Director: James Dean
Year: 2023
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Starting a new film shoot, a porn director gathers his cast and crew out at a remote house to create a new project, but when the whole thing is compromised by a psychotic Santa Claus looking to punish them for their salacious shoot, they must stop the madman.
Review:
This was a massively fun and generally enjoyable indie effort. Among the film’s better qualities come from the rather fun setup that allows the film to go for a simplistic and generally acceptable slasher storyline. The whole idea of the group coming out to the strange house in the middle of nowhere so that they can shoot the film in peace initially comes to be turned off by the attempts at legitimate filmmaking to go their own way by injecting more familiar material while being able to rekindle romances and friendships in the background of everything. Seeing the group come together to ridicule the script and their chosen form of project makes for a perfect opportunity to fraternize and make fun of what’s going on, so that it creates a fun series of interactions that gets the group together while also making them fun to be around even though they’re involved in this kind of explicit material.
That lets the second half where the killer Santa arrives and starts taking out the group in quick, ambush-style sequences. The initial scenes show the psychotic figure appearing on the set in the middle of the main group fornicating and getting stabbed or impaled brutally, wiping out many of the group in one massive sequence full of inventive deaths and cheesy gore. With the rest of the film devoted to the group being hunted down and taken out while the dwindling survivors attempt to muster the courage to fight back, this results in plenty of fun and even more likable material, as everything gives off a fun vibe alongside the cheesiness. That this happens rather late in the running time is a bit of an issue with this one going through more of a straightforward introduction of everyone and what the film shoot is going to be at the expense of the slashing could be an issue for some to get over, much like the overly obvious low-budget atmosphere here, being the areas holding this one down.
Overview: ****/5
A massively likable indie horror effort, there’s a lot to like with this one that manages to keep it going rather nicely even though it has a few issues that hold it down. Those with an appreciation for this style of genre fare, who are hardcore fans of indie holiday horror, or who are fans of the creative crew will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
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