Movie Review: Christmas Evil

As the Christmas season rolls around each year, there are a few certain films that always get watched. I always visit seasonal classics such as Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, Elf, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Then there are the action regulars, most notably Die Hard, Die Hard 2: Die Harder, and Lethal Weapon. Those are all well and good, but being a horror movie fan, there are the darker holiday films that need to have some time spent with them, this includes the likes of Black Christmas, Silent Night, Deadly Night, Krampus, and Red Christmas. In recent years a new film has come to my attention and has quickly risen through the ranks, Christmas Evil.

Movie Review: Red Christmas

What is it about Christmas and horror that blends so well? It is a strange mixture that, while not always perfect, often yields entertaining results. Now, outside of Halloween and summer camps, Christmas may be the best pairing with everyone’s favorite film genre. Just look at some of the classics we have already, there is the family friendly horror of Gremlins, the antics of Silent Night Deadly Night, the somewhat sad Christmas Evil, and even the recent iteration of the Krampus tale. That doesn’t even get to international offerings like Rare Exports and Sint. Now we have an offering from Australia, Red Christmas. Does it have what it takes to join the pantheon of classic Christmas horror hybrids? Perhaps.

Movie Review: Christmas Evil

As the Christmas season rolls around each year, there are a few certain films that always get watched. I always visit seasonal classics such as Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, Elf, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Then there are the action regulars, most notably Die Hard, Die Hard 2: Die Harder, and Lethal Weapon. Those are all well and good, but being a horror movie fan, there are the darker holiday films that need to have some time spent with them, this includes the likes of Black Christmas and Silent Night, Deadly Night. In recent years a new film has come to my attention and has quickly risen through the ranks, Christmas Evil.----- Read the rest at Shit Movie Fest as part of annual 25 Days of Shitmas.

Movie Review: The Night Before (2015)

I am not normally the kind of guy who likes Christmas movies before Thanksgiving, outside of the obvious year round exceptions (A Nightmare Before Christmas, Silent Night Deadly Night, Black Christmas, you get the idea). Still, sometimes theatrical release schedules make the decision for you when you start seeing them in any given year. This year The Night Before got me in front of a Yuletide themed film prior to turkey-day this year. And you know what? It was a blast. It is a buddy movie, a drug comedy, an awkward coming of age tale, and it is all wrapped up like A Christmas Carol. Yes, I liked it. Smart? Hardly, but certainly funny and surprisingly heartfelt.

The Outcast sends Santa a Letter

Yes, you read that right. For the first time since I was, maybe. 8 years old I wrote a letter to Santa. Of course, it was horror themed and rather unlikely to be answered, but there it is. So, make sure go read it at HorrorSexy.com, the only place you can read! Check out some of other letters and posts, too.

If It's Christmas. It's Gotta be Treevenge

It has become something of a tradition to watch this short film this time of year. It was a few years ago that I stumbled upon Treevenge, but I am so glad I did. It runs a scant 16-minutes, but it packs a punch. It is clever, cute, and delightfully violent. It pulls no punches and depicts nature having its revenge on the slaughter of trees for Christmas. It also features great use of Fabio Frizzi's theme from Cannibal Holocaust. It really needs no more introduction, except to say it is not for sensitive eyes:

Movie Review: Jingle All the Way (1996)

It is that wonderful time of year, Christmas is nearly upon us. You know, the rushing around, the gift buying for people you see once a year, the snubs, the fights, the difficulty in finding the right thing. It is enough to make someone..... well, want to curl into the fetal position until spring. Anyway, I always feel the need to squeeze in a couple of holiday themed films. There are the annual ones like A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, and Elf, but I also try to take in a few others and it isn't close enough to the big day for Black Christmas (original, of course). So, I have decided to revisit Jingle All the Way.

Blu-ray Review: Doctor Who - The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe

When it comes to Doctor Who, I must admit to large amounts of ignorance. I have been aware of the show for a long time, I can probably track it all the way back to my early childhood. I recall stumbling across episodes on PBS or some such network and I would watch; however, I never really absorbed it. I liked it but it never attracted me in the way that, say, Star Trek did. I never felt compelled to seek it out, I would watch but I never went out of my way. Then the series was revived in a rather substantial fashion in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston and it was good and I loved it. Then David Tennant stepped into the TARDIS in 2006 and I enjoyed the first few seasons but then lost track. Now, with this release I am officially introduced to the Matt Smith version of the Doctor.

Eyes on Christmas: Santa Claus - The Movie

Dipping back into some seasonal fare has led me to the modestly entertaining Santa Claus: The Movie. This is a product of the 1980's but is in no way, shape, or form in the same league as Die Hard and Gremlins. Of course, this is an actual seasonal film that centers on Santa Claus, duh, and doesn't just use the setting of the season on which to hang its story. It is a movie that does what it needs to and tries to have a heart while it goes about doing it.

Eyes on Christmas: He-Man, She-Ra, and Mr. Magoo

I decided to take a little break from my live action Christmas spectacular that has been going on for the past week and a half and squeeze in a couple of animated holiday titles. Well, it is not so much by choice as it was a bit of a time squeeze. You see, there are only so many hours in the day and after a long day of work and other obligations, I had only a small window in which to keep the run going. So, I decided on a pair of short specials that aired on television years ago.

Eyes on Christmas: Rare Exports - A Christmas Tale

Well, hasn't this marathon taken a turn for the awesome. After mediocrity like Call Me Claus, awfulness like A Christmas Too Many, and the utter oddness of Santa Claus (1959), it is nice to sit back with some genuinely awesome holiday films. First there was Gremlins which, let's face it, is a flat out great movie. Not perfect by any stretch, but I is hard not to have a good time with it. Now we have one that was a first time watch for me, I had heard good thins about it, but I was caught off guard by just how great it is. Again, it is not perfect by any stretch, but it is one I can find myself revisiting many times.

Eyes on Christmas: Gremlins

Now, Christmas movies have never been my favorite sort of movie. There is something about the relentless cheer that many of them bring that gets to me. Perhaps it is because so few of them move beyond the feeling of manufactured joy. Still, there are some, and there are even more that set themselves around the holiday without necessarily being of the holiday. This marathon allows me to investigate films on both sides of that line. This latest film in my marathon takes a look at a holiday gift, given with the best intentions, that just goes wrong.

Eyes on Christmas: Call Me Claus

The fifth movie in my Christmas marathon is probably the most traditional in terms of actually being a Christmas movie. I have watched a scarcely connected horror movie, a surreal Mexican Santa movie, a tale of drugs and commercialism, and a misbegotten story of a dysfunctional family that will bore you to tears. This time around I have a holiday movie that actually has a little bit of the Christmas spirit and is actually easy to watch, it is not exactly the best one around, but it was mildly enjoyable and actually felt like a Christmas movie I could see my family watching.

Eyes on Christmas: A Christmas Too Many

The first week of the Christmas marathon is chugging along, although it is starting to resemble my Halloween marathon. You see, I am not planning this out very well, scrounging for titles, looking for things I haven't seen before, in some cases anyway. Well, this latest viewing is a good example of my poor planning. This has to be one of the worst excuses for a Christmas movie ever, and considering some of the cast members, it certainly should have been at least modestly entertaining. It wasn't

Eyes on Christmas: Santa Claus (1959)

Well, the first day of the Christmas marathon was not all that Christmassy. Sure, the holiday was there, there were some decorations and the need for a present, but it was not your standard jolly holiday fare, it was one that used the season as something of a backdrop. Well, the second movie is much more in line with the season. It is also much more bizarre, strange, quirky, and just plain weird. It is a Mexican film called Santa Claus. I know, imaginative, right?

Eyes on Christmas: R-Xmas

It is hard to believe it is December already. In any case, I decided to do a marathon in conjunction with the oncoming holiday, much like I did with Halloween in October. I have a nice lineup of Christmas movies lined up, although I will say that some of them are not directly Christmas movies, some of them are just set around the holiday through chance or just a backdrop. For example, the first movie I have chosen is not really a Christmas, although it could be seen as a commentary on consumerism.

Music Review: Bob Dylan - Christmas in the Heart

Last Fall a curious oddity of an album landed on store shelves. A Bob Dylan Christmas album. I swear, this is one festive collection of Yuletide standbys that I never thought I would see. I feel fairly certain I am not the only one who thought so. The releases by country stars, pop stars, and the frequent heavier act (see King Diamond, Twisted Sister, A Very Metal Christmas, and A Taste of Christmas), sure, but Bob Dylan singing traditional classics? No way. That could never happen. Well, it has happened and the refreshingly straight forward approach has breathed some life into an area that is more often than not staler than last year's fruit cake.