Director: Jim Klock and Mike Capozzi
Year: 2020
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Still haunted by tragedies, the workers at a water treatment plant are trying to close up for the holiday season when a series of accidents around the facility cause them to believe a strange killer in a Santa outfit killing them one-by-one and must find the reason why to get away alive.
Review:
This was a pretty decent holiday horror offering. Among its better elements is a nice setup that offers a rather different take on the usual genre offerings featured through the first half. The early build-up featuring the layout of the plant and what they’re working on the holiday are quite intriguing at getting this setup as to who’s going to be around and the relationships with each other. That this also offers up some fun holiday scenery with the lighting and decorations strewn around the office, however small they might initially appear, gets this going pretty nicely. Given the charge into the series of chasing around the plant once it becomes clear what's going on and the barbaric tortures that are being set up here offer up some great kills and tons of bloodshed as a result which give this a lot to like.
There are a few flaws with this one. The main issue present is that for every smart decision the characters engage in trying to figure out what’s going on there’s another one that’s moronically stupid and irritating. The rookie cop is the most egregious, for while he tries to act sensibly in staying out of sight and trying to wait for a safer option to present itself instead of blindly rushing into something he’s still capable of some utterly stupid decisions. Constantly running around the facility trying to find survivors or look for keys to something that doesn’t need to be found showcases some fully awful choices that result in nothing more than extended chasing for no reason.
As well, the finale's twist doesn't really make much sense in the grand scheme of things. While that revelation does come across as a total shock with absolutely no way to know what's going on beforehand, the way it causes the film to shift gears is quite unexplained. Rather than carry on the series of stalking and confrontations with the killer that's been highly enjoyable the speechifying explaining why seems to halt the momentum to do this. Moreover, the explanation doesn't seem logical as to why it would cause a rampage in the first place, as to carry it out the amount of planning and prep-work to go into dishing it out is unlikely and renders the holiday setting somewhat irrelevant to pull it off. These few slight issues do bring it down just enough over the positives.
Overview: **.5/5
A pretty decent and watchable holiday slasher even though it’s quite questionable at times and renders some of the holiday atmosphere negligible, it keeps enough on-board to be serviceable even with the flaws holding it down. Give it a look if you’re into these kinds of genre efforts or a hardcore holiday-set slasher fan, while most others will be turned off by the flaws and should heed caution.
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