Ghosts of Christmas Future in Christmas Carol movies, ranked by scariness

You most likely all know the story of Charles Dickens’ endlessly tailored 1843 vacation story A Christmas Carol, even for those who’ve by no means learn it. Tight-fisted, imply previous miser Ebenezer Scrooge falls asleep on Christmas Eve and is visited by three spirits: the Ghost of Christmas Previous, a person in a sleeping cap; the Ghost of Christmas Current, a rotund, jolly fellow; and the Ghost of Christmas But to Come, a harrowing, silent specter of dying. These three ghosts persuade our miserly man to alter his methods, however the third one does the heavy lifting, displaying Scrooge how quickly he’ll be lifeless and buried, whereas no person mourns his passing.

Within the textual content, Dickens describes the ghost as “shrouded in a deep black garment, which hid its head, its face, its kind, and left nothing of it seen save one outstretched hand.” This leaves loads of leeway for diversifications to interpret, and A Christmas Carol is likely one of the most-adapted works of fiction of all time.

So within the vacation spirit, I made a decision to look at each movie model and consider them on one single standards: How scary do they make the Ghost of Christmas But to Come? Don your sleeping cap and include us on a journey into vacation horror.

60. A Sesame Avenue Christmas Carol (2006)

Picture: Sesame Workshop

If you happen to had been going into this one anticipating to be spooked, I don’t know what to let you know. Oscar the Grouch as Scrooge contends with a CGI floating robotic with googly eyes because the Ghost of Christmas Future. We get it, you don’t wish to terrify the preschoolers, however there’s a purpose it’s lowest on the listing.

59. A Christmas Carol (1954)

Picture: CBS

Fredric March stars as Scrooge on this, the primary coloration televised model of the story. Sadly, the one surviving model is a black and white kinescope. In an odd selection, the Ghost of Christmas But to Come doesn’t seem in human kind in any respect. As an alternative, a myna hen caws Scrooge to the graveyard, the place he finds not solely his grave, but additionally Tiny Tim’s.

58. Christmas Cupid (2010)

Picture: Freeform

Christina Milian is the Scrooge determine on this ABC Household vacation comedy, and the three ghosts are her ex-boyfriends. Relying in your relationship historical past, this may appear scarier than it’s. The third ghost is her boss, who she can be courting, dressed up like Santa Claus. He tells her that within the horrible future to come back, they get married, then divorced. Bummer. Luckily, as a part of amending her depraved methods after the ghostly visitation, she dumps him.

57. Ghosts of Girlfriends Previous (2009)

Picture: Warner Bros. Photos

It’s a stretch, however this Matthew McConaughey rom-com is predicated on the Dickens story, so it counts. The “Ghost of Girlfriends Future” that exhibits McConaughey’s womanizer protagonist Connor Mead the error of his methods is performed by gorgeous Russian mannequin Olga Maliouk, wearing white fairly than the standard black cloak.

56. Wealthy Little’s Christmas Carol (1978)

Picture: CBC/HBO

It’s nearly unimaginable to elucidate how widespread comedic impersonator Wealthy Little was within the 1970s, however “HBO gave him a Christmas particular wherein he performed each single function of A Christmas Carol as a special superstar character” would possibly do it. Scrooge is Wealthy Little as W.C. Fields, and the Ghost of Christmas Future is Little taking part in Peter Sellers because the Pink Panther motion pictures’ Inspector Clouseau. So not scary, however extraordinarily bizarre.

55. The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol (2011)

Picture: Sony Dwelling Leisure

The actual revelation right here is that Grouchy Smurf (the Scrooge of the story) acts like a dick on a regular basis as a result of Papa Smurf offers him a hat yearly for Christmas. The ghost is Hefty Smurf. Not scary until you will have a phobia of fitness center bros.

54. My Dad Is Scrooge (2014)

Picture: MarVista Leisure

That is most likely the one Christmas Carol the place Scrooge will get headbutted by a llama. Our miser here’s a farmer named EB, who’s taught the magic of the season by a trio of speaking animals. The third one is a canine that hypnotizes EB. This factor is so low-cost and bizarre that when the animals discuss, it’s typically simply their lips shifting over a nonetheless {photograph}. The canine doesn’t even gown up!

53. A Christmas Carol: The Musical (2004)

Picture: Hallmark Leisure

It is a powerful look ahead to quite a few causes, particularly for those who’re not a fan of Broadway musicals. Kelsey Grammer performs Scrooge, and he’s confronted by a white-clad Ghost of Christmas But to Come performed by Geraldine Chaplin (Charlie Chaplin’s daughter, most lately seen in Netflix’s The Crown). The costuming is fairly dire — she seems to be like she’s lined in damp bathroom paper.

52. Chasing Christmas (2005)

Picture: Freeform

Tom Arnold has large divorced vitality because the Scrooge determine on this mediocre comedy, the place the Ghost of Christmas Previous goes AWOL and leads him and the Ghost of Christmas Current by way of a sequence of scenes. Scrooge and the second spirit finally make out, and there are loads of cartoon sound results. But to Come solely exhibits up on the film’s climax, and is only a sleazy-looking Euro man in an ascot.

51. Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas (2006)

Picture: Warner Bros. Dwelling Leisure

Right here, the ghost is the Tasmanian Satan. He begins out the scene within the typical black shroud, however doffs it a minute or so later to interact within the normal Warner Bros. schtick.

50. Stick with it Christmas (1969)

Picture: Thames Tv

The long-running British slapstick movie sequence tackled Dickens for a Christmas particular on the finish of the swinging ’60s, however the Ghost of Christmas Future is simply actor Bernard Bresslaw taking part in an extremely broad hippie impersonation. Oh, and Frankenstein and Dracula are additionally on this, for unexplained causes.

49. It’s Christmas, Carol! (2012)

Picture: Hallmark Leisure

Carrie Fisher performs all three ghosts (and the Marley function as well) on this Hallmark Channel tackle A Christmas Carol set within the trendy age. Emmanuelle Vaugier is the Scrooge determine, remodeled right into a hard-charging CEO with no time for Christmas. Not scary.

48. A Christmas Carol (2015)

Picture: Actuality Leisure (RE)

This extraordinarily cheap-looking Canadian musical manufacturing of the story was a labor of affection (director Anthony D.P. Mann additionally performs Scrooge), for what that’s price. The Spirit of Christmas But to Come talks and sings on this rendition. She’s only a girl with a white face in a giant black hat. The entire thing has a group theater vibe.

47. Brer Rabbit’s Christmas Carol (1992)

Picture: Reel Media Worldwide

The early ’90s had been such a dire time for animation. This made-for-TV particular — not produced by Disney, and with no connection to Disney’s Music of the South — is an ordeal to look at, and all of the ghosts are simply Brer Rabbit messing with Brer Fox by way of the usage of family props and woodland actors. So the Ghost of Christmas But to Come right here is only a sheet on a mop with a jack-o’-lantern on high.

46. An American Christmas Carol (1979)

Picture: Sony Photos Tv

Henry Winkler — the Fonz himself — dons old-age make-up to painting Benedict Slade on this adaptation moved to Melancholy-era New England. The spirit who exhibits him the distress that awaits him after dying is performed with soulfulness by Dorian Harewood — the fill-in voice of Shredder from the Ninja Turtles cartoons!

45. A Christmas Carol (1969)

Picture: Air Applications Worldwide

From a sequence of Australian animated diversifications known as Well-known Traditional Tales, this can be a fairly normal tackle the story, full with a 3rd ghost that would go for an unimaginative Scooby-Doo villain.

44. A Christmas Carol (2000)

Picture: ITV

This odd British TV adaptation strikes the motion to the current day, with Ross Kemp taking part in Scrooge as a council-estate mortgage shark despised by his purchasers and group. The third spirit that visits him on Christmas Eve is an eerily silent younger boy who exhibits him the unhealthy finish that awaits, and within the movie’s coda, we study that the child was his yet-to-be-born youngster. In idea this could possibly be scary, however it’s executed so clumsily that it’s extra laughable than chilling.

43. Skinflint: A Nation Christmas Carol (1979)

Picture: NBC

David Bond performs the Ghost of Christmas But to Come on this honky-tonk musical adaptation of the Dickens story, with Gremlins’ Hoyt Axton within the Scrooge function. This was solely aired as soon as, in the course of the late-’70s peak of Grand Ole Opry nation music. Bond eschews the hood in favor of what seems to be like dollar-store Dracula make-up and a few deeply bizarre hand gestures.

42. A Christmas Carol (1910)

Picture: Public Area

The oldest surviving movie model of Dickens’ story (aside from the 1906 one, which didn’t have the three ghosts) is a 13-minute silent speedrun of the entire story. The ghosts aren’t terribly scary, and so far as I can inform, the gimmick for the Ghost of Christmas But to Come is “large girl.”

41. A Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994)

Picture: Turner Leisure

This 70-minute animated take, that includes the standard Flintstones characters, depicts the ghost as a reasonably generic hooded featureless determine. The one notable factor about this film is that it truly exhibits Fred Flintstone’s corpse — or not less than his huge, pale-white large toe protruding from below a sheet.

40. The Stingiest Man in City (1978)

Picture: Rankin/Bass Animated Leisure

A low-effort Rankin-Bass animated musical model of the traditional story, with a hooded determine pointing a bony white arm at Scrooge’s tombstone. Completely competent, however nothing to write down house about.

39. A Carol Christmas (2003)

Picture: Hallmark Leisure

This Hallmark film had some severe stunt casting — Gary Coleman because the Ghost of Christmas Previous! William Shatner because the Ghost of Christmas Current! Storied actor James Cromwell is the third and closing ghost, and his expressive face does rather a lot to promote it, though he’s only a mute limo driver. The bit the place he closes Carol (Tori Spelling) into her coffin is a bit freaky.

38. Outdated Scrooge (1913)

Picture: Public Area

Ghosts in these early silent diversifications had been all the time very tall. On this silent model of the story, our future ghost is only a lanky fellow wrapped in some bedsheets. Marley is definitely considerably scarier.

37. A Christmas Carol (1982)

Picture: 9 Community

I feel this animated Australian model of the story is the baseline “strong C” for scariness. It’s not imaginative in any respect — for those who’ve learn this far, you’ve most likely guessed that the ghost here’s a large determine in a black cloak — however the rendering is okay, and the music actually sells the scene. Completely respectable however nothing to surrender your miserly methods over.

36. Scrooge & Marley (2012)

Picture: Sam I Am Movies

Chicago drag legend Jojo Child performs the third ghost on this campy homosexual tackle the story, with Scrooge recast as a penny-pinching membership proprietor visited by his deceased companion. Mr. Child does a superb job, wrapped up in a mummy-like sheath of black cloth that casts a really glam silhouette.

35. Ebbie (1995)

Picture: Lifetime

A Lifetime authentic film starring Susan Lucci as the primary feminine Scrooge? Search for scares elsewhere, pal. The Ghost of Christmas But to Come is performed by busy Invoice Croft, most notable for taking part in jail guards or convicts in exhibits like Airwolf and Viper. He’s only a quiet however imposing man in a hat and a black trenchcoat.

34. A Christmas Carol (1997)

Picture: DIC

DIC was the go-to studio for inexpensive animation by way of a lot of the ’80s and ’90s, and this vacation particular was as common as potential. Tim Curry performs Scrooge, and the difference offers him a bulldog named Debit as a result of all cartoons will need to have a cute animal character. The ghost here’s a glowing cloaked specter, nothing fancy or particular, however it’s properly designed.

33. A Diva’s Christmas Carol (2000)

Picture: VH1

Vanessa Williams performs “Ebony Scrooge” on this perplexing made-for-VH1 vacation film, which additionally stars Duran Duran’s John Taylor and Chilli from TLC. The stunt casting may have gone any variety of methods for the Ghost of Christmas But to Come, however for some purpose, it’s a haunted tv set displaying an episode of Behind the Music the place all people talks about how a lot they hate Scrooge now that she’s lifeless. Then it sucks her in, Poltergeist-style. Extraordinarily bizarre.

32. A Christmas Carol (1994)

Picture: Goodtimes Leisure

Cheaply made animated particular with the paintings accomplished in Japan in a vaguely anime fashion. Our closing ghost is a hooded determine sporting a rope as a belt. The entire enterprise is fairly artless and uninspired.

31. 2nd Likelihood for Christmas (2019)

Picture: Finish of the Rose

Direct-to-DVD (and streaming) cornball starring Brittany Underwood as a spoiled pop star within the Scrooge function. Vivica A. Fox is usually wasted because the third ghost, credited as “Demise” — she enters the scene in cloak and bones, inspiring Underwood to ask whether or not she “died at Comedian-Con.” However she performs by way of the flick simply as her regular, superb self.

30. Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983)

Picture: Walt Disney Animation

Disney animated tasks are often fairly scary — even the Mickey Mouse tales. However the Ghost right here is simply frequent Mickey nemesis Peg-Leg Pete, sporting a brown shroud and puffing a stogie. It’s a testomony to how good the framing and animation is that he nonetheless feels threatening. The addition of a cigar does clarify the billows of smoke across the spirit.

29. An All Canines Christmas Carol (1998)

Picture: MGM Dwelling Leisure

The final movie within the All Canines Go to Heaven sequence has a convoluted plot about evil bulldog Carface scheming to hypnotize pets to steal Christmas presents. The great canine gown up because the three spirits to alter his methods, and the Ghost of Christmas Future begins off as an imposing hooded determine earlier than whipping his cloak off to do a weird riff on Jim Carrey in The Masks. He does take Carface to literal hell, which is a bit intense.

28. A Christmas Carol (1977)

Picture: BBC

Yet one more BBC adaptation of the story, with a wonderfully acceptable shroud-clad spirit. He loses a number of factors as a result of he doesn’t actually appear to know what to do along with his arms, leaving them hanging awkwardly whereas Scrooge monologues. However the huge hanging hood and creepy silence are each on level.

27. Una Meravigliosa Notte (1953)

Picture: Olympic Movie

I don’t converse Italian, so it’s tough to guage how properly the ghost comes off on this adaptation, which stars Paolo Stoppa as grasping Antonio Trabbi, visited by a trio of spirits who present him the error of his methods. That is the second movie on this listing the place the ghost has no bodily kind, as a substitute manifesting as an echoing voice-over. The cinematography does rather a lot to promote it, as Stoppa appears genuinely deranged and unsettled by the all-knowing voice in his head.

26. Ms. Scrooge (1997)

Picture: USA Community

Cicely Tyson performs the Scrooge function on this gender-swapped model of the story, wherein the Ghost of Christmas Future warns her that the IRS will take all her cash after she dies. He’s performed by actor Julian Richings, who has a memorable face, however spends his entire a part of the film standing round expressionless in a go well with. It’s simply bizarre sufficient to be actually creepy.

25. A Christmas Carol (1938)

Picture: Public Area

One of many extra well-known diversifications, this one is strong, however the ghost is only a man in a black cloak. When he walks, he typically sticks each of his arms out in entrance of him like Frankenstein’s monster. Each every so often, you may see his bizarre skinny hand.

24. John Grin’s Christmas (1986)

Picture: ABC

This all-Black TV adaptation of the story has Robert Guillaume because the Scrooge determine John Grin, and the Ghost of Christmas But to Come is performed by Trinidadian dancer/actor Geoffrey Holder, most likely finest referred to as Baron Samedi in Reside and Let Die. The costuming isn’t something to write down house about, however Holder’s expressive face and wild mannerisms positively ship.

23. Tales From Dickens: A Christmas Carol (1959)

Picture: Coronet Movies

Early tv programming didn’t have a lot to supply by way of particular results, so the Ghost on this Basil Rathbone-starring adaptation is a black cloak strolling round in some studio fog. Some good stiff-armed pointing and a dedication to stillness and silence makes it one of many higher of its kind.

22. Scrooge (1951)

Picture: Renown Photos

Alastair Sim is certainly one of cinema’s most well-known Scrooges, and he places his entire again into cowering in worry of the Ghost of Christmas But to Come. It’s one other shrouded determine, however its introduction is fairly good — a pale white handheld within the foreground of a shot for greater than a minute as Scrooge freaks out. The most effective factor about this one is his implacability: None of Scrooge’s pleas transfer him within the slightest.

21. A Christmas Carol (1914)

Picture: Public Area

One other silent flim, this one operating a bit over 20 minutes. The ghost is a giant man in a black hood and cloak, performed by the awesomely named and utterly stone-faced H. Ashton Tonge. Charles Rock is an overacting machine as Scrooge, chewing surroundings prefer it was a Christmas goose.

20. A Christmas Carol: Scrooge’s Ghostly Story (2006)

Picture: BKN New Media

This direct-to-video CGI animated movie casts anthropomorphic animals within the lead roles. You’ll by no means in 1,000,000 years guess what sort of animal the Ghost of Christmas But to Come is, so I’ll simply spoil it for you: It’s a walrus with one damaged tusk, crackling with some type of eldritch electrical energy. It’s so inexplicable that it wraps round to being scary.

19. Scrooge (1922)

Picture: Public Area

That is, chronologically, the primary movie that depicts the Ghost of Christmas But to Include its face totally shrouded, and it’s efficient, though the ghost is barely on display for a minute on this silent brief.

18. Ebenezer (1998)

Picture: TNT

Jack Palance as Ebenezer Scrooge in a model of the story set within the Outdated West? Unimaginable, and the legendary actor goes wild as a card-cheating swindler who hates Christmas. The ghost here’s a shrouded determine with some wisps of grey hair popping out from the cloak, and on the finish of his scene, he reveals his face as Scrooge’s lifeless companion, Jacob Marlowe.

17. Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol (1962)

Picture: NBC

The hapless blind codger has been forged as Ebenezer Scrooge in a theatrical adaptation of the Dickens story, presumably for insurance-fraud causes. The third spirit is the stereotypical silent hooded shadowy determine, however animated within the traditional UPA fashion, so it seems to be fairly cool and imposing. The unique songs written for the film and sung by Magoo sort of undercut the drama, although.

16. Scrooge (1935)

Picture: Public Area

The primary feature-length Christmas Carol movie with sound takes a reasonably attention-grabbing method with our third ghost, portraying him as an amorphous shadow that typically enfolds Scrooge, and at different instances seems as a pointing finger forged on the snowy floor. Not tremendous scary, however cool.

15. A Christmas Carol (1923)

Picture: Public Area

One other shadowy cloaked determine on this silent adaptation, however Russell Thorndike’s Scrooge sells the hell out of it properly sufficient to bump it up a number of spots.

14. A Christmas Carol (2012)

Picture: October Eleven Photos Ltd.

This comparatively obscure adaptation directed by Jason Figgis does some odd issues with the supply materials, intentionally eradicating some scenes to make the narrative bleaker. It’s fairly low-budget and clearly shot on video with the actors in several rooms, overlaid with low-cost digital results, however it manages to work OK. The ghost has a purple cloak and a few gross zombie make-up on his outstretched hand, incomes factors for being completely different.

13. A Christmas Carol (2018)

Picture: Towerflix

The introduction of the ultimate spirit on this Scotland-set model is straight out of a horror film, all ominous whooshing noises and creaking violins. However in a departure from the norm, we by no means truly see it. As an alternative, it speaks in one-word pronouncements in a gravelly voice as Scrooge reacts to it. Factors for originality and strong sound design, however the actor taking part in Scrooge doesn’t promote it in addition to he may.

12. Spirited (2022)

Picture: Apple TV Plus

Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds mug it up on this comedy vacation musical made for Apple TV. It’s acquired good manufacturing values, and the Ghost of Christmas But to Come, performed by former Raptors energy ahead Loren Woods (however voiced by Tracy Morgan), makes probably the most of its jiffy on display.

11. A Christmas Carol (1984)

Picture: CBS

George C. Scott stars as Scrooge in one of many all-time finest variations of the story, and the ghost is de facto strong — tattered, shadowy, silent, and imposing. Nothing notably modern about this rendition, however expertly executed.

10. Christmas Carol: The Film (2001)

Picture: Pathé

Usually, this animated model of the story is fairly low-quality, though the superstar voice forged consists of Kate Winslet and Nicolas Cage. However the Ghost of Christmas But to Come is dealt with fairly marvelously. Its depiction eschews realism: It’s drawn with sloppy brushstrokes outlining a cadaverous determine. It’s one of many few animated variations that basically takes benefit of the medium, even when it’s only for a short while.

9. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

Picture: Walt Disney Photos

Michael Caine in a world stuffed with Muppets is disconcerting sufficient, however this one takes a flip for the eerie when Scrooge runs into the third spirit — an enormous determine clad in black robes, with an infinite, featureless void the place its face ought to be. Not loads of time on display, however a very sturdy design.

8. Scrooge (1970)

Picture: 20th Century Studios

For the primary a part of the ghost’s look on this musical (with Albert Finney as Scrooge), he’s the standard black-cloaked determine. However when Scrooge realizes he’s his personal grave, the Ghost reveals a skeletal face and arms which can be concurrently corny and disconcerting.

7. A Christmas Carol (2019)

Picture: FX/BBC

Man Pearce starred as Scrooge on this sequence, one of many darkest diversifications of Dickens ever. There’s even a sexual-abuse subplot to Scrooge’s childhood, together with a number of different grownup themes. The Ghost of Christmas But to Come is properly performed by British actor Jason Flemyng, who seems as a pallid man in a black go well with and high hat along with his mouth crudely sewn shut.

6. A Christmas Carol (2020)

Picture: Frith Avenue Movies

This bold dance movie options superstar voices {and professional} dancers. It’s one of many extra visually compelling takes on the story, with some dynamic units and exquisite movement. Each Bob Cratchit and the Ghost of Christmas But to Come are performed by dancer Brekke Fagerlund Karl, who’s magnificently threatening along with his spare actions.

5. A Christmas Carol (1971)

Picture: Channel 4

Legendary animator Richard Williams gained an Oscar for this good adaptation, which is simply large from begin to end. The ghost is a hooded determine, as per regular, however the unbelievable fluidity of the drawings right here offers it an uncanny hyperrealism. Coupled with some unsettling digicam motion, the design offers us a really excessive placer.

4. A Christmas Carol (1999)

Picture: TNT

The Patrick Stewart-led Christmas Carol was the primary Scrooge story to make use of digital particular results. Our Ghost right here is performed by British actor Tim Potter, however we don’t actually see him. As an alternative, it’s a baleful black shroud with two unsettling amber eyes buried inside. Generally the primitive VFX of this era could possibly be actually efficient, and this can be a nice instance.

3. A Christmas Carol (2009)

Picture: Walt Disney Photos

I’m not the largest fan of Robert Zemeckis’ motion-capture animated movies, as they all the time veer a bit too far into the uncanny valley for consolation. However you may’t deny that the Ghost of Christmas But to Are available his vacation effort is efficient. CGI lets the spirit be a creature of pure shadow, altering measurement at will for some actually spectacular results.

2. Scrooged (1988)

Picture: Paramount Photos

Invoice Murray assembly the hulking Ghost of Christmas But to Come within the elevator is certainly one of many nice scenes on this traditional ’80s dram-com. Then the ghost opens the entrance of his cloak to disclose tormented souls trapped in his ribcage, and forces Invoice Murray to expertise his personal cremation. An excellent fusion of the standard and the up to date, and it’s positively scary!

1. A Carol for One other Christmas (1964)

Picture: ABC

Depart it to Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling to max out the scare issue. This adaptation stars Sterling Hayden as industrialist Daniel Grudge, who’s visited by three ghosts trying to argue him out of his isolationist insurance policies. The third ghost is performed by Robert Shaw, who isn’t that scary on his personal — till you understand that the “future” he’s displaying Grudge is a world ravaged by nuclear armageddon and mindless, murderous violence. Shadowy figures and impending dying are sometimes scary sufficient to show a Scrooge round, however the specter of international thermonuclear warfare? That’s sufficient to avoid wasting an entire lifetime of Christmases.