Bad Presents

Four unemployed twenty-somethings show up on Christmas Eve to steal another fir tree from Doc Dickins' land. This annual prank turns bad when Dave misses the mark on the tree and cuts his buddy Jerry's hand. They rush him to Dr. Dickins for emergency medical treatment. Unfortunately, he's found dead in an upper bedroom but his ghost is very much alive. He won't let them or their girlfriends Teddy and Jane leave until they get their presents. Rationalizing that this is Dickins' way of saying he has forgiven them, they take the presents and run.

Jerry is dropped off at the local hospital. Alone, he becomes the first victim. His present, his old baseball glove, eats his arm off.

Dave and Teddy go back home and Jane opts to return to her place.The next morning, Jane stops by the hospital and discovers Jerry is dead. That night's snow storm knocks out the power and there is no way for her to call her friends to warn them not to open their presents. She starts out after them by car and foot.

When she reaches their home, it's too late. Both have met horrible (yet ironic) deaths based on their presents. Worst yet for Jane, her friends have become zombies who chase her-- along with the toy train and the Christmas tree-- down the basement. Jane discovers, as she fights for her life in a game of hide and seek, that the only thing that will save her is Dr. Dickins' irreplaceable collection of Christmas records (which have been signaling grave and weird things throughout the story). She threatens to destroy them if he and his minions don't leave her alone. A compromise is made: he will let her live if she returns everything to his house.

When Jane jams the broken Christmas tree back into the snow covered field, it lights up. When she returns to the house, she disappears.

A year later, we see a young family has moved into the house and that they kept the previous owner's Nativity set. Teddy, Dave, Jerry, and Jane's frozen faces stare out from behind the glowing plastic figures.

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