Director: Jack E. Bell
Year: 2024
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
Heading out to their grandmothers’ house, sisters trying to make amends after their mother’s passing and start their relationship over struggle to do so over the holiday season, which is further complicated with the arrival of a wicked, mysterious being killing them off one by one.
Review:
This wasn’t that bad of a genre effort even if there were some problems here. Among the better factors with this one comes from the somewhat cliched, yet still fun, family drama that hits some repeated notes that many other similar films have done but gives this some intriguing storylines to work with. The majority of the first half, working with the idea of getting them out to the house and meeting up with their grandmother as a way of trying to make the holidays more bearable for her and discovering a slew of family secrets along the way, works incredibly well here at giving us some immediate connection to the main group while also generating the kind of setup that becomes quite fun in these kinds of films. The different revelations, not just about the family history of strange, premature deaths but also detailing the strained relationship the sisters share, offer enough to work with in this style of feature. It’s all enough that it serves to offer a kind of buffer for the interactions with the killer Krampus that comes along in the finale, as this brings up some decent enough stalking scenes in the later half where everyone is gathered in the house to have to hold off the murderous creature trying to get at them.
However, while these are fun enough, there’s still the overriding flaws on display that hold this one down. The fact that this one is so slow to get to the creature haunting them is due to a lethargic and sluggish tempo that renders a lot of these scenes getting to know the family and what’s going on with them so dreary and slow-going that there’s hardly anything all that interesting going on here. There’s little in the way of action or stalking in the action here until we get to the final half as this one goes far more on hanging out around the grandmother’s house learning about their family history, trying to reconnect with each other, or getting the other members of the family together that is handled with more importance than anything else, all of which leave this one with a dull, plodding dialogue-heavy pace rather than generating anything with the killer Krampus. The series of revelations that are supposed to be handled with a sense of shock at what’s going on has so little impact or bearing on the story when it’s revealed with mere minutes left is another big factor in this, and with the low-budget limitations from the obvious origins here also being a factor, are what bring this down overall.
Overview: **/5
A watchable if generally lacking overall effort, there are some big issues here that are quite damaging about what it is and are enough to overcome the few likable and enjoyable elements present. Those with an appreciation for this style or approach or who are more hardcore indie holiday-horror fans will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
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