Ti West’s track record makes this rating genuinely interesting. The director behind X, Pearl, and MaXXXine built his career on hard R-rated horror that never flinches. Watching him apply that craft to a PG-13 Christmas ghost story is one of the most unexpected creative pivots in recent genre history. Furthermore, the rating confirms he hasn’t lost his horror instincts, even within tighter constraints. Johnny Depp returning to theaters as Ebenezer Scrooge, with Ian McKellen as Jacob Marley, is one of the most unclassifiable films of the year. It opens November 13.
The Rating
Paramount’s Ebenezer has officially received a PG-13 rating for “frightening material.” For a Ti West film, that’s notably restrained. However, it aligns perfectly with what West described as his goal, a “spookier version” of A Christmas Carol “than ever before.”
The Story
A Christmas Carol is, at its core, a ghost story. As Bloody Disgusting has noted, it’s technically one of the most influential horror texts in English literary history. It paved the way for the rise of Victorian Spiritualism in the decade that followed. West brings his horror sensibility to that tradition. Nathaniel Halpern wrote the screenplay.
The Cast
A Christmas Carol is, at its core, a ghost story. As Bloody Disgusting has noted, it’s technically one of the most influential horror texts in English literary history. It paved the way for the rise of Victorian Spiritualism in the decade that followed. West brings his horror sensibility to that tradition. Nathaniel Halpern wrote the screenplay.
The Legacy It’s Joining
A Christmas Carol has been adapted for screen more times than almost any other literary work, from the 1951 Scrooge starring Alastair Sim to Bill Murray’s Scrooged (1988), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), and Jim Carrey’s motion-capture version (2009). Ti West’s version arrives as one of the most distinctive creative voices in horror takes his first shot at a story that has never been told by someone with his particular sensibility.
Ebenezer opens in theaters November 13, 2026, from Paramount Pictures.
