I don't know what drugs director John Waters was on when he declared this 1980 film to be the 'greatest Christmas movie ever made'. No disrespect to the man, but he obviously had to have been high when he made that statement. If you want an ultra-violent, well-made movie about a Santa slasher, see Silent Night, Deadly Night.
If you wanna see prolonged, boring sequences interspersed with poor editing and WTF moments, then by all means watch this!
It starts when young Henry witness Santa caught in a naughty act with his mother thus causing a major disillusionment and a colossal psychological break with reality. We fast-forward years later to find Henry having a slight obession with Christmas and a habit of stalking children who have been naughty and nice. At the toy factory where he works, he has to deal with harried co-workers upset that they have to buy presents for their kids. To top that off, he also has to deal with greedy execs who put profit over quality.
All the pressures drive Harry insane(not that it takes much) and he takes his frustrations out one night. Along the way, he does show even killers can get into the spirit of giving.
While in theory, this makes for a great movie, in execution, it is piss poor. It takes 53 mins for the killings to begin and then we have to wait 15 mins more for the next round. And the ending? You just have to watch. I went numb when I saw it.
3/10
7 comments:
Good timing, my copy should be in the mail today as well -- which is why I haven't read your review yet. I don't want to know anything about it before watching it.
Hopefully, you'll enjoy it better than I did.
I actually enjoyed this film for very much. It's more of a psychological film to me then a straight up slasher film. The ending, which has to be seen to be believed, fits in since it gets to the heart of what the character is all about. One of my favorites of the decade.
Yeah, no matter what Carl keeps telling me, this movie sucks.
I 'get it,' so it's not that. It just sucks.
I'd rather watch 'Silent Night, Deadly Night 3' again. Hell, I'm almost rather watch 'Psycho Santa' again. Almost.
I think CHRISTMAS EVIL is an average horror film. I do agree about the first half - WAY too long to set things up. I was extremely bored during this portion. But I dig the last half and how the main character actually believes he's Santa. And while the very end is definitely WTF worthy, it makes sense in terms of the psychological state of the character. How I see it is that it didn't really happen, but it was all in his head. That thought process makes me tolerate the film more. But I do understand why you didn't have a feel for it. Great review.
I did try watching this movie as a psychological horror film as opposed to a hack-n-slash. The problem was it wasn't well-done. I understand this was a no-budget movie and I didn't expect much, but it still could have been edited better and made less confusing. Example:If it was meant to be Harry's delusion, maybe it could have ended at the same hospital where he gave away all those toys?
I would consider this a great Christmas movie not because it's boring or poorly edited but because of the story. The story is what the Christmas season is all about and you have to look at it that way. The story is about a man who wanted to become Santa because he realized that Santa doesn't exist. He doesn't want kids to be let down so he takes it upon himself to become the living embodiment of him. It's such a beautiful tale of trying to bring Christmas to other folks. It seems like you were only watching this hoping for kills and nothing more. Not really the Christmas sprit.
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