John Lewis Christmas advert meets classic horror - video

Apart from those "holidays are coming" Coca-Cola ads, nothing better defines that magical combination of Christmas and commercialism than John Lewis's seasonal gift to the world of advertising.

Last year's offering single-handedly catapulted Ellie Goulding back into the public consciousness with her tingly cover of Elton John's 'Your Song'.

This time, we've got Slow Moving Millie taking on The Smiths' teary 'Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want', and for every five people who shed a tear, there's another ripping up their sofa at how icky the whole thing is.

Inevitably, the internet has reacted in the only way it knows how - with some great parodies. One of the first (and best) saw the visuals of the advert unchanged but the music switched to the theme from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, with terrifying consequences.



The next creepy interpretation of the commercial mixes up a short snippet of the ad with a snatched phrase from The Omen and a chilling scream.



Another version with self-recorded music by 1ShordingerDog recuts the ad as a horror movie trailer with a punchline purloined from Charlie Brooker (though we prefer Sky man Jamie Wood's earlier one-liner "It's sweet unless you think his sister's head is in the box".)



And to show we're not complete grouches, here's the original, heartwarming ad in all its sickly glory!