Inside No. 9 S3E1: The Devil of Christmas
by thethreepennyguignol
It might be Halloween soon, but friends, it’s time to talk about The Devil of Christmas.
Now, this episode is truly one of my favourites of the entire show’s run – a worthy opener to season three, which is a near-perfect series, as far as I’m concerned. Director Dennis Fulcher (Derek Jacobi, my beloved, in his first appearance in the show) provides commentary on his low-budget, late seventies flick The Devil of Christmas – a cheesy seasonal horror about the Krampus pursuing a strained British family (is there any other kind?).
While I, predictably, love the found footage aspect of this episode, I shan’t bore you again so soon with my soliloquy on the matter – instead, let’s talk about the production design and execution (pun marginally intended), which I truly think might be the most impressive aspect of this episode as a whole. A throwback to horror of the late seventies and early eighties, there isn’t a detail here that feels out-of-place – from the quality of the camera and sound to the sets and costumes, to the writing and acting performances, it’s such a loving recreation of classic Christmas horror stories that have been a mainstay of the BBC’s seasonal output for decades now. To capture that sense of time and place in terms of production isn’t an easy feat, but the effort poured into this episode allows the viewer to lose themselves completely in this meta-movie.
The delightfully mannered style of moviemaking at this time leaves space for plenty of comedy, much of it through Derek Jacobi’s commentary – his snarky little asides on the actors missing their marks and stirring around plates of cold food are delivered with just the right level of luvvie bitchiness, especially matched with the exquisitely-crafted dreadfulness that Pemberton, Jessica Raine, and Rula Lenska serve on-screen. Just the same way it takes a lot of money to look this cheap, it takes a lot of talent to act this badly, and it’s one of the funniest episodes of the show as a result.
But, despite the comedy, this is one of the most profoundly unsettling and horrible episodes of Inside No. 9 – which is probably the reason I love it so much. The festive season makes for such a perfect backdrop to horror stories, that contrast between the sense of warmth, togetherness, and family that’s meant to fill out the Christmas period and the looming dread of something darker hovering in the corners of your vision. This whole episode, you’re waiting for the penny to drop, for the real darkness to reveal itself, and when it does, it’s truly pretty horrific: unbeknownst to the leading cast, The Devil of Christmas is a snuff film, and the victim is its leading woman.
It’s a savage twist that ends, literally, just before the knife falls – Jessica Raine’s performance in those final few seconds, before the hard cut to black, is brutal, genuinely disturbing, a gut-twisting realization that renders everything else in the movie far darker than it seemed before. The apparent director’s commentary is actually a police interview; the snuff film, which Dennis mildly describes as “one of the better ones”, which has seemed till this moment all fuzzy throwback horror silliness, is a taped murder. Using the familiar backdrop of these classic, cheesy horror movies really lulls you in a way that makes the final blow even more striking. It’s a completely inventive twist, and one that left me with my jaw on the floor the first time around – even now, knowing it’s coming, I find it really disturbing.
The Devil of Christmas is a perfect Inside No. 9 episode – comedy, horror, and a twist that’s truly, well, twisted. It’s a perfect start to my favourite season of the show, and still ranks up there amongst the best-ever for me – where does it sit on your ranking? How does it measure up to the other Christmas special? Let me know in the comments!
If you liked this article and want to see more stuff like it, please check out the rest of my Inside No. 9 reviews. I’d also love it if you would check out my horrible short story collection, and, if you’d like to support my work, please consider supporting me on Patreon!
(header image via BBC)
The Cutprice Guignol 
This was the second episode of the series I watched. The first one was the one with Nicola Walker because… well, it’s Nicola Walker! I thought it was absolutely magnificent and as a huge fan of everything Christmas I was straight on the wavelength. Derek Jacobi makes the episode but as you say, the ‘bad acting’ is superb. I haven’t seen the other Christmas episode so I had better rectify that hadn’t I?!!
I do think this is the best of their Christmas specials, but Bones of Saint Nicholas certainly matches this on the nasty scale!
I liked it for a number of reasons I remember some of them old tv shows and right until the end I thought it might have been a dvd commentary and boy was I wrong!