Director: Steve Morris
Year: 2022
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
After a series of strange murders, a woman becomes convinced a folktale from her past involving a murderous elf punishing the naughty has come true and tries to warn her hesitant friends, but when their holiday trip is crashed by the figure she tries to save them before it’s too late.
Review:
This was a rather fun indie-themed holiday genre effort. One of the better features here is the main setup of the killer who’s given quite an effective starting point here involving the legend of the elf. Tying in a legend involving the elf being the conception of the elves at the North Pole as a son for Santa and turned evil in the interim hunting down naughty children, the connection between the real-life killer in the town and the family relationship at the heart of the film is all good enough for this kind of genre effort. As well, the later reveals about what’s going on between the particular killer and how their personal connection ties together is a decent enough idea to make for a generally decent storyline.
That also provides a great baseline for the film’s best parts here which revolve around the solid and fun indie-style attacks and stalking scenes. These are featured rather well here with the film using the idea of the killer’s antics carried out while others are completely clueless or unaware of the true nature of the sleigh-bell jingling, masked madman’s murderous motivations. That lets the massacre at the friends’ house who keeps taking out the various arrivals, the attack on her friends, or the big confrontation at the cabin which has some great gore and stalking scenes come about for quite a lot to like here.
There are some flaws here that keep this one down. One of the main issues with the film comes from the wildly chaotic and jangled structure that makes for a tough time staying invested in everything. There’s very little here connecting how the various groups know each other and it’s mostly left for interpretation until later which makes for a tough time at first understanding how the connections fit together regarding who everyone is or how the cult works. This feature comes out of nowhere and seems designed to specifically open up a potential sequel with little build-up or presence until the end, and with some instances where the low-budget origins shine through and end up bringing this one down.
Overview: ***/5
An overall fun if somewhat flawed holiday-themed genre effort, this one features quite a lot to like although those issues do bring it down from what it could’ve been. Those who appreciate this kind of low-budget indie, are fans of the creative crew, or enjoy holiday-themed genre fare will like this one the most while most others should heed caution.
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