A Christmas Horror Story (2015)

A Christmas Horror Story (2015) (see below for trailer and preview images)

​Directed by Grant Harvey, Steven Hoban and Brett Sullivan
 
Starring: William Shatner, George Buza, Rob Archer, Zoé De Grande Maison, Alex Ozerov, Shannon Cook, Amy Forsyth, Jeff Clark, Michelle Nolden, Adrian Holmes, Oluniké Adeliyi, Orion John, A.C. Peterson, Percy Hynes White, Corinne Conley, Julian Richings, Debra McCabe, Joe Silvaggio, Damir Andre, Jessica Clement, Ken Hall, Korina Rothery, Jonathan H. Caines, Brad Bennett, Paige Moyles, Glen Gaston, Eric Woolfe
 
IMDb 5.7/10                Rotten Tomatoes 80%                        Metacritic 49/100

Finally, I found a Christmas Horror movie that was pretty good.  I really think my only complaint would be the structure of the film.  In this movie we see four different stories happen throughout the show.  But, they aren’t laid out one after the other like normal anthologies.  They all happen simultaneously and we get little tidbits here and there along the way.
 
The problem with that is this:
 
It took about forty-five minutes to really confirm to myself that these stories were not related to each other.  It’s not made clear at the start of the film that we are getting four separate tales. I much prefer the way it’s done in Creepshow where each tale is separate and distinctly told apart from the others. I mean hell, the Creep even announces the title of each story.  I find that to be much more viewer friendly and easier to follow.
 
I will say that the stories were pretty good.  It was a very modern Christmas version of a Creepshow type movie.  We got the horror, the gore, the dark comedy, regular comedy, some suspense, all with a “fairytale” kind of undertone to it.
 
William Shatner is a radio DJ doing his Christmas Eve show.  It is during his broadcast that we go through the four tales of the film.  The first story is a paranormal tale about three students that break into their school to further investigate the traumatic deaths of two classmates the year before.  Another tale is a family of three who trespass onto private property to find and cut down the perfect Christmas tree.  While doing so their child gets lots and when they find him, he is very different.  Then, we have the classic idea of a family vacation to Grandma’s house for Christmas gone completely wrong and finally, a story about a zombie virus outbreak at The North Pole, threatening Santa, his elves and Christmas.
 
Since this IS a fairly recent movie, I’m not going to divulge too much.  I don’t want to spoil anything for those who haven’t’ seen it.
 
One question I have is why did it take three directors to make this film?  I have never seen so many directors on one film in my life.  I would think that would be too many egos in the same authoritative position.  How could that possibly be an easier film to make with three different directors telling the actors what to do?  I don’t know. I have no film making experience or training so it’s purely an observation by a layperson.  
 
Still, if you get the chance to watch this I don’t think it would be a disappointment.  I think it was well made and very well done.  I liked this Krampus interpretation better than the one in the actual Krampus movie.  This depiction seems more fitting to me.  And the idea of an ass kicking Santa makes me smile.  Everyone acts like Santa is so perfect, that it’s not possible he would have struggles or problems or even a bad day.  ARE YOU CRAZY???  Do you know what kind of pressure that man is under?  And those elves?  Cut them some slack would you?  Christmas rests on their shoulders.  That’s a heavy burden to carry.
 
RATINGS
3.5/5 Stars