I guess someone sat around brainstorming ideas for Christmas movies and at some point the discussion shifted to how few Christmas movies involved the dead coming back to life. But since “A Zombie Christmas” sounded a little harsh they decided just to use a ghost instead.
So the story begins as Daniel (Thomas Beaudoin) is trudging through the snow in the early 1900s. As he gets close to his family hotel he notices his wife getting a little too cozy with his brother. So naturally, someone (off screen) hits him on the back of the head and he dies. Well cool . . . this is different. So jump forward to the present day where Kate (Jen Lilley) has been tasked with getting an appraisal on this same little Inn because the owners are deceased and it is going on the market. Kate heads to the now Bed and Breakfast to find out the place is haunted. Undeterred she decides to stay there alone (always a solid decision when selling a haunted house) only to find that Daniel reanimates into a solid (sort of) person for 12 days around Christmas every year.
Daniel doesn’t take well to Kate’s being there and they clash. She calls the Sheriff on him only to find out that Daniel really is a ghost and even those he is reanimated he has all kinds of ghostly powers of disappearing and reappearing at will. But this is a Christmas movie and Christmas movies are about love and romance, not battling evil spirits so Kate (and the caretaker who knew about Daniel the whole time) decides to help Daniel figure out why his spirit is shackled to this old Bed and Breakfast before the place is sold. You know . . . just in case the new owners don’t take kindly to having a ghost around for the holidays.
There really isn’t any dialogue about “Omigod, this means that there really is life after death! The enormity of this discovery is earth shattering!” or questions brought up like “What is it like when you die? Where do you go? Where are you when you aren’t in your solid form?” because those kinds of questions wouldn’t have anything to do with the direction of this movie . . . an otherworldly romance. So as the movie continues, you guessed it, Kate and Daniel develop a fondness for each other and (dare I say it) fall in love.
It isn’t a bad movie . . . well . . . how about . . . I’ve seen worse? I love Jen Lilley so I would probably watch any crappy movie she was in just because she’s so adorable. Beaudoin is okay as the good looking 100 year old ghost. I didn’t think the chemistry was there personally but it was tolerable. As long as you don’t spend to much time wondering about the unresolved questions like: So at the end Daniel becomes a fully functional human (with no identity or documentation) again or is he some kind of special solid ghost? Can he leave the property now? After finding out his wife didn’t betray him and seeing her after all this time he just ditches her for Kate? So Christmas wishes now include the power to bring people back from the dead? Awesome, Santa is going to be plenty busy at the graveyard once this information gets out.
Jen Lilley's cuteness bumps this to a Rating 2 out of 5.
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