Vampire Santa Claus Horror-Comedy Red Snow Debuts Exclusive Clip
A Finnish horror-comedy with a vampire in a Santa suit has its first look on screen. Variety debuted an exclusive clip from Red Snow on 13 November 2026.
The film is directed by Ilja Rautsi, who has built a reputation on genre work. He directed the shorts Helsinki Mansplaining Massacre and The Night of the Living Dicks. He also wrote the features Nightborn and Hatching.
The story follows Johanna, a teenager who dreams of a vampire prince in the style of the Twilight films. Her world meets a different kind of bloodsucker in Martti, a 49-year-old vampire who slips into homes dressed as Santa Claus and preys on the families inside. Tone is the point of the film's pitch: a holiday costume, a teenage fantasy and a lot of fangs, all in one picture.
The cast is led by Hannu-Pekka Björkman, Anni Iikkanen, Tommi Korpela, Kari Hietalahti and Marja-Liisa Nguyen. The film was produced by Bufo, Allfilm and Hobab.
Red Snow has already been seen by festival audiences. It screened at Fantastic Fest and at Sitges, two of the best-known genre festivals on the calendar. Fantastic Fest is held in Austin, Texas, and Sitges takes place on the Spanish coast near Barcelona.
The film was also presented at the American Film Market, known as AFM, the deal-making market held each year in Santa Monica, California. That is where sales agents meet buyers from around the world. Charades is handling sales on the picture, so it will be the company that talks to distributors about which countries and platforms take the film next.
Next stop is the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia, where Red Snow is heading. Festivals like this one often show a film to local and international buyers, which can shape where it plays once it leaves the festival circuit.
For a horror-comedy, the festival run is part of the sales pitch. A title that wins audiences in Austin, Catalonia and Santa Monica gives distributors something concrete to look at before they commit. No release dates or distribution deals for Red Snow have been announced so far.
Watch the clip, then watch the calendar. The next signals will be a sales deal, a distributor, or a date on the release schedule.
