Director: Michael Moutsatsos, Carlos Rodriguez
Year: 2024
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Anthology
Plot:
A Christmas-themed indie anthology including four short stories after a brief opening preamble.
Review:
A Slay to Remember-Trying to have a low-key Christmas, a famous celebrity takes his family on a vacation during the holidays to a remote house in the mountains to get away from it all, but his neighbors’ overly friendly attitude might be hiding a psychotic side underneath. This is a pretty fun way to get the anthology going properly. As the early setup provides more than enough to get a hint of who each one is, their backstory, and the personalities that come about, this serves well enough before getting to the other confrontations featured here that involve the demented reactions to everything happening including the brutal torture with some brutal moments. With their repetitive nature, some of the taunts and threats make this travel far longer than necessary, but it’s not enough to overcome the other areas here.
Here Wolfie Wolf-Hoping to get some preparations done, a pair of filmmakers head into the woods thinking a hike will help them prepare for a new werewolf film only to gradually think one of them might be a creature. This is a decidedly decent idea but does have a big stumbling block. The main setup here isn’t bad as the guys walking through the woods trying to work out their film and come across the growls or noises that make them believe something is out there which includes a fantastic design for the creature which is the only real hint to the holiday this one has. That, as well, as the wholly brief running time that never has the chance to bring up anything about what’s going on is the main thing holding this one back.
Santa’s Got an Axe to Grind-Hiking through the woods, a couple trying to spend time together find that the area is home to a psychotic Santa-dressed killer who’s just made them the next targets in his rampage. This one was a massively disappointing and underwhelming effort. Its connection to the holiday is immensely tenuous as the bright sunny woodland setting doesn’t evoke anything close to the holiday and removing the killer’s proclivity to dressing up in the Santa garb could’ve been shot at any point in time without changing much. The lack of explanation for anything makes this feel quite confusing and never sets anything up as for what’s going on, with the main aspect to like here being the cruelty he dishes out to his victims but even that’s ruined by a wholly unimposing figure trying to act spastic to be threatening but comes off silly instead which weakens this one slightly.
Demonic Intentions-On the eve of his birthday, a man born on Christmas begins to regret the idea of Santa Claus as the entity starts to torment him psychologically into believing he might not be the figure most thought he was. This was a fairly intriguing story that gets somewhat ruined by the presentation here. The central concept has a ton of weight to it and is an intriguing way to go about it with the more psychological approach taken here regarding the torment and torture Santa Claus represents. The main issue is that it’s all too cheap and rushed to make the kind of impact it wants as there’s no real chance to build it up naturally or organically the way it should since all we get is the brief opening monologue is all we get. Not only that but the way it takes place is all due to cheap lights and superimposed images which are way too flimsy to try to tell this story.
A Doll to Die For-Waking up in her possession, a mall-store Santa finds himself kidnapped by a psychotic adult woman who wants him to repay the years of disappointment she suffered not getting the doll she wanted for Christmas. This one manages to be a highly enjoyable way to end this one. The whole concept here is a frighteningly realistic setup that goes in a wholly believable scenario that helps to make the whole setup feel much more plausible, especially as the demented mindset she has started to come to the surface with the warped reasoning allowing this to come off with the crazed air that it does. That there’s no room to dive into the reasoning why she wants it, how she came to believe he’s the actual Santa, or anything like that with the brevity of everything going on, but otherwise, there’s not a lot to dislike here.
Santa’s Woods-Living in the middle of the woods, the dark origins of Santa Claus, Krampus, and Bailey the Elf are displayed for those unfortunate enough to enter the area. This is a bit odd of a framing story since it never gives itself away as being one until way too late in the running time but beyond that, this is a pretty decent story on its own. The idea of the inversion of most traditional stories on the holiday where the killer Santa is running around while the monstrous Krampus and demented elf helper are more bystanders commenting on the situation is a decent enough idea that is quite fun and presents this part with a solid starting point for the random visitors that appear in the area and get killed for some nice indie-style effects work. It’s just that, as a way to frame the remaining stories in the anthology to come, this piece is pretty weak.
Overview: ***/5
An incredibly fun indie holiday-themed anthology, that there’s a lot to like in most of the stories and only a few minor drawbacks make this a pretty fun time overall. Give it a shot if you’re a fan of the creative crew or are a fan of the genre while most others out there should heed caution with this one.
Comments
Post a Comment