Treevenge (2008)

Why so much hype?

Dreadfully Boring

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

"Treevenge" is a 16-minute movie from 7 years ago written and directed by Jason Eisener. His most famous work so far is probably "Hobo with a Shotgun" starring Rutger Hauer. This one here is among his earlier works and as you may have guessed from the title, it is a (Christmas) tree revenge movie. It is basically what you would expect as such, nothing more nothing less. The bad thing is that this one runs for 14 minutes only without credits and it takes 10.5 minutes of introduction until the trees finally take revenge. Not acceptable in my opinion. 4 minutes introduction, 4 minutes gore would have been perfectly appropriate. The way it is here, you are already half asleep when this film finally gains real steam. When it does, it's good, but with all the boredom of the first minutes, I cannot recommend it to anybody except serious horror movie fans. thumbs down.

A bunch of terrified and infuriated sentient pine trees decide to strike back against the cruel and evil humans who have chopped them down to use as Christmas trees for the yuletide season. Director Jason Eisener, who also co-wrote the clever script with Rob Cotterill, maintains a zippy pace throughout, milks loads of sidesplitting sick laughs from the uproariously twisted sense of inspired black humor, and delivers plenty of hysterically excessive over-the-top graphic gore (among the grisly highlights are eyes getting gouged out, a man having one of his legs cut off, and a Christmas star being tossed into a guy's throat). Moreover, this honey warrants extra praise not only for its no-holds-barred attitude towards the loopy subject matter (a cute little cat, several kids, and even a crying baby all get gruesomely killed!), but also for the brilliantly subversive way in which people are made to seem like despicable monsters -- the chortling lumberjacks in particular are shown as total psychos wielding axes and chainsaws -- while the trees come across as pitiable and confused frightened victims (they actually speak in subtitles, too!). Great homages to the Lucio Fulci Italian splatter classics "Zombi 2" and "The Gates of Hell," too. An absolute riot!

*Originally written for Screened.com*Have you ever thought how does it feels being chopped, sliced and decorated as Christmas tree? No? Well, neither do I. This movie how ever centers around a bunch of trees that somehow gained consciousness. We see from their perspective how horrible Christmas is to them and how the "things" (humans) treat them cruelly.The trees then dissatisfied and in agony, decide to strike revenge onto us puny humans, sending the movie into a plethora of gore and madness, ensuring you the most brutal Christmas Tree related movie ever. This is definitely Grindhouse material. It's ridiculous, silly and it's self aware of it. Beware as this movie is not for the squeamish.The acting is totally over the top and suits the cheesy-ness of the film and it is done perfectly. We never know the names of the humans as they considered animals by these trees so not much development comes from them. What's interesting is that we feel the agony of the trees while watching. The high pitch alien-esque voices of the trees actually is well played and we can actually sympathize them while laughing at the same time.I will never see Christmas trees the same anymore. Maybe this movie is an allegory (see what I did?) for the destruction of nature did by man kind or how badly man kind has taken little things for granted. Maybe it's just a fun film full of gory fun but what ever message you find here, you will start pitying the trees after this and think twice of chopping down a tree.

Great from the opening shots to the last. A very inventive, well executed Christmas tale that turns into a complete gorefest (Christmas trees take bloody revenge). Within 16 minutes, writer/director Jason Eisener, goes from the process of getting Christmas Trees from the field to the seller to the buyer to the 'Treevenge', establishing some key characters along the way, which makes the revenge that much sweeter. Eisener sets the tone right off the bat: from the peacefulness of the snowy-topped forest to the axe that wields into frame shortly thereafter... quite humorous throughout, and the liveliness of the trees - dialogue, movements,panic, etc... is a lot of fun. Some great shots and lines, with tones of Sam Raimi and Italian Horror spurting out here, there, and everywhere. One of the best short films I've seen in a while, can't wait to see what Eisener does next.