REVIEW: CHRISTMAS BLOODY CHRISTMAS

• Director: Joe Begos
• Writer: Joe Begos
• Stars: Reily Dandy, Sam Delich, Jonah Ray, Dora Madison, Abraham Benrubi

REVIEW

Joe Begos’ Christmas Bloody Christmas wants you to know that it’s punk as fuck and screw you if you ain’t on board. Lucky enough, I am well and truly onboard. Christmas Bloody Christmas is raucous, bloody, and gory. It’s also entertaining as hell.

Tori (Dandy) decides not to go to a tinder meet-up on the advice of Robbie (Delich) and promptly takes him for a night of drinking and maybe, possibly, getting laid. They stop in at a toy store on the way to see Tori’s friends Lahna (Madison) and her boyfriend Jay (Ray). It just so happens that this particular toy store has the most technologically advanced robot santa ever made… and everyone is on his naughty list.

This is Begos’ most well written film. The banter between Reily and Delich is so good, natural yet kind of over the top, and it works perfectly. Begos’ style is once again right to the fore here, with neon palates on neutral background and this is before the violence even begins. When bad robot santa starts offing people, the violence is brutal, if not a little low budget in parts, but in all honesty, that is part of the charm of this film. It’s a fairly straightforward stalk n slash film, but the energy that Begos’ imbues makes this stand out.

Dandy is ferocious as Tori, fast talking, foul-mouthed, and willing to fight. She makes Tori charismatic and still retains her edge. The supporting cast are all great, especially Delich, who matches Dandy’s rapidfire chat, and the two have excellent chemistry on screen. The robot Santa, played by Benrubi, is threatening and is a straight-up killing machine. The issue is that Santa is just that and has no motivation beyond crush, kill, destroy. On the other side of the coin, the film almost becomes a survival horror, and having a merciless killer isn’t a bad thing.

Christmas Bloody Christmas will sit comfortably beside your Christmas nasties (Black Christmas, Silent Night, Deadly Night) and I can see this becoming a favourite at this time of year. A fun horror to round out the year, Christmas Bloody Christmas delivers the gifts you’ve been wanting.

Streaming now on Shudder.

Ryan Morrissey-Smith | Twitter: @TigersMS78