Halloween is just around the corner. How better to celebrate the ghoulish occasion than with a new Sufjan Stevens Christmas clay-mation video for “Mr. Frosty Man,” a fast and furious tableau featuring a renegade snowman’s battle against flesh eating zombies.

It’s a veritable Christmas bloodbath (made especially not for children) by the infamous clay-mation master Lee Hardcastle, displaying all the gore of a classic horror flick: zombies interrupt an otherwise normal family Christmas dinner but are thwarted by a rebel snowman wielding a chainsaw, a shotgun, and chip off his shoulder. Children (and spoilers) beware: Mommy gets mauled under the mistletoe and Jolly Ol’ Saint Nick gets a hard-knock lesson in weight loss, but, rest assured, Mr. Frosty Man doesn’t go down without a fight. He’s a real American Christmas hero!

Lee Hardcastle is the master animator behind such cult favorites as “Chainsaw Babe,” “Hamster Hell,” “The Exorcist (Done in 60 Seconds)” and “Pingu’s THE THING,” which reenacts John Carpenter’s horror masterpiece using Pingu characters. (For stateside readers, Pingu is sort of like the British version of Gumby, but as a penguin). Not for the faint of heart, Lee’s DIY animation is a gruesome sight to behold: unforgiving and unforgettable, heavy on gore and gags, and quick to the punch (his “Done in 60 seconds” series also tackles Hostel, Shaun of the Dead, and The Evil Dead).

Sufjan’s “Mr. Frosty Man” is a garage-rock parody appearing on the forthcoming Silver & Gold (from the “I Am Santa’s Helper” EP) about a disenchanted thug snowman, partly inspired by Coolio, Mister Softee, Frosty the Snowman, and Bruce Campbell.

Revel in the scene of carnage here.

PS: Tickets are still available for some of Sufjan’s upcoming Christmas shows. See availability and buy links here.

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