Secret Santa (2018) by Adam Marcus

Director: Adam Marcus

Year: 2018

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Slasher

Plot:

Gathered together for a Christmas party, a family looking to reconnect at their mountain cabin finds their holiday festivities interrupted by a series of violent outbursts that leave several members of the party dead and force the survivors to band together to uncover what’s going on and stop it.

Review:

This was a massively flawed genre effort. About the only thing worthwhile with this one comes from the rather fun series of encounters that takes place once the family has become tainted and set off on their rampage. The series of interactions and comments that sets this off into a flood of violence as they snap and start viciously beating or stabbing each other is a shockingly vicious sequence where the sudden outburst and need to corral the participant gives this a rather strong starting point that gets brought about. The ensuing scenes trying to get a handle on what’s going on results in even more vicious and violent sequences throughout the cabin and resulting areas of the mountain where a series of chasing and interactions allow some great stalking scenes and brawling-filled encounters which give this some intriguing elements as they play out their hatred and vitriol against each other. As a whole, these are enough to work nicely enough here.

There are some big issues with this one that hold it back. Among the biggest detriments featured here is the deplorable and uninteresting group of people on display that we’re supposed to follow. The constant sniping and petty insults that greet us the second they’re on-screen, the open comments about the children being ungrateful disappointments that aren’t worthy of following in the family name, and no end to degrading slurs to their family are offered throughout this one and are just completely off-putting the moment it starts. It begs the question of why the family has functioned long enough to engage in this tradition in the first place much less want to go through with a Christmas party together with the people in the family with the way they interact and comment against each other which is made all the worst by the idea everything is designed to be comedic. It’s entirely the wrong way to go about this type of film and is a big reason that makes it so hard to get into this one from the beginning. As well as some cheesy effects involving the CGI gore, these all bring the film down.

Overview: */5

Frustratingly underwhelming and not really that worthwhile, this one has enough to like that it’s not a total waste but with such big issues present it’s hard to really get much out of this one. Those that are fine with these factors or are hardcore fans of holiday-horror films will be the most likely to enjoy this one while most others out there should heed caution with this one.