Stevecorp
Don't listen to the negative reviews
Erica Derrick
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Tymon Sutton
The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.
Michael Ledo
This is the same film which has the PC cover title "A Holiday Horror Story" being sold in Walmart. The film opens with 4-5 subplots and each builds slowly until the stories are connected, even if loosely connected.1) The first subplot consists of Santa (George Buza) and his wife Marta (Debra McCabe) getting ready for Christmas when an elf zombie outbreak happens. "Stay back Jingles!"
2) Dangerous Dan (William Shatner) is a radio host on Christmas eve. He brings in the Christmas spirit by saying things like "Let's throw another eggnog on the fire." There is an unknown commotion going on at the mall.
3) Three high school kids, Dylan, Ben and Molly (Shannon Kook, Alex Ozerov, Zoé De Grand Maison ) are doing some investigative reporting at St. Joseph Academy where 2 kids were brutally killed last year. The school also has a story of a supposed virginal conception and abortion.
4) Officer Scott (Adrian Holmes) who investigated the murders is together with his wife and child this Christmas. He is setting a bad example by poaching a tree off of posted land.
5) A family visits their rich aunt (Corinne Conley) in hopes of getting her to invest in a company. While there, the insolent teen Duncan (Percy Hynes White) breaks an old statue of a Krampus.The film takes place in the fictional town of Baily Downs (Ginger Snaps, Orphan Black). Krampus has become the latest rage in Christmas horror films, and in that regard, this one is the best. In fact, I would go as far as to say I enjoyed this as much as the iconic "Silent Night Deadly Night." There was scene where I was lulled into a false sense of security and then they made me jump. I haven't done that in a while.This is a keeper.
bowmanblue
Being a 'Trekkie' I do have the tendency to watch almost anything the great 'Bill' Shatner is in, so, coupled with my love of horror, I thought this one would be right up my street. It wasn't. A kind of knew that 'Captain Kirk' would only have a small amount of screen time, so it wasn't that I felt short-changed due to him only holding the intertwining stories together through use of his scenes as a radio DJ (which were arguably the best bits!). My problem was with the story/s themselves. Basically, the film is split into four different (Christmas-related) horror tales. This wouldn't bother me if it wasn't for the fact that two of them aren't really that good.Perhaps it might have been better if the stories were told one after the other. I watched this on DVD therefore this would have enabled me to simply skip to the next story if I was getting bored. However, the narrative jumps back and forth between them all. This means that, during the stories that you like, you're just happily getting into when suddenly you're wrenched back to one of the lesser interesting ones.I would say that the highlight of the film (or rather story which appealed to me the most) involves the elves in Father Christmas' North Pole toy factory developing a plague which turns them into flesh-eating zombie elves. Therefore, Santa has to 'kick a$$' and take them down in a way that Rick and Darryl from The Walking Dead would be proud. I quite liked the 'changling' story too, but mainly because I've always been fascinated by this – disturbing – type of fairy tale. However, even that sort of lost its appeal once the lesser interesting stories have been interwoven within its framework.Yes, William Shatner is the best part, but even his rambling brand of comedy wasn't really enough to make me want to sit through an hour and a half of sub-standard Christmas stories. I'd rather just see a twenty minute short of Santa bludgeoning elves to death in front of his mutilated reindeers and be done with it. Pity. Could and should have been much more fun.
animecougar
On one hand, as a horror movie, it was okay. Not spectacular, but I've seen worse. But I feel compelled to warn viewers about something that slowly dawned on me as I watched the movie unfold, which is that the creators of this film are clearly trying to hide a deeply conservative message in the subtext.This is the point at which the spoilers begin, so if you wish to avoid these, you should stop reading now.In the first story, three teenagers break into their high school, which is closed because of winter break, but also because murders have recently happened there. Early in, the group finds a giant plastic nativity scene in the basement, and the girl (Molly) complains about the "war on Christmas." Later in the story, they find out that a girl died in the building while it was a convent, because the nuns forced her to undergo an abortion at their hands. This is the ghost that is killing people. Further, the ghost possesses Molly and has her try to seduce the first male, who is killed when he refuses. So she gets impregnated by the second guy, and is the only person spared by the ghost, and only because she agrees to carry the baby to term.The second and third stories may have skipped the subtext (or it's better hidden), but the fourth story is dripping with it at the end. For most of the story, you have a straight forward story about Santa killing zombie elves, ending with a showdown with Krampus. Right when that showdown is about to go down, the scene switches to a mall, and we see that a normal schlubb went crazy and started killing innocent people, until he gets gunned down by police. And what caused this psychotic break? The normal schlubb was an atheist who hated Christmas, but his work forced him to dress up as Santa, which of course drove him crazy. The movie ends with Williams Shatner begging people to embrace Christmas, suggesting in a sideways manner that respect for other religions and belief systems is the root of violence.
James Peters
I've read most of the reviews after I saw this awesome movie. Forget about those long reviews that try to analyze every aspect...whatever. This is a GREAT movie, however, DEFINITELY NOT FOR CHILDREN! Plus, it's got William Shatner in it - what's NOT to love about it?This review has to contain at least ten lines of text, so what I can say that won't ruin it for you...? Well, not much. The zombie elves were pretty funny. Krampus was very, VERY cool. In fact, I totally agree when I heard a comment that they wish that this entire movie was about just Santa & Krampus. That would have definitely made me bump this up another star making it a solid nine (9). I can also say that Santa looks totally "bad-ass". The one braid that rests over his right shoulder with the gash that comes down across his face makes him look like he could join up with GI Joe. This is definitely NOT for children. Whether they believe in Santa or not, I'd think twice before letting anyone under the age of 14 to watch this. It has gore, trust me, "gore" is a definite understatement. The ending is sad, didn't expect it - that's for sure. And I can honestly say that this movie made me jump. It may not be a holiday classic, but it's definitely better than that "other" killer Xmas movie (without mentioning any names). I believe it's a movie you have to watch. I feel you'll surprisingly enjoy it like I did.
