I’m starting to believe that Christmas slasher films where a Father Christmas figure goes on a murderous rampage are nearly as prevalent as film adaptations of ‘A Christmas Carol’. I tend to review at least one every Christmas period, and quite have enough time to squeeze in another, as is the case this year. Having already reviewed Christmas Evil (1980) this year I am backing it up with Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022). This wasn’t on my original list of films to review as I had no idea it was going to be coming out, but how could I possibly not review it? Especially when the alternative was Christmas Town (2019) which I wanted to watch as much as I want a bullet to the skull. Anyway, where was I? Christmas Bloody Christmas tells the story of Tori (Riley Dandy), a small-town record shop owner, who is planning to spend Christmas eve getting drunk and partying with her friends. However, her night becomes a little more complex when a robot Santa which is in a nearby toy shop malfunctions and goes on a murderous rampage, plunging her into a battle for her life.
I feel like I should like this film more than I ended up doing. After all, I do like slasher films and this film captures all the tropes of those films I like. A seemingly unstoppable killer dealing out extremely gory deaths to a bunch of young people who just want to get drunk, some weed, and have sex. It is quintessential slasher stuff, and the film has some really fun kills along the way with many heads being caved in, sliced open, or just completely blown up (seriously this film loves destroying some heads). The film also has a clear visual style which means it remains visually interesting throughout. The film uses neon lighting consistently throughout which, while not as stylish as Suspiria (1977) in this regard, does add an interesting visual style. There are also sprinklings of great composition throughout which show that the director and cinematography have an eye for good visuals. I also really enjoyed the two lead performances. I thought Sam Delich as Robbie, Tori’s employee and friend, was fun in his role, but the standout was definitely Riley Dandy as Tori. She is a ton of fun throughout and has a good screen presence about her, and she plays the role of the slasher ‘final girl’ well.
Why then does the film not really work for me? Well, I think there are two main reasons, and the first one is somewhat of a spoiler so if you did want to watch this film this is your warning to stop reading. The first reason is that the film kills off the majority of its secondary characters really early on, leaving the film to have about forty minutes where it is just Tori against this killer robot Santa. This means that the film has no time to build on any of these characters or build up to have their deaths be meaningful in any way. Seeing as this is a slasher film the filmmakers may not be too bothered about this, but from my personal perspective, it meant that I cared very little about what was going on in the final 35 to 40 minutes. Another reason for this, and the second reason that I feel like I didn’t enjoy this film as much as maybe I should have, is that a killer robot Santa just isn’t very compelling. Yes, there are slasher villains that are these unstoppable killing machines with seemingly little motive that I like, but that is because they are also human and the lack of motive, when put in a human, is scary. But as it is a robot, I find myself struggling to care at all, and it meant that a lot of fun I could have been having for the majority of the film was lost.
This film will definitely find an audience, and from the few responses I have seen to the film online the consensus is mostly positive. And I don’t want this to sound like I think this is a bad film because I don’t. It is well shot, acted, and has a strong visual style and it also executes on its premise exactly as you would imagine. However, the fact the majority of the film is just watching this robot massacre people means that I have trouble getting invested and ultimately find the film a little bit tedious for large chunks.
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