Retired director Dennis Fulcher is interviewed about The Devil of Christmas; a low-budget horror movie he made in the 1970s. The movie is played as Dennis gives commentary.
The story is based around Julian and his family staying in an Austrian ski chalet at Christmas. Klaus, a local man, warns them about the demonic Krampus which preys on naughty children. After two nights of mysterious events, it appears that the Krampus is targeting Julian's young son Toby and pregnant wife Kathy. While Julian is convinced of a rational explanation, his mother Celia believes that Kathy is jealous of Toby (who is the son of Julian's late first wife) and wants him out of the way in favour of her own child. Kathy fears that, as per the legend, the Krampus will return a third time and kill her and Toby. The family books flights so that Celia and Toby can return to England.
Julian notices mysterious injuries on Kathy's body - part of the Krampus legend. A terrified Kathy believes the Krampus is coming for her unborn child. She confesses that her baby isn't Julian's, just as the Krampus breaks into the house. Julian collapses from the shock. Krampus unmasks himself as Klaus in a disguise; he is really Simon, with whom Kathy is having an affair. She had thrown out Julian's heart medication and staged the scene in order to kill him. Julian dies from a heart attack. Throughout the movie, Dennis discusses its production, commenting on matters such as continuity errors and the casting.
At this stage, the footage captures the point where Julian's actor left for another job; whilst Penny, who played Kathy, stayed for a final scene with Simon's actor, Ralph. On the film, the younger Dennis comes onto the set. The movie ends as Kathy agrees for Simon to tie her up in bed, only for him to reveal he really is the Krampus, and turn into a monster. After the scene ends, Ralph leaves, but the cameras keep rolling, and Penny is confused since her script didn't go any further than this. She screams in terror as stagehands slide a plastic sheet under her and gag her. Young Dennis puts on the Krampus costume, then advances on her with a machete. At the interviewer's request, Dennis switches off the footage. He claims in his defense that it was one of the "better" snuff films made at the time. It is revealed that he has been speaking to a police officer; who terminates the interview here.
This episode contains examples of:
- The '70s: The episode revolves around a 1970s horror show; this was shot using authentic period cameras, and delights in replicating the exact look of videotaped British shows of the period.
- Affably Evil: Dennis, who may have brutally tortured and murdered a woman, but is still unfailingly polite and wishes he'd "got Gummidge" rather than having to do this one.
- Affectionate Parody: Of 1970s British genre TV.
- Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: Said by Kathy to Krampus while being Chained to a Bed.
- Bad "Bad Acting": The acting in The Devil of Christmas is intentionally like this, since it's supposed to replicate a low-budget 70s movie.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
- Throughout the film, despite the comments by Celia, Kathy comes across as a friendly, caring, and demure woman who loves Julian and is supportive towards Toby. The ending reveals she’s actually a callous smug individual, who set up all the events to murder Julian for his money and dismisses Toby as a “brat,” wondering how her lover was able to stand hanging out with him.
- Klaus, the owner of the chalet the family are staying at, comes across as a caring and friendly host, with Toby happily relating the whole day of exciting activities he treated him to. He is secretly Kathy’s lover Simon who is on her plan to murder Julian, and as he reveals in the end, he is Krampus in disguise who takes the opportunity to punish the wicked Kathy.
- Blind Without 'Em: Celia's actress, who Dennis claims was too vain to wear her glasses on camera.
- Bondage Is Bad: Kathy and Simon appear to be about to have kinky sex when Simon turns into the Krampus...which is only a set up for Dennis to murder Kathy.
- Bound and Gagged: Penny towards the end is chained to the bed by Krampus. When the next scene is set up she is gagged before she finds out what they are really filming.
- Chained to a Bed: Kathy during the climax. It renders her an easy target.
- Compartment Shot: The shot on Kathy when picking up Julian's pills from the medicine cabinet.
- Cruel Twist Ending: A double-dose: one for Kathy, (though she arguably deserved it) and then one for her actress, Penny (who certainly didn't):
- In a tribute to the 70’s horror films it’s a pastiche of The Devil of Christmas ends up revealing that the entire of Krampus’s haunting was an elaborate plot by Kathy and her lover to murder Julian in a way that would allow them to claim his life insurance policy. Only at the end when Kathy is tied up in preparation for some kinky sex whilst bragging about their success, Simon reveals he really is Krampus and thus here to punish the wicked Kathy.
- As Peggy discovers too late, the film is a Snuff Film and she has really been tied up to be hacked to death.
- Dramatic Thunder: Invoked. It rolls over the final confrontation between Julian, Kathy, and "Klaus".
- Foreshadowing:
- The clapper board at the beginning has a date for when it was filmed, but no air date. This implies that it was never meant to air at all.
- It's hinted early on that the commentary cannot be a traditional directors' commentary. Most obviously, Dennis and the officer completely rewind the first scene. The officer is also clearly not used to the technicalities of film-making, while anyone participating in a directors' commentary would have some background in the arts. And the commentary is clearly being made decades after the film was made, and the film is so poor there would be no commercial or artistic merit in making such a commentary.
- Ralph puts the chains on Peggy roughly in the final scene, and barely looks at her when doing so. Peggy is clearly surprised and annoyed at his roughness, but since Ralph knows what's about to happen to her, he naturally wouldn't care.
- Dennis criticises Toby's actor's performance, but notes that it is difficult to get good child actors for this sort of film. The viewer would assume that Dennis means horror films, but Toby's actor is not actually in any scary scenes.
- In the film, Celia briefly reminds Julian that this holiday was recommended for his benefit as well as Kathy’s. The ending reveals Julian is suffering from severe stress and recommended this holiday by his doctor for his health, as is an essential part of Kathy’s plan.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Dennis killing Penny isn't shown.
- Hollywood Heart Attack: Julian plays it straight like an arrow.
- Insurance-Motivated Murder: Revealed to be the reasoning behind everything in the film. Kathy knows Julian has a weak heart and is suffering from severe stress, thus her and her lover Simon engineered the seeming Krampus haunting knowing it would be too much and thus as his wife would lead to her receiving his massive insurance pay-out.
- The Krampus: The episode is based around a family being targeted by the Krampus during a Christmas holiday in the Alps. In this version of the legend Krampus is said to come over three days, upon the first (one Saint Nicholas’s night) he would leave a switch in the shoes of the wicked children as a warning. On the second night, if they didn’t repent, he would leave his mark (a nasty scratch from his claws) and on the third, if they still would not repent, he would come to take them away. These events of which play out targeting Julian's son Toby, and then Kathy (who is pregnant). The ending reveals it was all staged by Kathy and her lover Simon to murder Julian, so they could use his insurance pay-out to have a life together. Only for Simon to reveal he really is Krampus in disguise and take revenge on the wicked Kathy.
- Lightning Reveal: Krampus is revealed behind Kathy when a lightning strikes.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Kathy lied about her affair so the baby's true paternity is uncertain.
- Mean Character, Nice Actor: Which just makes the twist ending of the episode all the more tragic.
- Mood Whiplash: The film itself could be looked at as a parody of classic Christmas horror films but the real horror comes right when the twist ending is revealed.
- Multilayer Façade:
- Klaus is revealed to be Simon in disguise, who is in turn revealed to be Krampus in disguise. Except all three are actually an actor called Ralph.
- The episode itself, which plays like a straight Christmas Special before it's revealed that it's being narrated, and then it's revealed to be a snuff film.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Kathy and her boyfriend conspire to give Julian a fatal heart attack so they can be together.
- No Name Given: Toby's actor (Dennis can't remember it).
- Only in It for the Money: Both Dennis (who took the job of director because he lost out on a slot in Worzel Gummidge) and Julian's actor (who leaves early to go to another job.)
- Only Sane Man: Celia.
- Proscenium Reveal: "The Devil of Christmas" is presented as the actual episode at first, but when the director points out a continuity error, we discover it's just an old movie and the real story is him giving an interview about its production.
- Retraux: The episode is deliberately filmed on older cameras to give the episode a feeling of a 70's Christmas movie.
- The Reveal: The Devil of Christmas is a Snuff Film and Dennis's audio commentary is his confession at the police station.
- Screaming Woman: Kathy twice in the final scene. The first time it's acted, the second time it's for real.
- Snuff Film: The entire setup.
- Spoiled Brat: Toby
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: Dennis notes that none of the actors actually eat anything during a dinner scene. He briefly discusses how actors and directors hate doing these scenes as multiple takes mean the quickly get filled up and the struggle to maintain continuity between shots.
- Tomato Surprise: What seems to be Dennis being interviewed for a DVD Commentary is in fact him being interviewed by the police as a suspect for making a Snuff Film. Of course, he and the policeman knew this all along.
- Wicked Stepmother: Kathy, who's clearly prepared to harm Toby to get what she wants.
- Wham Line:Dennis [Commentary] Always a strange moment when you see them realize what's going on. You see, there's no acting here. That's genuine fear. I don't think I want to watch the ending...
