By Kyle Laugh
“A mother must protect her family on Christmas day from a demented stranger who's hell-bent on tearing them apart.”
It was written and directed by Craig Anderson and stars Dee Wallace, Geoff Morrell, Sarah Bishop, David Collins, Janis McGavin, Sam Campbell and Gerard Odwyer.
To be honest right from the get go, I wasn't looking forward to watching this as Christmas horror flicks tend to be, more often than not, a ridiculous joke. I say this with the obvious exception of Black Christmas and Gremlins just to name a few of the good ones but I typically tend to stay away from them otherwise.
This one through me for a loop however. It started off looking like an incredibly cheap attempt at making a film which turned out to be an opening scene used to display an event from twenty years prior. A flashback of you will.
The story itself, I found to be very predictable and had most of the film figured out within the first twenty minutes or so which would inevitably ruin a movie for some people.
So before you jump the gun and skip this flick, let me tell you why you should take the time to check it out!
First thing which is worthwhile to mention which will keep you entertained is the work of Gerard Odwyer. He is a man with down syndrome but it doesn't keep him from giving us a fun and fantastic performance which provides viewers with some laughs, a few serious moments and a few scenes that could potentially bring you to tears. Some of the lines of dialogue he delivers are done in random accents and I truly enjoyed all he had to offer.
The second thing, which is perfect for all you gore hounds out there. There are only a handful of kills but half of them are out of this world fantastic, a few coming out of nowhere while all of them have great visual effects, amazing displays of gore and from what I could tell, no use of CGI having been used, at least from what I could tell. And of course, I'm not going to ruin a single one of them for you readers.
As I mentioned earlier, I basically called what was going to happen within a few scenes. This however doesn't cover view the film end as well as a small twist which I was not expecting to have happen.
As for additional downfalls to the film...I was not overly impressed with most of the cast as they were simply annoying or forgettable. The exception of course was Dee Wallace with the help of Odwyer. Together, these two were the driving force that kept the film moving through most of the lackluster scenes.
With that being said, the smaller factors were enough for me to really enjoy this for the good or had to offer and would suggest it to anybody who loves a great kill scene with excellent effects.
And just so you're all aware, the fact that it's technically set on Christmas day really had nothing to do with the film next to the theme of family gatherings. With that said, there's really no need to save this one for your holiday watch list and could really enjoy this at any time of the year.
6.5 out of 10.
Red Christmas is currently available on video on demand and DVD.
Kyle likes long walks on the beach and the smell of fresh blood in the morning. Follow him at
https://twitter.com/Laughing_horror