It’s A Wonderful Life, the other 1997 “criminals take over a plane” movie Con Air, basic cable programming of yesteryear, and more!

Questions/Comments? Email us at XmasCreeps@gmail.comTweet us @ChristmasCreepsVisit us on the web at ChristmasCreeps.com! Join us on our Discord channel!

Intro: “Beans & Cornbread” (Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five) Outro: Happy Christmas, You Guys! (Simon Panrucker) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Our pals Niall Flanagan and Dwayne Moloney, co-hosts of the Secret of the Sailor Madness podcast, join us this week to try and make sense of Rankin/Bass’ 1967 Christmas special The Cricket on the Hearth!

Based on Charles Dickens’ other holiday novella, Cricket plays fast and loose with its source material to make it suitable for television. Certain characters get cut out, new ones invented out of whole cloth, and no less than NINE musical numbers to fill up an hour of your valuable holiday viewing time.

It’s nonsensical, it’s absurd, but it’s pure-strain Rankin/Bass. There’s certainly a charm to the madness on display here, and honestly? We wouldn’t have it any other way.

Questions/Comments? Email us at XmasCreeps@gmail.comTweet us @ChristmasCreepsVisit us on the web at ChristmasCreeps.com! Join us on our Discord channel!

Intro/Outro: Happy Christmas, You Guys! (Simon Panrucker) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Please enjoy this week’s Stocking Stuffer to tide you over until our next full episode. This week we’re taking a look at The Norm Show, Norm Macdonald’s foray into the world of late-90s sitcoms.

In this episode, “Norm vs Christmas”, Norm tries to show his co-workers how magical Christmas can be, with a non-denominational holiday party, a Secret Santa gift exchange, and surprise decorations at home. This inevitably ends with everyone visiting the hospital, where even more shenanigans ensue.

Also on this podcast, we briefly discuss the film we originally meant to cover, Joe eats a disgusting flavor of marshmallow peeps, and Jonathan takes any opportunity to talk about Elden Ring.

Questions/Comments? Email us at XmasCreeps@gmail.comTweet us @ChristmasCreepsVisit us on the web at ChristmasCreeps.com! Join us on our Discord channel!

Intro/Outro: Happy Christmas, You Guys! (Simon Panrucker) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Stocking Stuffer #26: The Norm Show, “Norm vs Christmas”

Happy New Year to one and all, and welcome to Season 8 of Christmas Creeps!

We kick off the new year with the little-seen 1987 animated Christmas special Christmas Every Day. Based on an 1892 short story by William Dean Howells, this cartoon seeks to answer the question: What would happen if we celebrated Christmas every single day?

Not only does the situation send one family into crisis, but it also puts a huge strain on the global supply chain, and sends this very podcast into an existential spiral from which we only barely manage to recover!

Questions/Comments? Email us at XmasCreeps@gmail.comTweet us @ChristmasCreepsVisit us on the web at ChristmasCreeps.com! Join us on our Discord channel!

Intro: Happy Christmas, You Guys! (Simon Panrucker) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 Outro: I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day (Wizzard)

Merry Christmas to one and all! We don’t usually pit two films against one another, but since it is Christmas we thought we’d give you fine listeners a little holiday treat.

Home Alone is one of our generation’s unassailable holiday classics. We’ve covered a number of its sequels on the show before, but tonight we’re finally digging into the 1990 original. But because one Home Alone simply isn’t enough, we’re also doing a deep dive into the newest entry in the series, Home Sweet Home Alone, just released on Disney+.

What makes the original a modern classic while the remake struggles to even find its footing? How many of the traps would a human being reasonably fall for? What on earth do you even use a male-to-male extension cord for, anyway? Join us as we answer these questions and a whole lot more!

Questions/Comments? Email us at XmasCreeps@gmail.comTweet us @ChristmasCreepsVisit us on the web at ChristmasCreeps.com! Join us on our Discord channel!

Intro/Outro: Carol of the Bells (Bards Bizarre)