Shudder takes Red Snow, a Finnish chiller with a Santa-suited vampire
Shudder has bought Red Snow, a Finnish horror-comedy about a 49-year-old vampire who pulls on a Santa suit to talk his way into family homes, as reported by Variety on 18 September.
The deal covers distribution rights, the permission to release the film to audiences. Red Snow will have its world premiere, its first full public screening, at Fantastic Fest in Austin. It will arrive on Shudder, the horror streaming service, at a later date.
The story is set in Finland and centres on Johanna, a 16-year-old emo teen. Her path crosses that of Martti, a balding and beer-bellied bloodsucker aged 49. He uses the red suit and seasonal goodwill as cover to get through the front door, with grim results for the families inside.
Horror-comedy here means frights and jokes in the same scenes. The Christmas setting gives both tools to work with: familiar songs, bright lights and a visitor no one questions until the door is closed.
Red Snow is written and directed by Ilja Rautsi, who previously co-wrote the horror features Hatching and Nightborn. It stars Hannu-Pekka Björkman and Anni Iikkanen. Misha Jaari and Mark Lwoff produced for Bufo, with Ivo Felt for Allfilm and Peter Krupenin for HOBAB as co-producers.
The Shudder agreement was negotiated by Emily Gotto, senior vice president of acquisitions and productions at Shudder, with the sales company Charades acting for the film-makers. Sales companies handle films territory by territory, selling the right to show them in different countries. Charades had already sold Red Snow to Selecta Vision for Spain, according to Variety in May.
At Fantastic Fest, Red Snow is listed in the Horror Competition section, according to the festival's film guide. Fantastic Fest is Austin's genre gathering, built around horror, fantasy, action and cult titles. A world premiere slot there puts the film in front of specialist press and late-night crowds first.
What makes this stand out is the collision of two familiar costumes. One promises presents. The other promises teeth. For fans, this means a Christmas creature feature will move from a festival audience to living-room streaming.
