Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022)

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This December is “Satanic Santa” month at Catching Up On Cinema!

All month long, we'll be reviewing Christmas movies featuring murderous, rampaging Santa Claus!

This week, Kyle and Trevor review Joe Begos', Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022)!

Released as a Shudder Original on the streaming service of the same name, Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022) is a holiday themed slasher film from director Joe Begos.

Originally conceived as (another) remake of Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984), Christmas Bloody Christmas, as it exists in its completed form, more closely resembles a remake of The Terminator (1984), solely due to the structure of its 3rd act, and inclusion of a tenacious, mechanical killer, rather than anything having to do with plot or execution.

Possessed of a thin concept that is oddly reminiscent of Joe Dante's, Small Soldiers (1998), Christmas Bloody Christmas is a dirt simple, though unfortunately somewhat tedious slasher.

Perhaps best presented as a 45 minute episode of Creepshow, rather than a feature length film, Christmas Bloody Christmas is unexpectedly talkie in its first half, featuring numerous overlong, scenes of bawdy, overlapping dialogue that are remarkably naturalistic in delivery and pacing, but utterly unwelcome in a film with a concept and aesthetic presentation such as this.

Often a delight to look at, Christmas Bloody Christmas boasts fantastic set dressings and production design, featuring audacious and hyper-stylized lighting schemes that bathe each scene with gorgeous, or alternatively, hideous, splashes of color.

Noisy, and maximalist in nature, Christmas Bloody Christmas betrays the promise of its aesthetics and rock stupid concept by failing to deliver in the execution of its kill sequences.

Unexpectedly restrained in the guts and gore department, Christmas Bloody Christmas features no less than 3 instances of kills that are not just cut away from before the fluids start flowing, but unfairly teased as kills that have clear potential to deliver visceral thrills.

At least one of the aforementioned kill-botches bears some evidence of perhaps being the result of a failed or incomplete practical effect, however this is just a guess from this reviewer.

A flawed slasher that shows craft and verve in writing, lighting and performance, perhaps too much given the overly indulgent nature of its many dialogue sequences, Christmas Bloody Christmas is not a horror film without strengths, however for this reviewer, it is a film that needed many of its darlings killed, in favor of processing them into a leaner and more digestible package.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

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