The Spirit of Christmas Movie Review Or I Did Not See That Ending Coming

The Holiday Season has set in. Whether you’re the biggest Holiday fan in the world, or a real life Grinch, we all have complaints about this time of year. Bloggin Hood is right there with you. From December 14th-25^th, enjoy the 12 Days of Blogmas, with consecutive posts ranting on various Christmas and other holiday topics. Remember, you can like something and still find something to complain about, as long as you look hard enough. Today, we look at The Spirit of Christmas, a film that triggered this streak of posts.

Recently, Bloggin Hood discussed the flaws of Hallmark Christmas Movies. By now, most people are aware of these movies and what to expect. One thing I failed to bring up is the rise of Hallmark Style movies on rival streaming services and networks. Today, any streaming service worth it’s salt has a full holiday section. One of Hallmark’s strongest competitors is Lifetime, who tends to make similar styled movies with better production values. Does this lead to a better movie? Like any good scientist, I had to find out* ¹. Last night, I made the decision to watch The Spirit of Christmas, a Lifetime Original Christmas “film”.

Trust me, the quotation marks are very important.

If you have any desire to watch tThe Spirit of Christmas, I recommend holding off on this blog until you do so. Unlike professional reviews, I’m going to spoil every plot point in this blog. You have all been warned.

The spoiler tag might confuse you. After all, it’s a network Christmas movie. Won’t the necessary plot points be the same is every other movie? Well, yes, basically it is. I mean, the main character’s name was Kate for Christ sake** ². Still, it’s not quite a paint by numbers movie, and I don’t want to be on Santa’s naughty list.

If you care for spoilers in a Lifetime Christmas movie, here’s you last warning. I can’t believe I wrote this intro unironically.

The Spirit of Christmas opens with a friggin murder. I joke that the Hallmark network kills off more characters than Game of Thrones, but Lifetime doesn’t pull any punches here. Daniel, our male lead, dies from an apparent karate chop to the back of the head. For cold blooded murder this seems like a weak death. Was the killer Austin Powers? Later, we’ll learn that the assailant used a giant, jagged rock to commit the deed. That’s a bit better, but then why did this attack look so weak? Maybe I missed the rock, but I’d rather blame the film.

Unfortunately, the opening gore has a pretty significant director error. Daniel dies face up despite being assaulted from behind. Huh. I need a physicist to explain this one to me*** ³ Shouldn’t Daniel be face down? Look, we all know the reason this happened – so everyone can stare at the actor’s face. But there’s a whole “movie” for that. If you’re going to murder the crap out of somebody in your intro, do it right, damn it.

Still, points for an opening scene murder in a Christmas movie. What a good way to get everyone into the holiday spirit.

Our next scene has us meet Kate, who we learn is a busy businessman woman who only cares for business. Quickly, The Spirit of Christmas takes us right back into comforting tropes. Thank God! We almost had some originality.

Kate is on a date with a complete loser who’s out of his league. Yet, the scene has the guy break up with Kate. This might be the least believable plot point in the film (please keep this sentence in mind). Instead of being upset, Kate laughs and says she feared a proposal. She explains, with a bit of defensive cheer, how her other relationships have ended, and the scene ends with her eating the guy’s food. Breaking up and proposing feel like opposite ends of the spectrum. Then again, multiple people approved this scene. So what do I know?

We learn that Kate is a lawyer who needs to appraise an inn. That’s what high profile lawyers do, I guess. When Kate meets the Innkeeper, he casually mentions the house is haunted and acts as though it’s normal. If this was an episode of Scooby Doo, the Inn Keeper would have 100% been the spirit. Unfortunately, this isn’t a 15 minute cartoon, and the movie continues.

Kate stays the night in the haunted in with almost no resistance from the inn keeper. While enjoying her free night at the inn, kate awakes and finds Daniel telling her to leave. While fleeing, Kate crashes into a few things, and a pot lands on her head. My theory is the remaining story is a fever dream brought on by a concussion. However, the narrative explains the head injury is for comical effect. Did Roger Goddell produce this?

After a meaningless report to the police that goes nowhere, Kate talks about the ghost with the Innkeeper, who has no reaction to the tale. The Innkeeper acts like he’s close with the ghost, though later says they’ve rarely spoken. I guess he’s too busy being uninteresting to have any sort of reaction to the supernatural. Eventually, the three characters talk, and we get some background on Daniel.

Daniel is a spirit (See what the title did?!) who returns to human form for 12 days every year, and disappears at midnight on Christmas Eve. Other than not sleeping, he lives like a normal human. He eats a godly amount of food and every character can see and touch him. This won’t be the last time this movie invents it’s own rules for ghosts. Kate wants to learn more about Daniel and stay at the inn (freeloading). Daniel, who’s been a complete dick for the first 20 minutes of the film, immediately agrees, likely because Kate is pretty. Remember kids, you can get whatever you want, as long as you’re good looking.

A flashback reveals Daniel was in love with a woman named Lilly. He also learned English through a thesaurus. The story humanizes Daniel by revealing he was a 1920s Alcohol Smuggler who abandoned his fiancée before Christmas to sell some rum. What a guy. Daniel also abandons his partner and cousin Harry while smuggling, deciding to return to Lilly before Christmas at the last moment. So, our male lead is a rude criminal who likes to abandon family. Cool beans.

Kate falls in love with our rude ghost man when she walks in on him ironing shirtless. I have several complaints here. Firstly, why is this guy ironing shirtless? He could have worn clothes, but no, let’s have him shirtless. Secondly, why is a ghost who’s been dead for 95 years in phenomenal shape? All we ever see Daniel do is be a dick and now, iron. Does ironing burn significant calories? Compared to the guy she dated at the start of the film, I could understand Kate falling for Daniel, except for the small detail that HE’S A FRIGGING GHOST MAN. Defined Pecks go a long way I suppose.

While I hate the gratuitous shirtless scene, this is a Christmas Love movie staple. Sex sells. I mean, why do you think I included that picture of Santa?

As Kate and Daniel begin falling in love despite the ghost still being a jerk, we get more info on Daniel. He see the relationship between Daniel and Lilly, which includes a scene where Lilly says she fell for Daniel because of the inn. There’s a building block of any successful relationship. We also learn that Daniel had a brother, who ultimately married Lilly to cover up a potential child born out of wedlock. The child ends up being Daniel’s, so we can add “abandoning pregnant fiancée to smuggle booze” to his resume. Do the pecks really offset all of this Kate?

We also see Kate being haunted by a second ghost, though we don’t see this one. Kate thinks it’s Daniel for some reason, but it’s not. Daniel stands guard while Kate sleeps, which is an excuse for him to be a giant creeper. He hears the rival ghost but doesn’t see him. Now, our ghost man has been trapped in the inn for 95 years. You’re telling me there’s two ghosts in the same house for a century and they’ve never interacted?

Are we sure Daniel died in the 1920s and isn’t actually a millennial? it would explain so much.

Kate’s boss calls her, confused as to why the appraisal hasn’t finished in 24 hours. No one seems to understands the length of time appraisals take. Not a good sign for our busy businesswoman. She tells her boss that she’s trying to learn more about the ghost rumors, which is technically true, but her boss demands her to return to work. Heartbroken, Kate chooses her career over the Ghost man she’s known for a weekend. As an act of love, Daniel has the house appraised without Kate’s knowledge. It beats roses.

When she returns to work, Kate’s boss praises Kate’s work ethic**** ⁴, but forbids her from returning to the Inn. Instead, she must attend a mandatory Work Party on Christmas Eve, where her promotion will be announced. What kind of douchebag has a mandatory party on Christmas Eve? It sounds like regular work, but with a non alcoholic punch bowl. Kate decides to railroad her career and return to the inn.

I actually agree with her here. Work Christmas Parties are the worst.

To welcome Kate back, Daniel has the innkeeper throw a Christmas party at the Inn. Poor Kate can’t get away from these things. Both characters dress to the 9s, and why a ghost has a full suit despite being dead for 95 years is not addressed. The two kiss and dance and have a great time for a couple that’s only 50% alive. How romantic. Romantic-ish? Romantic like? It’s certainly something.

At this point, the movies goes off the rails.

Daniel enjoying himself triggers him to see the night of his murder play out in front of him. No wonder he’s always a jerk; happiness causes him deep pain. How Daniel can see events he wasn’t present for is never explained. First Daniel sees Lilly with his brother. The two married to cover up Lilly’s pregnancy, and Daniel’s brother spends every second of his screen time bashing the ghost as criminal scum.

To be fair, he’s not wrong.

Lilly believes that Daniel will return before Christmas, which is true. Unfortunately, she didn’t specify he needed to come home alive. We learn here that Daniel’s cousin, Harry, was the murderer, and is also the second ghost in the house. The two spirits confront each other in a scene with little to no buildup.

Harry confesses to the murder, believing he’s trapped in the end as punishment for his crimes. He says that another rum smuggler threatened to kill Harry’s family if he didn’t take out Daniel. See Daniel? There’s consequences for abandoning people. Daniel disagrees with the punishment theory. According to Daniel, Harry is stuck in the inn because of his fear. How the hell does Daniel know this? Is this ghostly information that only the dead have access to?

Daniel says he has no right to judge Harry, forgives him, and Harry moves on. I strongly disagree here. I’d say a murder victim has the strongest case to judge, you know, their murderer. But I’ll let this slide. We have much bigger issues upcoming.

Kate and Daniel spend a few minutes together. Daniel will disappear at midnight, and will not return until next year. Kate promises to wait for him, but Daniel wants her to date somebody who’s, you know, alive. The two kiss, and then midnight strikes. For some reason, Kate passes out and Daniel remains. The only ghost rule established is immediately broken. Fantastic.

Lilly is also in the house. That makes two mysterious ghosts Daniel didn’t know about. One of these was the love of his life. How convenient. The narrative implies Lilly’s love brought Daniel back to life for 12 days every year (totally makes sense). She tells him he is now free from his inn prison and can move on to the afterlife. Daniel isn’t sure if he wants to stay behind with Kate or move on. Lilly says it’s his choice before disappearing.

Now, for anyone paying attention, the options Daniel has are as following:

1. Move on to Ghost Heaven and be with Lilly. I assume his shit talking brother and murderous cousin will not be there. Then again, Daniel is a abandoning, smuggling criminal who’s been a dick for 90% of the movie. Maybe Ghost Heaven isn’t in the cards for him either.
2. He continues to live in the mansion for 12 days out of the year spending these precious days with Kate. A bittersweet ending, but shows that life has consequences.

Let’s remember that Daniel is very much dead, so these are the only two options. There is no other option possible.

The next day, Kate wakes up, and most of the unimportant plots wrap up. Kate’s boss calls her and says she got the promotion despite directly disobeying him. The innkeeper decides to buy the inn, along with his bartender friend, the only other character of relevance. Somehow, they have the cash to buy the inn. Also, the two of them are in love, because every Christmas movie needs a love side plot on top of the love main plot. Wonderful.

Kate leaves the inn and sees Daniel running toward her. Daniel is alive and Kate is extremely, and justifiably, confused. She asks how. The two embrace. And then the move ends.

Let me repeat that last sentence.

THE MOVIE FRIGGING ENDS

I legit yelled at the TV when the movie ended and walked out of the room. I know I’m prone to get irrationally angry at things, but this was justified.

There’s no post credit scene with some explanation. There’s not even a cheesy flash forward to a year later showing the two are together. It just ends with absolutely no explanation. While there’s no explanation, I think the implication is clear. Daniel willed himself back to life 95 years after he died to be with a lawyer he knew for less than 12 days. The Spirit of Christmas spit on the laws of life and death. Wouldn’t Daniel’s body be a decayed mess?

He’s also have a pretty sizable dent in his head, but that’s less important.

This isn’t an ending. This is a cop out. Daniel had two potential fates. Instead he created a third one that breaks every single rule not just in the fictional universe, but in our own. He doesn’t just get to come back. He already cheats death with his 12 days of shoving food down his ghost gullet. How does he eat? He’s a ghost! GAH!

The only other option that makes sense is if Kate had met one of Daniel’s descendants. Perhaps he brought the inn, and looks suspiciously like the ghost man. We get an epilogue where these two are together and Daniel, overlooking with Lilly as an actual ghost, smile and approve. Is that cheesy and cliché? It sure is. But it’s an actual ending. The writers knew they couldn’t justify Daniel’s revival, so they shrugged, stopped writing, and probably went back to smoking a ton of weed.

Also, what role did Lilly have in all this? How did she grant him the 12 days a year? Is she some sort of divine spirit? Is she Santa? We didn’t have Santa in this film so maybe. As confusing as her role at the end was, it’s nothing compared to a resurrection. Somehow, a sappy Christmas movie had a blasphemous twist! Eat your heart out M Night Shyamalan.

For a Hallmark Style Christmas movie, this movie did have a few unique qualities. Daniel was more than a cardboard cutout with no personally. Sure, his personality was “being a dick until the last 8 minutes” but that’s a stark improvement from the norm. While the plot hit most of the expected beats, there were a few twists. Not every movie has a ghost ironing his clothes shirtless.

Unfortunately, even an opening scene murder can’t justify the ending. You can’t just not end things and pretend it’s fine. Perhaps you’re ok with that, but Bloggin Hood is not. There’s a lot worst Christmas movies out there, but most of those end. With maybe 5 extra minutes, I might have given this a passing grade, for a Cheesy Hallmark Style Christmas movie. Instead, it gets an imcomplete.

Bloggin Hood’s grade – Incomplete/10

I was being literal there.

The Spirit of Christmas is available on both Hulu or Amazon Prime. Good luck with that.

1. *As far as you know, I could be a scientist. You don’t have proof that I’m not, and I won’t listen to any arguments against it.
2. **And people think I exaggerate my arguments. The Hallmark is basically a scroll of truth.
3. ***Bloggin Hood ‘s alleged scientific field is not physics, unfortunately.
4. He just chastised her for wasting too much time at the inn and in the next scene praises her for working hard. Did anyone read the script before filming, or was this all improv?