The trailer for the first installment of Shudder’s newest anthology series is here, and it’s sure to put a chill in your bones in time for Christmas. We now have our first look at The Haunted Season, the new Christmas-themed anthology series that infuses the jolliest of seasons with something a little more morbid — and it’s arriving just in time for the holidays.
The trailer covers just the first entry, titled “To Fire You Come At Last.” Following a group of men in seventeenth-century England as they carry a coffin along a long, dark path to its final resting place, the episode is teeming with ancient folklore and superstition as the men fear what may come of them on the journey. The grieving father of the deceased promises to double their wages if they can make it by sunrise, but their fears may be more realistic than they initially thought.
The episode is directed by Sean Hogan, the first of many directors that will tackle terrifying tales across the anthology series. In an interview with Spooky Isles, Hogan outlined his influences for the episode, including the BBC’s own Christmas horror series A Ghost Story for Christmas:
“I did look at [Jonathan Miller's] Whistle and I’ll Come to You again, specifically for the use of 16mm black and white and the eerie starkness of the landscapes, and there’s probably a bit of The Exorcism in there as well: the class politics, and the fact that the vengeful ghost gets to deliver a climactic monologue from beyond the grave!”
The Haunted Season comes from creator Kier-La Janisse (Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror, House of Psychotic Women), who serves as executive producer on “To Fire You Come At Last.”
The first episode of The Haunted Season hits Shudder on December 1. Check out the trailer below:
