Ho, ho, mother fuckin’ ho; what do we have here boils n’ ghouls? A Christmas set thriller where a slashin’ Santa works his way through a group of victims. Good to see originality is still alive and well in the ol’ horror biz…
Anyway, there is a killer Santa that terrorizes folks with a pick-ax every Yuletide, and this year he brings his murder biz to a small Norweigian town where a group of female friends have gathered for a reunion. Things get bloody for our comely heroines and soon their mortality is seriously in jeopardy. Thankfully for them, a grizzled (and alcoholic) detective and his gung-ho partner make the scene, and they are bound and determined to bring these horrible holiday homicides to a swift end!
While I may have brought the sass up-top, Christmas Blood, for all of it’s trope-heavy elements, nevertheless delivers some effective storytelling and visuals. Writer/Director Reinert Kiil (with that name, fright flick Director was his destiny…) presents the material with a beautiful, slick veneer of visual panache (though some scenes suffer a tad from being under-lit), rockin’ metal riffs (the killer even has his own theme…which is the epitome of rad-ass awesome in my beastly book), and a unique setting…and while the film is loaded with horror picture traditions; they are handled with a heart and reverence that let’s us all know Kiil is truly one of us! Also, and most importantly of note, Christmas Blood features some excellent kills…and in the end, that is what we all desire when we plop our arcane asses down on the couch and cast our eerie eyeballs upon a stalk n’ slay affair!
Bottom line; Christmas Blood is a solid slasher with some love behind it, and while stylish and bloody it doesn’t exactly soar to new heights…it’s wortha watch (or two), but won’t become a new, go-to staple.
Spoiler-Free Film Reviews: “Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person” and “Property” (Make Believe 2024)
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant; Canada, 2023)...