This Thursday is Thanksgiving, which means that for those of us who are holiday-fanatics, Friday marks the beginning of the holiday season! For me, part of that means checking the TV listings for holiday movies. I don’t just limit that to the big movies. I mean sure, I’m happy to rewatch Love Actually for the thousandth time but I’m not opposed to watching one of those corny made for TV movies like A Mom For Christmas if I happen upon it while channel surfing (or “accidentally” set my TiVo to find these types of movies because I secretly love them despite the fact that they all have the same predictable happy ending complete with some sort of Christmas miracle).

So you’ve got the big blockbuster holiday movies like The Santa Clause and the corny made for TV movies filled with B-list stars. There are two other types of holiday movies that I can think of. The more adultish holiday comedies (Bad Santa, The Ref) and the just-plain-weird films like The Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s the fans of the latter sub-genre that I think will be interested in the 4-hour miniseries that’s set to air on ION this Sunday night.

Hogfather, which is based on Terry Pratchett’s best-selling novel, looks like another one of those warped holiday films that some people will probably just love. The story takes place in Discworld, an alternate universe where instead of Christmas, people celebrate Hogswatch. Instead of Santa Claus, they have the Hogfather. As Hogfather’s main job is delivering gifts, he’s a pretty integral part of the whole Hogswatch season. When a group of villains called the Auditors kidnap the Hogfather, the whole holiday is put in jeopardy. Especially when Death steps in to take over the Hogfather’s job.

Based on the trailer (see below), the film looks like a deliciously twisted (or totally creepy, depending on your taste in movies and holiday fun) holiday film for people who love dark not-quite-Christmasy Christmas movies.

Hogfather- US Network Premiere

Posted Nov 13, 2007

Sunday, November 25th 7/6c, ION TELEVISION: NETWORK PREMIERE OF TERRY PRATCHETT "HOGFATHER"

Hogfather airs on Sunday, November 25th on ION.