Ebenezer review – Johnny Depp and director Ti West give Charles Dickens’s familiar Christmas story a darker, creepier and more eccentric identity, proving that a tale can still surprise even when everyone knows where it is heading.
TV Central attended a complimentary preview screening. No payment was received for this review.
Set in Victorian London, Ebenezer follows the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge (Johnny Depp) through the Christmas Eve reckoning audiences know from Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. The ghosts of the past, present and future force him to confront the choices that made him cold, isolated and cruel, but Ti West’s film approaches that journey as a Gothic ghost story rather than a cosy family tradition.
A Familiar Destination Can Still Be Worth The Journey
There is an unusual challenge in reviewing a film when the audience already knows the outcome. A new version of Titanic could be spectacular, but it could never hide the iceberg. The same problem follows every adaptation of A Christmas Carol: Scrooge will be visited, tested and offered the possibility of redemption. Suspense cannot come from asking what happens, so it has to come from how the filmmakers choose to tell it.
Sometimes that familiarity makes a remake feel unnecessary. Here, it works because Ebenezer has a distinct personality. The comparison that came to mind was the shift from Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory to the Johnny Depp-led Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The essential framework remained recognisable, yet the later film found a stranger, darker and more stylised route through it. Ebenezer creates a similar sense of reinvention.
Ti West Turns Christmas Into A Gothic Ghost Story
West gives the film a shadowy, wintry atmosphere that makes even familiar streets and rooms feel uneasy. The colour palette is deliberately gloomy, the interiors seem to close around Scrooge and the supernatural visitors are more confronting than the gentler figures found in many family versions. The Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come are stranger, scarier and more unsettling, with the film leaning into the idea that this is a haunting before it is a lesson.
That choice gives the movie weight, although it can also make the experience feel drearier than expected. The Australian M classification for mature themes is a useful guide. This is not the version I would choose for very young children looking for a warm Christmas adventure. Teenagers and adults who enjoy Gothic fantasy, however, should be comfortable with its darker tone and more confronting imagery.
Johnny Depp Makes Scrooge His Own
Depp does not play Scrooge as an ordinary man who merely became bitter. His version is larger, kookier and more outlandish — almost a caricature shaped by years of greed and self-protection. The physical performance, costuming and vocal mannerisms push the character towards the grotesque without losing the emotional journey underneath. It is unmistakably a Johnny Depp performance, but that eccentricity belongs in the heightened world West has built.
The strong supporting cast helps keep the film grounded around him. Rupert Grint, Andrea Riseborough, Sam Claflin, Daisy Ridley, Arthur Conti, Ellie Bamber, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Charlie Murphy and Tramell Tillman all contribute to the world surrounding Scrooge. Ian McKellen is particularly welcome as Jacob Marley, bringing gravity and theatrical presence to one of the story’s most important warnings.
The result is a very good new interpretation rather than a replacement for the versions audiences already love. It respects the familiar shape of Dickens’s story while finding enough visual and tonal difference to justify returning to it. I would have expected a film this steeped in snow, spirits and Christmas redemption to arrive even closer to December, but its 12 November Australian release does at least begin the cinema holiday season with a full-strength dose of humbug.
The TV Central Verdict
Aaron: 7.5/10
A familiar Christmas journey made fresh by Johnny Depp’s eccentric Scrooge and Ti West’s darker Gothic vision.
Zak: 7.5/10
Creepy, atmospheric and different enough to make a well-known story worth experiencing again.
Ebenezer Official Synopsis
On Christmas Eve in Victorian London, wealthy miser Ebenezer Scrooge is drawn into a supernatural journey after the ghost of his former business partner and three Christmas spirits force him to confront his past, the emptiness of his present and the future awaiting him. With the possibility of redemption still within reach, Scrooge must decide whether he is willing to change before it is too late.
Ebenezer Movie Details
- Australian cinema release: 12 November 2026
- Director: Ti West
- Screenplay: Nathaniel Halpern
- Based on: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
- Principal cast: Johnny Depp, Rupert Grint, Andrea Riseborough, Sam Claflin, Daisy Ridley, Arthur Conti, Ellie Bamber, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Charlie Murphy, Tramell Tillman and Ian McKellen
- Producer: Emma Watts
- Production: Paramount Pictures, Domain Entertainment, Wattsco and IN.2 Films
- Australian distributor: Paramount Pictures Australia
- Runtime: 115 minutes
- Australian classification: M – mature themes
Aaron At The Ebenezer Premiere
Watch The Ebenezer Official Trailer
For more on the film, see TV Central’s earlier Ebenezer trailer preview, the official Paramount film page and the Australian Classification decision.
Ebenezer At Event Cinemas Innaloo
Event Cinemas Innaloo and Natalie Cameron’s team created a fantastic evening around the preview. Dinner at Varsity in the same complex made for an easy start to the night, with its Wednesday cheeseburger special proving a particularly good pre-film option. The cinema itself again delivered the comfortable seating, large screen, clean presentation and strong sound that make it a reliable venue for a major premiere.
The Christmas theming extended well beyond the auditorium. Guests could take photographs with costumed Ebenezer characters, while gingerbread, hot chocolate and complimentary popcorn brought a welcome festive touch. Photo opportunities and prizes added to the occasion, and the effort from Event Cinemas and Natalie Cameron helped turn the screening into a memorable Christmas event rather than simply another night at the movies.
Ebenezer is in Australian cinemas now.
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