'The Holiday Calendar' And 'All The Creatures Were Stirring' Trailers Offer Two Wildly Different Takes On Christmas

Halloween isn't quite here yet, but those who don't get into the spirit of the spooky season are already starting to dust off their holiday decorations to get ready for the long lead into Christmas. That means the time is now for all the holiday-themed programming promos to get pushed in front of our eyes, and the first trailers for two wildly different Christmas movies have arrived.

The Holiday Calendar is Netflix's attempt to pull some viewers away from the likes of the Hallmark Channel while All The Creatures Were Stirring is an anthology horror film set during the most wonderful time of the year. Check out both of the trailers below.

The Holiday Calendar stars Kat Graham (the voice of April O'Neil on the new Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) as a struggling photographer looking to get out of her mundane day job and bring a little excitement into her life. That's where an antique advent calendar handed down by her grandfather (Ron Cephas Jones) comes into play, as it starts to make her life better with only the vague hint of a little toy giving her an idea of what's in store each day.

As much as this is about the main character having all of her dreams come true, it's also a romance. This feels like it was made explicitly to be one of those cheesy holiday movies from cable, but it does have a certain charm to it.

Bradley Walsh directs The Holiday Calendar, which hits Netflix on November 2, 2018.

On the complete opposite end of holiday romance, we have Christmas terror in the form of All the Creatures Were Stirring. The holiday anthology horror film brings some sadistic flare to the Yuletide season with a series of horror shorts. Here's what's in store from the official synopsis:

Ho, ho, no...! The joyful spirit of the holidays is about to take one dark turn after another. From sadistic office parties and last-minute shopping nightmares, to vengeful stalkers and immortal demons, there's plenty out there to keep you from getting out of bed to see what's under the tree this holiday season.

That all sounds well and good, but the problem is that this trailer looks absolutely abysmal. It's profoundly cheap, almost to the level of looking like an entry at a small town film festival. If it wasn't for the presence of Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians) and Jonathan Kite (2 Broke Girls), I'd think this was the thesis project from a second tier film school. From the special effects to the visual style of the movie itself, this looks pitiful, and that's a real shame.

First time filmmakers David Ian McKendry and Rebekah McKendry wrote and directed the film, so maybe we should cut them a bit of a break, and it hits DVD, VOD & Digital HD at the same time on December 4, 2018.