SCROOGED (1988)

By now, everyone should be familiar with the classic ins and outs of ‘A Christmas Carol,’ or at least have heard of it. Miserly Ebenezer Scrooge doesn’t care for Christmas or people much and is visited by a few ghosts to give him the chance to change his ways before meeting unpleasant fates down the road. Ghosts of past, present, and future to be precise. Many variations of this have been done over the years but one of the more famous mainstream ones is SCROOGED. Bill Murray plays a version of himself as a cynical, careless, TV exec who doesn’t care about anyone and is visited by different apparitions around Christmas to see if he can become a better sort of person. With an 80s Bill Murray, we get a comedic version, but also enough ‘horror-ish’ parts to include this one in our review. The first ghost we see is itself more horrifying than anything seen any Ghostbusters films. Not to mention the eerie images and spirits we see later on. Still a hilarious view of a cynical Bill Murray that we don't see much anymore, this is a classic comedy on its own but don't neglect the great practical effects and horror elements that come with it. One of his finest and funniest.

SLASH SCENE: Bobcat Goldthwait

SLASH SCORE: 4/5