Mercy Christmas

"Mercy Christmas" (2017, Ryan Nelson, No Mercy Pictures, Other Paw Films) is a festive holiday cannibal film.

Santa brought me this film for Christmas this year. Thanks, Santa.

Michael Briskett (Steven Hubbell) receives an invite to Christmas dinner from the office cutie, Cindy (Casey O'Keefe), and thinks he's won a watch. But after arriving at her family home, he discovers that he might not like what's on the menu...

The DVD box is littered with positive reviews and comments about the gore level of the film. While the film is a purposefully cheesy, low budget piece and does not deliver quite the level of gore I was hoping for, it is pretty funny and hosts some performances which were far superior than I went in expecting as well as a few recognisable faces. The sense of humour keeps the film going despite the cat being out of the bag fairly early in the plot, but the 83 minute run time also does not outstay its welcome.

Our family of religious, social climbing cannibals are both caricaturistic and delightfully reprehensible and, once the chaos ensues, we are treated to some funny fight scenes and physical humour with a definite festive slant. I never knew that fairy lights could be so practical. Our small band of victims/heroes aren't developed very much given the run time but definitely keep the audience on side and deliver a few good comedy moments also.

While it's nothing groundbreaking, "Mercy Christmas" provides that lighthearted black humour someone like me tends to enjoy around this time of year and will most likely enter my annual viewing rotation.

[Image: Other Paw Productions, et al]

Hani

I Trapped the Devil

"I Trapped the Devil" (2019, Josh Lobo, IFC Midnight, Scream Factory) is an indie suspense horror about a man who believes he has the devil trapped in his basement.

Steve (Scott Poythress) is a paranoid man living alone. When his brother, Matt (AJ Bowen) and sister-in-law Karen (Susan Burke), unexpectedly show up to spend Christmas with him, he announces that he has captured the devil and imprisoned him in his basement. His brother and sister-in-law become increasingly concerned by Steve's erratic behaviour and the fact that they can hear someone trapped in the eerily lit darkroom/basement.

A very slow burning film where very little happens until the finale. The pacing was too slow for me and I found the plot did not have enough to it to fill the full run time. The characters seemed to behave somewhat illogically, which could be explained for the main character, Steve, where we are supposed to be on the fence about his sanity, but all of the characters were distractedly odd.

It does enjoy some moments of dread and an overall grim feeling with some cheerfully poignant Christmas lights, but overall I found the film a bit tedious.

[Image: IFC Midnight, et al]

Hani

A Christmas Horror Story

"A Christmas Horror Story" (2015, Grant Harvey, Steven Hoban, Brett Sullivan, Copperheart Entertainment, Image Entertainment, RLJ Entertainment) is a Christmas anthology horror from Canada.

We follow four plot lines, which are interwoven throughout the run-time by the overarching plot following radio DJ, Dangerous Dan (William Shatner), who is pulling an all-nighter on Christmas eve.

One story follows a group of teens who have broken into a school to make a documentary about two murders which had previously happened there, only to find that there were more than memories left behind.

Another story follows one of the teens from the first story who is unable to go on the adventure because she is taken on a family outing to visit her rich, elderly aunt and accidentally becomes acquainted with Krampus.

A third story follows a young family who venture into private land to illegally chop down a Christmas tree and lose their child. When they find the little boy and take him home, he begins to act strangely and the parents become suspicious that he is not, in fact, their little boy afterall!

The fourth tale follows Santa himself, a burly man (George Buza) who finds that one of his elves has contracted a zombie virus and begins to infect his other helpers.... Going on a rampage through his own workshop, Santa eventually has to face a harsh reality...

An entertaining festive romp that covers all the bases (gore, violence, festive themes) without trying to be too clever. While it doesn't cover any specifically new ground, "A Christmas Horror Story" enjoys some nice plot twists and a good, fast pace that is engaging and intriguing.

[Image: Copperheart Entertainment]

Hani

Krampus

"Krampus" (2015, Michael Dougherty, Legendary Pictures, Zam Pictures) is a Christmas horror about St. Nicholas' demonic counterpart, Krampus.

Tom (Adam Scott), Sarah (Toni Collette) and their kids, Beth (Stefania LaVie Owen) and Max (Emjay Anthony) are preparing for Christmas at home with Tom's mother (Krista Stadler). Sarah's sister, Linda (Allison Tolman) also visits with her brash husband, Howard (David Koechner), their new baby and other, older, rude children, Stevie (Lolo Owen), Jordan (Queenie Samuel) and Howie Jr. (Maveick Flack). They also bring Sarah's disapproving, demanding aunt (Conchata Ferrell). As the night progresses, Max begins to feel that the Christmasses of his childhood are over and, in his anger, he unwittingly unleashes Krampus on his family...

The film starts out very much like any other non-horror Christmas movie. Then, the horror aspects are introduced with cheesy relish. The cast are good, the action is silly, but fun and the film delivers a good holiday horror that doesn't try to take itself very seriously. The result is a film which isn't especially scary, but manages to deliver a fun holiday romp which feels a little like "National Lampoons' Christmas Vacation" meets "The Demonic Toys", but with better production value.

Definitely one I'll be watching again.

[Image: Legendary Pictures]

Hani

Holidays

"Holidays" (2016, Kevin Smith, Gary Shore, Adam Egypt Mortimer, Scott Stewart, Nicholas McCarthy, Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kolsch, Sarah Adina Smith and Anthony Scott Burns, Distant Corners Entertainment, XYZ Films) is a horror anthology inspired by different well-known Western holidays and celebrations.

Valentine's Day
A bullied teenaged girl has a crush on her swim coach and decides to get him something gruesome to show her feelings...

The characters are quite well built up in this short with a fun, if slightly predictable end. But the run time is very short in order to fit in the whole calendar and so the short suffers a little by having to pack everything in quickly, losing some of the pacing.

St. Patrick's Day
A teacher tries to make a withdrawn new child come out of her shell. The child informs her that she will only smile when she makes the teacher's deepest wish come true and leaves a small snake emblem on the desk. Over time, the teacher's wish comes true, but maybe not the way she really wanted.

A short that has some really good, creepy elements and a lot of potential, but just didn't have much to do with St. Patrick's day (other than snakes) and managed to feel oddly longer than the other shorts. It didn't pack the punch that the plot deserved.

Easter
A little girl sneaks downstairs the night before Easter to catch the Easter Bunny delivering her eggs, only he is not what she anticipated, and there is a penalty for seeing him in the flesh...

Probably the most successful short of this anthology, the plot packs a nice punch but the small run time and budget also limit it.

Mother's Day
A woman who cannot stop becoming pregnant every time she has sex is taken hostage by a coven of women who cannot have children.

A pretty horrific premise, but the short was a bit artsy and dithery and then switched direction completely again.

Father's Day
A woman finds an old cassette tape from her deceased father and listens to it. The voice on the tape takes her down memory lane (he recorded it whilst out walking with her younger self years before) and then asks her to go to a special location to meet him...

A beautifully made short that came together into an emotive piece. However, the time limit again robbed the plot of the finale it deserved and made the rest of the build up seem wasted.

Halloween
A douchebag who runs a pay-per-view webcam porn site using ladies he's lied to as his cam stars meets his deserving demise at the hands of his victims. Oh, and it's also set on Halloween.

This is the Kevin Smith piece. I like Kevin Smith, but his work can be very hit or miss for me. This one was a miss. My main problem with it was that it had very little to do with Halloween; the most horror-centric holiday on the calendar and you take it to this generic, anytime of year gore-fest. Talk about wasted opportunity. The short also tried to be funny, and also be serious and didn't seem to know what it was.

Christmas
Seth Green and Clare Grant star in this virtual reality/jingle-all-the way inspired piece. A man goes to extremes to ensure he gets the latest gadget for his family's Christmas; a UVU virtual reality visor which shows you the real you. However, he and his family may not be too comfortable with their real selves, or each other's selves once they plug in...

A good concept with some good scenes that are again reminiscent of older festive films. Although it wasn't the most engaging short in the bunch, it did its job.

New Year's Eve
A serial girlfriend murderer sets out to welcome in the new year his way....

A good short with some gore and a nice twist. It rounded off the anthology on a high after some obvious lows.

This anthology is a mixed bag containing a lot of misses. There's no enveloping story which could have brought it together and each segment is very short (even by anthology standards) and has to round off quickly often taking away from each piece's story somewhat. Some segments are better than others, but certainly none jumped out enough at me to make me want to rewatch this film again. I think each director was trying too hard to make their segment the 'weirdest' of the bunch and many veered too far away from their core holiday, losing the point of the film.

There are better anthologies out there which make this one look like a film student's 2nd year project.

[Image: XYZ Films]

Hani

Don't Open 'til Christmas

"Don't Open 'til Christmas" (1984, Edmund Purdom, Spectacular Trading International, 21st Century Film Corporation) is an English holiday slasher.

It's Christmas time and someone wearing a translucent mask is going around killing anyone dressed as Santa. One of the Santas is killed in front of his daughter, Kate (Belinda Mayne) who is then determined to find out who's behind it. Chief Inspector Ian Harris (Edmund Purdom) is also on the case, but something familiar is getting in his way to solving the mystery...

A cheesy B-Movie directed by and starred by Edmund Purdom (whom I know from my favourite B-movie gorefest, "Pieces"). It's wooden, silly and, as usual, a little transfixed with the porn and sleaze side of the city. The predictable scenes are humorous to watch due to their sheer ridiculousness. If you enjoy watching random guys dressed as Santa getting killed by an unconvincing machete, or having their members cut off in the men's bathroom, this film is for you!

A silly plot, with an equally silly motive, this fairly woeful film is definitely in the so-bad-but-can't-look-away pile.

[Image: Spectacular Trading International]

Hani

Silent night, Deadly night

"Silent night, Deadly night" (1984, Charles Sellier, Slayride, TriStar Pictures) is a holiday slasher.

On Christmas Eve 1971, young Billy and his parents and baby brother take a little trip out to see his catatonic grandfather at the mental health institution. Billy is initially concerned that he won't get home in time for Santa visiting, but his mother assures him that he will. Soon Billy's fears have switched to Santa visiting at all. This is elevated when his parents stop to help a stranded Santa who's car has broken down. As it turns out, this Santa is a gun wielding loony, who kills Billy's parents, leaving he and his brother out in the snow.

Fast forward several years to an orphanage and we find poor Billy, now with a severe Santa-phobia. Like all church run orphanages in movies, the Mother Superior is unsympathetic to the boy's plight and treats him like a weirdo.

Billy then grows up and lands a job as the storeroom boy for a local toy shop where we get a jolly montage of his few months there.

Seemingly unaware of Billy's past or his dislike of Santa, he is asked by the store to be Santa when the usual one can't be there. Billy reluctantly obliges, but it turns out to be too much for him and he cracks, going on a murderous rampage, shouting "naughty" as he kills everybody.

Not original in any particular way, again our killer has a sadness to him that makes you almost sympathetic to him. The poor guy needed some help. He also needed not to have a holiday temp job in a toy shop at Christmas.... And maybe a girlfriend... Anyway, while not in itself anything ground breaking, the controversy it caused all over the place is very interesting, especially considering that this film was not the original killer Santa movie.

The film does well to set up some rather well rounded characters; some of the nuns and the shop owner are particularly memorable. There are also some good B-movie action scenes and some lovely overacting from Billy when he sees the mall Santa.

A Christmas B-movie to enjoy, and nothing more.

[Image: Slayride films]

Hani

 

Christmas Evil

"Christmas Evil" (1980, Lewis Jackson, Pan American Pictures) is a holiday slasher movie with a conscience.



Harry stayed up late to see Santa once as a child in the '40s and witnessed 'Father Christmas' make love to his mother. Dismayed, he grows up to become obsessed with Santa and works in a toy factory. His home is filled with Santa memorabilia and he is even spying on the local children and keeping his own (rather elegantly bound) naughty and nice lists.



Throughout the film Harry begins to unravel further until he eventually snaps, going on a rampage in his Santa costume (complete with glued on beard!) that is part killing spree and part burglary, charity run and party entertaining.



An odd film. There are scenes of gore, but primarily this film acts more as a social commentary on consumerism, mental health, innocence and the sad side of the holidays.



Harry cuts a sympathetic character, not a monstrous serial killer. And really he's just trying to be a good Santa for the good children and punish the non-believing adults. In his own twisted way, he's doing the right thing... It's just that his moral compass is a little off.



It's neither good nor bad, it just kind of IS.... Vague, I know, but it was just a weird one!

[Image: Pan American Pictures]

Hani

Saint Nick

"Saint Nick" aka "Sint" (2010, Dick Maas, A-Film) is a Christmas horror film from The Netherlands about Saint Nick (or Sinterklaas in Dutch), who, the film's urban legend has it, will kidnap and kill children if there's a full moon on December 5th (the traditional present-giving day in Holland).

Sinterklaas rides a white steed, has Spanish servants known as Black Petes (or Zwarte Pieten) and arrives traditionally to Amsterdam by boat.

In "Sint" Sinterklaas (Huub Stapel) returns on the full moon as a murderous ghost-zombie, flanked by his violent Black Petes and mounted upon his angry zombie stallion. He's also keen on riding over rooftops and enjoys taking out police boats with his swift-moving ghost ship.

A fun film, with lots of gore and filthy jokes and a wonderful high speed car/horse chase. "Sint" doesn't pretend to be anything it's not and doesn't have an overly complicated plot. While Evil Santa isn't a brand new concept, "Sint" has a wonderfully different spin on it and will keep you entertained.

 

 

[Image: A-Film]

Hani

Santa's Slay

"Santa's Slay" (2005, David Steiman, VIP Medienfonds 1, Media 8 Entertainment) is the horror comedy starring Bill Goldberg of WWE wrestling as Santa; the illegitimate son of Satan.

It seems Santa lost a bet and all this present-giving lark has been his punishment for the past few hundred years. But in 2005 it ended. So good ol' Saint Nick goes on a murder spree. Unfortunately for him, NicolasYuleson (Douglas Smith), Mary (Emilie de Ravin) and Nick's grandpa (Robert Culp) are out to put an end to his reign of terror...

A film that is precisely as bad as it sounds. It feels like it's purposefully trying to be bad as a nod to B-movies in general, but unfortunately just comes off as actually bad.

Some of the scenes are funny in their comic gore (the opener for instance, with James Caan is entertaining), and to give Goldberg his due, he is the best part of the film as psychotic Santa, but the thrill wears off quickly and the film is too long, too drawn out and too stupid without enough fun to save it from bargain bin badness.

Just another hammy holiday themed slaughter.

[Image: Media 8 Entertainment]

 

Hani

The Traveler

"The Traveler" (2010, Michael Oblowitz, Hollywood Media Bridge, Front Street Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures).

On Christmas Eve, a stranger calling himself "Mr. Nobody" (Val Kilmer) enters a police station and confesses to 6 murders that haven't happened yet.

Creepy and atmospheric I was pleasantly surprised, but it's admittedly a bit of a one trick pony and the effects aren't much to write home about.

Val Kilmer is the epitome of creepy, however, giving an excellent performance as our eerie antagonist.

A bit contrived in places, but quite a simple tale that's sole appeal is the moody, dark feeling. Although the film is terribly paced and begins to unravel slightly as time lapses.

A couple of random techniques such as slow motion action scenes get a little old after a while, and the fake rain effect is a unnatural looking. They also spent way too long showing flashbacks of the same situations unfolding again and again. I wasn't sure if they were trying to be symbolic, presumed the audience had short attention spans or whether they'd just ran out of plot to fill out the rest of the film, but it seemed to flog the dead horse a little.

Not the best, but I've definitely sat through worse!

[Image: Front Street Pictures]

Hani

Jack Frost

"Jack Frost" (1996, Michael Cooney, Moonstone Entertainment) is a festive horror comedy from America.

Surprisingly entertaining and laugh-out-loud cheesy this film has fast moved up my shelf and may not live with the other 'Christmas only' films.

Low budget, tacky and with some hilarious flaws (the main one being the severe lack of real snow! And also being able to catch glimpses of the actor under the costume during one particular scene), this film hits all the right notes with me for a Christmas slasher:

• It's short (only 84 minutes)
• It's got a lot of cheesy kill scenes
• It's chalk full of bad puns and wooden acting 
• Quite a lot of good low budget gore
• It has a bloody ludicrous storyline
• The killer is a snowman in a brilliantly bad snowman costume!

On his way to execution, serial killer Jack Frost (Scott MacDonald) suffers a freak accident and is contaminated with some questionable hazardous material. He then, of course, turns into an abominable snowman and quickly resumes his killing spree.

Jack brutally goes around town killing, maiming and raping - yes, there's some snowman rape - the locals of Snowmanton (And yes, that is the name of the town). Who can stop this chilly madman?

It's a good thing local sheriff Tiler (Christopher Allport) and FBI Agents Manners (Stephen Mendell) and Stone (Rob LaBelle) are on the case . Watch for Manners' hilariously unconvincing beard stubble!

So, all in all, this film is pretty good in that wonderfully cheesy low budget way. With everything from Shannon Elizabeth's winter strip-tease to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas", to the disturbing snowman guts this film hits the button in an entertaining way. Not worth a lot of your money, however, I managed to score a copy from a charity shop for £1.50. Bargain!

Also, I enjoyed the random statements and quotes laced through the credits :)

[Image: Moonstone Entertainment]

Hani

Black Christmas (1974)

"Black Christmas" (1974, Bob Clark, Film Funding Limited of Canada, Ambassador Film, Warner Bros, World Cinema) is the original Canadian holiday stalk-and-slash from the 70s. It was remade in 2006 and you'll find my review of that version a few spaces down from here.

It's Christmas time at the Sorority House and all the girls are having a little party before they all depart for their respective family/whatever holidays. The girls' are concerned, however, when they begin to receive some pretty freaky prank calls - I've never heard the 'C' word so many times in a film before!

The girls hold their festivities regardless of the calls, but it isn't until one of their number goes missing that they start to think that someone may be watching them.

I enjoyed this film a lot more than the remake. The characters were generally more likeable and there was a lot of funny moments dotted throughout. I really enjoyed the house-mother and the lieutenant characters, who added something more to a generally simple plot. However, I would hasten to add that this is a B-Movie Holiday slasher, and should be approached with suitable expectations. But, considering that this film is a very early example of its sub-genre it's damn good.

Unlike the remake, this film is not full of over the top gore, although there are some good visual on-screen kills. I'm sure it was shocking in the 70s, but when compared to such films as "The Driller Killer", it doesn't go to the same extremes. The stalker is enjoyably sinister, though and his phone calls are disturbing.

The 2006 version spent a lot of time trying to explain how our killer, Billy, ended up the way he is. The 1974 film doesn't go into any explanation of Billy or his history. I like this. A good back story can be an excellent addition to a film, but in this instance I feel that it wasn't needed and Clark did well to avoid it. Billy is a killer with some mental issues. There's, of course, more to it but we don't know what, just as his victims and the police know nothing of it either. Where Morgan went off the rails with the remake, for me, was the over analysis of Billy's character.

With some good effects for a low budget film from the 70s, a B-movie atmosphere and some recognisable faces (Margot Kidder - known for her portrayal of Lois Lane and you may recognise her from "The Amityville Horror" and Andrea Martin - who is present in the remake of this film as the house-mother), this film is an entertaining watch and worth a try if you're looking for some campy Christmas horror.

[Image: Film Funding Limited of Canada & World Cinema]

 

Hani

Black Xmas

"Black Xmas" (2006, Glen Morgan, 2929 Productions, Dimension Films) is a brutal little Christmas slasher film set in a Sorority House. It's based on the 1974 Film "Black Christmas" which I've also got in this year's Christmas viewing pile and will get to soon. Honest!

Coming from the makers of "Final Destination" I was expecting a lot of gore and little plot. That's pretty much what we got, so I'm cool with that.

Basically, if you took "Halloween" and crossed it with "House on Sorority Row", lowered the budget and set it at Christmas, you'd pretty much have this film...

A bunch of pretty but not particularly relatable sorority sisters sit down for a nice bitchy Christmas night in with their sorority mother, when they suddenly find themselves being stalked and slaughtered one by one!

With a pretty standard plot (with some outlandish additions!) and generic characters, this film is hardly a ground breaking piece of cinema.... But it's a holiday slasher! What more do you want? It's gory and daft, and contains more red herrings than an Agatha Christie book!

If, like me, you are freaked out with eye-centred-gore, you may not enjoy this film, though. It's not afraid to overstep the 'eek' factor when it comes to the ol' eyeballs....

I saw that Michelle Trachtenberg was in this film and I like her.  I can't say it's a shining point in her career, but it's hardly terrible. Just your generic, blood soaked Christmas horror. If you are upset about them rehashing an older film and changing the plot, I can only offer this advice: go watch the original! Which is precisely what I plan to do later this week ;)

Nicely gory effects and a lot of on screen kills, this film is not very imaginative, but bloody and graphic with some seriously dubious policing and a lot of female cannon fodder for the killer. Oh, and cheesy Christmas ringtones!

 [Image: Dimension Films & 2929 Productions]

Hani