A Christmas Horror Story (2015)

Instant Favorite.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

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.

Really rather enjoyed this movie a lot. My favourite story had to be crazy Santa and some of his elves one liners were childishly delightful. The most disturbing scene came from my least favourite story involving the high school kids, the dead baby!!!! Really made me eek out and look away so be warned!!! The evil tree folk storyline had potential but for me was the least focused upon story and it really showed, shame cause could have been better. Overall a solid 7/10 and would definitely watch it again.

A Christmas Horror Story is an anthology with four short films that, rather than playing in succession, weave together, one chunk cutting into the next, which, in my opinion, really dulled some already dull stories, especially considering they were written and directed by different people.They did make an effort to connect all four of the unique stories. They all take place on Christmas Eve in the fictional town of Bailey Downs, and you see little ways in which the characters are more personally connected as the movie plays on. They also cut occasionally to the town's radio DJ, Dangerous Dan (played by William Shatner, of all people), who tries to keep everyone in the Christmas spirit as he slowly succumbs to downing shot after shot of boozy egg nog.The first story has a family trespassing on a private orchard to bring home a Christmas tree — an odd choice, I thought, since they make a point to have the husband be one of the town's police officers. They lose the woman's son and go on a mad search for him before finding what they think is him and returning home. Turns out it's actually a changeling version of him, and he wreaks some serious havoc before the wife brings him back to the orchard in exchange for her real, non-evil son. This one really did nothing for me, except being super bummed when she instinctually shoots the owner of the orchard who was trying to help.The second follows a group of high school kids as they investigate the grisly murders of two classmates that took place the previous year. This somehow manages to pack every tired horror cliché into one go, and while it tries to set up some good jump scares with a bit of supernatural aspects, it really fell flat — probably the weakest of the bunch for me.The third is a dysfunctional family who go on a trip to surprise a distant, elderly aunt (to her dismay). They learn of Krampus while muddling through the awkward trip and shortly after he hunts them through the woods. I liked the character of Krampus and he was decently scary but the special effects were mediocre at best and you really felt no connection whatsoever to the characters.The fourth has Santa battling elves at his workshop after they, and his wife, have all succumbed to a zombie virus. Now THIS — I would have watched an entire movie of just this. Santa (played by George Buza) was awesome, and the gore was fantastic. It was goofy and funny and filled with great action scenes and creative, clever kills. I mean, just watching a bloody Santa going on a rampage with his bloody staff in hand and killing one elf by throwing another elf's head at him like a bowling ball… great stuff. It didn't have a whole lot of plot or character development but it didn't need it. It wraps up with Santa ultimately battling Krampus, which I wish would have gone on FAR longer before the surprise ending (which I admit was pretty clever).All in all, I wanted better. Bring me more bloody Santa!

It's Christmas Eve in the small town of Bailey Downs. DJ Dangerous Dan (William Shatner) is pulling a double shift on the radio. Two kids were killed one year ago in the local school. Students Dylan, Ben, and Molly Simon are doing a story on the incident. They get locked in the basement. Scott and Kim Peters go into private property to cut down a Christmas tree. Their son Will gets lost but they eventually find him. However, there is something odd about him. Taylor Bauer takes his family to visit his aunt but she kicks them out. A creature runs across the road and Taylor crashes the car. Meanwhile in the North Pole, Santa is battling with zombie elves.There is some solid horror work being done here. It's somewhat like a loosely connected Twilight Zone anthology. These four horror stories are shown in a back and forth manner. This does mean the first half of the movie is a bit slow with the four stories getting set up. First of all, Shatner's part is not necessary. It's great that Shatner has a day to give to the filmmakers and I'm sure they were restricted with his usage. His pontificating adds nothing to the stories. There is one big connection but that's not necessarily either. There has to be a more compelling way to use his stardom.There is value in all four horror stories. The kids in the basement is a classic jump-scare horror. The changeling is an even older classic horror. The family on the run is solid chase horror. None of these three are completely original but they are all well-made very solid old school horrors.Santa and the elves do stand out. It is something different but also something not fully realized. In addition, it doesn't fit. There is a pretty good twist in the end but that needs better foreshadowing earlier on. This section could probably stand on its own as a separate movie. The other three would work better without this. The special effects and gore effects are generally competent especially for an indie. The acting is solid throughout and the horror is fine.