Director: Mike P. Nelson
Year: 2025
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
After finding a new job, a man working a retail position tries to live a normal life with the woman who works with him, but when his old demons start to resurface, and the voices in his head get too strong, he dons a Santa costume and commits a massacre against those disrespecting him.
Review:
Overall, this was a wholly likable and enjoyable genre effort. Among the better elements within here is the central setup that manages to provide a strong foundation for his unraveling mental state for the eventual rampage. Setting up the same backstory and the eventual trauma of the holiday season is a fine touch so that it fills in a lot of the necessary backstory early on which makes the so much of the first half feel like a solid retread involving the quest to be normal and like a valued member of the community with his relationship with his coworker provides a great setup here. Along with the natural attempts at trying to make sure he has a sense of normalcy in his life, the fact that his conscience is always talking to him and spurring along his murderous antics, fueling the sense of inner conflict he has, which brings about the different encounters later on.
That comes about in a series of solid and generally enjoyable confrontations that focus on the wholly enjoyable series of slashing encounters featured throughout here. The initial series of setpieces showing him going around the town hacking up those who are rampaging through the community, as it leads up to the great sequence involving the massacre at the racist rally, where the brutal axe slashing and stabbing, which has a ton of bloodshed amongst the carnage. This leads into the solid encounters where his demented inner monologue instills more of a psychological display that is at the center of the film, works to deliver what’s necessary here in the holiday cheer, as well as the brutal deaths featuring the axe being used to elicit some solid splatter. These all come together to make for a fun time here.
There are some factors here that bring this down. The main drawback to be had here is the film’s jagged sense of pacing, where it’s hard to remain invested at points with what's going on. The early dynamics of getting the job at the retail store, getting to meet the co-worker, and starting to develop a relationship with her by being involved in her life set up the sense of normalcy he craves following his traumatic childhood, yet that keeps the slashing to a non-existent point during this period, so that little happens. This leaves the stalking to be a rather brief bit where it’s so short and barely a feature in the film that there's stretches where it doesn’t matter all that much, only to then be wiped aside when the few scenes of slashing take place to intrude for such a brief time before going back to the drama so the back-and-forth nature is quite distracting.
As well, there’s also the series of changes made to the structure of the film that aren't all that impactful or worthwhile. The inclusion of the talking voice in his head due to a form of possession that drives the rampage along is a bizarre touch that seems to come about at the worst times and never adds much once the gag has already been worked out. Moreover, the decision to take away the second half of a long-winded rampage and do more of a police investigation on the previous massacre is a strange way of going about this type of story, which lowers the action considerably as it's downgraded in favor of the psychological implications of what he’s going through. That’s already been established by that point in the film, and it doesn’t need it as it needed more action in the proceedings, and will be what ends up holding this down the most.
Overview: ***.5/5
An intriguing and likable if somewhat flawed entry, there’s enough to like here that will make this one worthwhile, while it does have a few issues that will keep it down in the end. Those with an appreciation for the material, who are curious about the update, or who are fans of the creative crew will want to check this out, while most others out there should heed caution.
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