Every December, Hollywood drags Ebenezer Scrooge out of his counting house, rattles his chains, and asks us to feel something. Do we need another Scrooge movie? Honestly, no. We’ve had the musicals, the Muppets, the mouse, the whole parade. But I will never get tired of this story. Redemption, a soul found again, forgiveness for a man who thought he was beyond it. Tell it a hundred times and I’ll sit in the front row for the hundred-and-first, because apparently we still haven’t learned the lesson. Humbug to us.

And this time, the candle is burning in the dark. Ti West, the director who made horror fans swoon with X and Pearl, wraps Dickens in fog, frost, and shadow. London doesn’t look like a postcard here. It looks like a place where something is watching you from the staircase. The Gothic atmosphere is the star of this film, and I loved every creaking, candlelit minute of it. The production quality is gorgeous, and Sir Ian McKellen does what Sir Ian always does: walks in, owns the room, and makes the rest of us sit up straighter.

Now, let’s talk about the man in the nightcap.

Johnny Depp is a gifted, fearless actor, and I will always appreciate an artist who swings for the fences. But Scrooge is already a cartoon. He’s a skinflint in a top hat who gets lectured by ghosts! Pile another layer of cartoon on top, and the performance starts to tease the edge of mockery. A few scenes had me leaning in, and a few had me wishing someone had gently whispered, “Dial it down, darling.” West built a haunted house with real dread in the walls, and Depp occasionally wanders through it like he’s at a costume party. A little restraint would have made this Scrooge truly terrifying and truly heartbreaking.

Still, the heart of the story survives, because it always does. That’s the magic of Dickens. You can dress it in velvet, in horror, or in song, and the ghosts still do their work.

Does it topple my favorite? Never. For me, Alastair Sim’s 1951 Scrooge remains the gold standard, the one where you can feel a man’s soul crack open and let the light in. But Ebenezer is a moody, handsome, wickedly atmospheric new chapter, and a perfect scary-but-sweet date with a cold winter night.

Manny’s Rating: 3 out of 4 Bah Humbug Kisses 💋💋💋

Go see it, then go call someone you’ve been stubborn with. That’s the whole point. Mwah! 💋