Director: Tyler MacIntyre
Year: 2023
Country: United Kingdom/USA/Canada
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Preparing for her small town’s Christmas festivities, a teen upset over her role in stopping a mass murderer the year before that no one else cares to acknowledge anymore causes her to transport into an alternate timeline where the killer is still on the loose killing off the town and forces her to stop him again.
Review:
This was a highly impressive and enjoyable genre effort with quite a lot to like about it. One of the finer features here is the generally impressive setup that allows for the film to go overboard with the rather unique and creative concept. The early setup involving the rampage with the killer and how she stops his spree leading to the resentment she has when that time of the year rolls around again as her desperation to resolve the feelings she has about the situation serves well enough to be a likable foundation for the desire to start her life over. Once it happens and she finds herself in the alternate timeline where everything’s in a different headspace, there’s tons of fun here with the series of revelations at play where the new fates of everyone are brought up as the discoveries made are generally fun enough.
When this goes beyond the solid setup, it has quite a lot of fun with the stalking and slashing scenes. The opening rampage through the present timeline where the killer pulls off several chilling ambushes at a victim’s house and a Christmas party leads to a solid chase through the woods where they finally stop him, serving as a solid setup for the later scenes to come once she’s arrived in the alternate timeline. Those are far more vicious and striking with the sudden appearance of the killer out of nowhere and unleashing a strong death sequence including sequences at the pier when she first arrives, a fun sequence at a party where it takes out a random partygoer in a suspenseful stalking scene, and the big encounter at the movie theater where the use of the location provides this with some intriguing stalking set in an unusual location. As this shows off the impressive design of the killer who has an appropriate holiday theme and distinctive look, there’s a lot to like here that holds it up overall.
There are some minor flaws with this one that hold it down somewhat. The biggest drawback here is the final half where it tends to offer up some underwhelming work with the revelations that come about and resolve the mystery of the killer. The first instance of solving the killer’s identity is a wholly unremarkable confrontation that doesn’t feel like much of a conclusion with how it plays out and then sets up a lame and underwhelming final confrontation which has the lamest reasoning to go through it and an equally underwhelming sense of action to play out. This becomes quite impactful with how it sets up the flaws at the very end which is not the right way to end the movie. On top of that, there are also the convoluted twists that are utilized here but are glossed over merely to hit a preferred running time in this section which also makes the film feel rushed at this point which combines to hold this back.
Overview: ***.5/5
A generally fun if slightly problematic holiday-themed slasher, there’s enough here to be worthwhile in that end but its few issues do keep it down just slightly from the upper echelon of the style. Those who are fine with these features, are general fans of holiday-themed genre fare, or appreciate modern slasher films should enjoy this one the most while only those who aren’t into these factors should heed caution.
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