Christmas Bloody Christmas Plot
It is Christmas Eve, and Tori is closing up her record shop for the night and hoping for a post-work night of debauchery. Her employee Robbie talks her out of her arranged Tinder date to go bar hopping with him instead. When they visit their friends in a department store, the robotic Santa display malfunctions (due to some pesky military programming) and goes on a killing spree with his sights ultimately set on Tori.
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Christmas Bloody Christmas Review
Christmas is coming and so is a killer robot Santa in Joe Begos’ new film, which takes its time setting up the characters before unleashing the big red guy upon them. The first part of the film is like a metalhead’s Clerks style hangout flick, with Tori (Riley Dandy, actually a Christmas movie veteran, as it turns out) and Robbie (Sam Delich) hanging out at work, arguing over records, horror movies, Tori’s tinder date and where they should drink.
They are a fun pair to hang out with, and the two actors really sell their chemistry. Tori doesn’t take any of the shit that Robbie hangs on her and keeps rebuffing his advances until she doesn’t. They feel real, even if their dialogue can get a bit tiresome after a while (so many pop culture references). But just about the time Tori controversially says ‘Freddy’s Dead’ is the best Nightmare on Elm Street (shocking, I know), they run afoul of Robo Santa and from then on, its a non-stop rollercoaster of gore and explosions.
And if it’s gore you want (and hey, it’s a Christmas horror film – of course we want gore), you will not leave disappointed with numerous bodies being cleaved in two by the unstoppable robot.
Begos peppers the film with other likeable and recognisable faces such as comedian Jonah Ray, indie mainstay Jeremy Gardner as an angry cop and the new Herman Munster, Jeff Daniel Phillips as a hilariously maudlin Sheriff. Abraham Benrubi is one of those ‘that guy’ actors with many roles in films and TV over the years, but he is unrecognisable here as the Robo Santa and is an imposing physical presence (not to mention a dab hand with an axe.)
The plot is threadbare, but that works to the film’s advantage. Begos is aware of this – even the flimsy reason for the Santa going on a rampage is hilariously dropped in a very brief news report. This isn’t a film to approach logically; more, get to know the characters and follow them to the bloody end. The last stretch does become a tad repetitive, with Santa seemingly defeated and then rising again (and again), but even that works as a light satire of the tropes of the ‘killer robot’ subgenre.
Begos’ reference points are ‘Silent Night Deadly Night’ and ‘The Terminator’, particularly in the second half, when Santa attacks a police station and loses more and more of his human facade. Santa’s green glowing eyes add to the lurid neon vibe of the film, helped immeasurably by the production design, which lathers on the snow and neon Christmas lights.
The camera is always on the move, showing us what Begos needs us to see and bringing dynamism to the film, and works with the design to make the film feel much bigger than the budget probably was. Coming from low-budget filmmaking, Begos is a very hands-on filmmaker, writing, directing and often operating the camera on his films. Producer and editor Josh Ethier has been with Begos since their first film, ‘Almost Human’ back in 2013. Since then, they have collaborated on ‘The Mind’s Eye’, ‘Bliss and VFW, carving out their own niche in the horror industry.
The film has the cohesion that a tight-knit crew of friends and collaborators can create, with everyone onscreen and behind the scenes knowing exactly the kind of film they are making. The music adds much to the film’s energy, with grinding metal songs in the early hangout section intermixed with Steve Moore’s chugging synth score.
While not a game changer (the film doesn’t really aim to be), Christmas Bloody Christmas is a fun, relentless mix of action and horror. The seasonal vibes and setting are perfectly realised and, combined with the gory kills and likeable characters should see it become a new entry into the yearly Christmas horror watchathons.
‘Christmas Bloody Christmas’ is streaming on Shudder from December 9, 2022
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