A Christmas Horror Story (2015)

ridiculous rating

It is a performances centric movie

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Anthologies usually suffer from the same problem: specific stories being much better / worse than the others it's paired with. In that sense, this is one of the strongest anthology films I've seen, with the qualitative consistency pretty level. Not that it's perfectly unswerving (virgin Mary one is mediocre, Santa one is a blast), but it's still the kind of goofy, creepy fun that many of us need during the holidays.

I can't imagine why, but I don't believe I ever heard of a Krampus before. It's not exactly a brand new holiday season concept, and I'm not a youngster, so I don't know how this anti-Christmas legend snuck by me. In looking up some information on the Krampus, and by association, Krampusnacht, I learned that the demon-like, half-goat of Austrian folklore makes his presence known on December Fifth to punish children who have misbehaved. Since I've never encountered the Christmas Devil myself, I guess I've been doing okay.Well this Christmas movie isn't for the faint of heart. It's a series of four stories told somewhat simultaneously, with a couple of them intertwining before reaching a fatal conclusion. Sort of book-ending the film is good old William Shatner portraying radio jock Dangerous Dan, attempting to lift the spirits of the town of Bailey Downs with good tidings and songs for the holiday season. We didn't get to see much of Bailey Downs, but in my imagination I kind of compared it To Bedford Falls, in keeping with the Christmas tradition.Being a Christmas 'Horror' story, be prepared for a fair share of blood and gore, along with Santa's (George Buza) gallant home-stand against his infected, zombie transforming elves. There's a twist to this story that you may or may not see coming when things spiral out of control to the finale. Let's just say Stormin' Norman the weatherman had a Santa fixation with an axe to grind.If you go for this kind of stuff, the film is kind of entertaining in it's own way. But just like a lot of stories that came out of The Twilight Zone or the Crypt Keeper's vault, there are no repercussions for some of the brutal murders that take place when things eventually have to settle down. What I'm thinking about is how are the survivors of the various stories going to explain things to the authorities when it comes time to clean up all the individual messes. Not supposed to think about that I guess. I think maybe that Krampus has some more work to do.

A Christmas Horror Story is an anthology with four short films that, rather than playing in succession, weave together, one chunk cutting into the next, which, in my opinion, really dulled some already dull stories, especially considering they were written and directed by different people.They did make an effort to connect all four of the unique stories. They all take place on Christmas Eve in the fictional town of Bailey Downs, and you see little ways in which the characters are more personally connected as the movie plays on. They also cut occasionally to the town's radio DJ, Dangerous Dan (played by William Shatner, of all people), who tries to keep everyone in the Christmas spirit as he slowly succumbs to downing shot after shot of boozy egg nog.The first story has a family trespassing on a private orchard to bring home a Christmas tree — an odd choice, I thought, since they make a point to have the husband be one of the town's police officers. They lose the woman's son and go on a mad search for him before finding what they think is him and returning home. Turns out it's actually a changeling version of him, and he wreaks some serious havoc before the wife brings him back to the orchard in exchange for her real, non-evil son. This one really did nothing for me, except being super bummed when she instinctually shoots the owner of the orchard who was trying to help.The second follows a group of high school kids as they investigate the grisly murders of two classmates that took place the previous year. This somehow manages to pack every tired horror cliché into one go, and while it tries to set up some good jump scares with a bit of supernatural aspects, it really fell flat — probably the weakest of the bunch for me.The third is a dysfunctional family who go on a trip to surprise a distant, elderly aunt (to her dismay). They learn of Krampus while muddling through the awkward trip and shortly after he hunts them through the woods. I liked the character of Krampus and he was decently scary but the special effects were mediocre at best and you really felt no connection whatsoever to the characters.The fourth has Santa battling elves at his workshop after they, and his wife, have all succumbed to a zombie virus. Now THIS — I would have watched an entire movie of just this. Santa (played by George Buza) was awesome, and the gore was fantastic. It was goofy and funny and filled with great action scenes and creative, clever kills. I mean, just watching a bloody Santa going on a rampage with his bloody staff in hand and killing one elf by throwing another elf's head at him like a bowling ball… great stuff. It didn't have a whole lot of plot or character development but it didn't need it. It wraps up with Santa ultimately battling Krampus, which I wish would have gone on FAR longer before the surprise ending (which I admit was pretty clever).All in all, I wanted better. Bring me more bloody Santa!

Some people, or rather a lot of people, are going to hate this movie. It's easy to see why - four short, separate Christmas Eve horror tales in one movie, flicking back and forth, it can be difficult to keep up. If you can manage to stay focused and patient, there is some great entertainment here.'A Christmas Horror Story' has everything you'd want in a festive horror movie. It's funny, gory, scary, and very, very weird. From zombie elves attempting to murder Santa to a possessed child, this is sure to satisfy those who like their horrors more on the 'quirky' side.It entertained me for an hour and a half, but I certainly won't be revisiting this bizarre Christmas film any time soon.