Episode 178: Disney’s A Christmas Carol (2009)

Happy Ber Months, everybody! The seasons are starting to change, and with it comes a new episode of Christmas Creeps! On this episode we dip into the world of Charles Dickens with a look at Robert Zemeckis’ 2009 CGI adaptation of “A Christmas Carol”. This one stars Jim Carrey and, because it was bankrolled by Disney, has earned itself the title Disney’s A Christmas Carol, even though Disney’s made plenty of versions of it over the years…

But let’s not let semantics get in the way of a good time, right? On this episode we’ll be discussing the ways Zemeckis uses his CGI superpowers to stretch Jim Carrey’s face and Charles Dickens’ story in new, unnecessary directions. And hey, if you make it to the end of this one, ya get a little bit of video game chat as a treat!

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SEE ALSO OUR EPISODES ON:

Episode 83: Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas (2006)
Episode 124: The Polar Express (2004)
Episode 147: Scrooged (1988)

Questions? Complaints? Requests? Hit us up at XmasCreeps@gmail.com!

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Episode 177: An American Christmas Carol (1979)

It’s Christmas in July here on the podcast, and we’re back discussing that most eternal of all holiday classics: Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. More specifically, we’re taking a look at the 1979 made-for-TV movie An American Christmas Carol.

This adaptation transposes the story into 1930s New England, where the town miser is Benedict Slade, played by Henry Winkler. The film first aired in December of 1979, in the middle of Happy Days‘ seventh season, which explains why roughly half of the film takes place during the “Christmas Past” sequence. Winkler was not about to put on the old man makeup any longer than he had to!

ALSO! Have they ever done a “Christmas Carol” adaptation starring Dracula? Let’s talk about that.

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Stocking Stuffer #37: The Real Ghostbusters – “Xmas Marks the Spot”

In true seasonal fashion, your favorite Christmas Creeps return once again to discuss something near and dear to our hearts: Baseball!

Okay not really. This is a podcast about the Real Ghostbusters Christmas episode “Xmas Marks The Spot”! In this one, the Ghostbusters find themselves falling through a time warp to Victorian England, where they accidentally rescue Ebenezer Scrooge from the three Christmas spirits.

That said, we do spend a good portion of the episode on Joe’s recent experience with the phenomenon known as Banana Ball. But don’t worry about it. We’re all having fun here!

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Episode 176: Ebenezer (1998)

It’s our Oscar Special! It’s our St. Patrick’s Day Special! It’s our combination Oscars/St. Patrick’s Day Special!

Okay, so it’s not really either of those things… On this episode we dug up Ebenezer, a 1998 made-for-TV western adaptation of “A Christmas Carol”. It stars Academy Award winner Jack Palance as the film’s namesake money-grubbing miser. It also stars Rick Schroder as a sadsack who just can’t stop getting swindled by that charming old cad Ebenezer!

We also get into the state of cable television, a brief history of Turner Broadcasting, and even a little bit of Oscar chat. (We recorded this three days before the Oscars, and releasing it two days after. Whaddaya gonna do?)

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Episode 175: Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (2022)

Welcome back, Creepazoids! We’re ringing in the twelfth season of Christmas Creeps with an adaptation of Charles Dickens classic, infinitely adapted holiday fable: “A Christmas Carol.” More specifically, we’ll be looking at Scrooge: A Christmas Carol, the 2022 animated version produced by Netflix.

As it turns out, this is a direct remake of the 1970 film musical Scrooge, which explains why all the musical numbers seem vaguely familiar. We’re hitting the ground running in 2026, so buckle up and join us for holiday podcasting chaos!

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Episode 174: A Very Merry Amazon Prime Christmas

Merry Christmas, friends! We’ve finally made it to the big day, and we hope you all are having a lovely holiday wherever you are in the world. It’s time to sit back, relax, mix up some fun Yuletide cocktails and listen to us yak about some Christmas movies!

On this episode, Joe and Nikki discuss a pair of new holiday offerings from Amazon Studios. First we take a look at The Merchants of Joy, a documentary about families who make their living selling Christmas trees in New York City. Following that, we get into the dysfunctional family comedy Oh. What. Fun., which follows Michelle Pfeiffer as a mom who feels wholly ignored by her family around the holidays. Ha ha ha!

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  • Both movies are available to stream on Amazon Prime
  • Join our Discord channel today!

    KRANKOMETER RATINGS:
  • THE MERCHANTS OF JOY: (3, 2)
  • OH. WHAT. FUN.: (4, -3)

Questions? Complaints? Requests? Hit us up at XmasCreeps@gmail.com!

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Episode 173: Play Dirty

Shane Black Friday returns! Our favorite purveyor of holiday action nonsense is back with another Christmas-themed feature to jingle our bells and deck our halls. Or something like that.

On this episode we’re discussing Play Dirty, the latest from filmmaker Shane Black. Play Dirty is based on Richard Stark’s long-running series of “Parker” crime novels. But rather than adapting any novel in particular, Shane Black elected to concoct his own with the help of Mark Wahlberg, Lakeith Stanfield, and Rosa Salazar.

It’s got twists and turns! It’s got heists and wacky characters and double-crosses! It’s got all the things we come to expect from a Shane Black movie. And it also has the baggage of being an Amazon-produced film meant for ‘second screen viewing’. What does all that mean? We’ll get into it!

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Episode 172: Werewolf Santa

Home For the Horrordays continues as we enter spooky season proper! We’ve been sampling the wares offered by everyone’s favorite streaming service, Tubi, and landed on the 2023 found footage horror flick Werewolf Santa!

It’s Christmas Eve in British seaside town of Hastings, and amateur monster hunters Lucy and Dustin encounter Santa Claus just in time to watch him get mauled by a werewolf. Now it’s up to Lucy and her family to save Christmas before the feral monster Santa can devour the entire town.

On this episode, we discuss the film’s found footage bona fides, ponder the logistics of lycanthropy, and reminisce about our own misspent youth as high school filmmakers!

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Episode 171: Adult Swim Yule Log (w/ Alonso Duralde)

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, friends! Home For the Horrordays, our annual celebration of all things festive and spooky, makes its triumphant return!

Also returning this week is our guest, film critic Alonso Duralde! The second edition of his book “Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas” arrives on shelves this week. (Pre-order your copy today!) Alonso joins us to discuss the explosion in the holiday cinema landscape since the book’s original release.

Afterward, Alonso brings us the 2022 Adult Swim Yule Log for discussion. Produced in secret and released with zero fanfare, the Adult Swim Yule Log starts simply enough: just a video of a festive fireplace. It soon veers off into some wildly grotesque directions, including a hillbilly killing spree, alternate dimensions and timelines, aliens, sentient yule logs… You know what? We’ve already said too much. Jump on in and join the insanity!

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Stocking Stuffer #36: Donkey Kong Country – “The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights”

It’s been a long, hot summer, but we’re back just in time for Christmas in July! We’ve been playing the heck out of Nintendo’s new Donkey Kong Bananza game, so we thought we’d take a look at the Christmas episode of the Donkey Kong Country TV series!

“The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights” has everything you could want out of a holiday-themed cartoon episode: A holiday-themed light display, a wacky O. Henry-esque gift-giving mishap, two warring factions coming together in the name of peace, and even a festive song or two!

So yes, we’re talking all about Donkey Kong this episode. The first half of this episode covers the Donkey Kong TV show (and also Avatar: The Way of Water, for some reason). The second half is when we pull the ripcord and just gush about Donkey Kong Bananza. Strap yourselves in, kiddos!

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