Nutcracker Massacre

Nutcracker figures are right up there with clowns in terms of being creepy and off-putting, so the concept is ripe for genre treatment even without special variations like what we get here - the design and realization of which does look pretty good. This flick has that going for it, and a cast that generally seems capable and who give earnest performances; not to specifically discount others, but Beatrice Fletcher stands out most as protagonist Clara, and is duly charming. I'll even say that there are some swell ideas here in twisting a classic tale to horror ends. Unfortunately, beyond these factors, things start to break down. I don't doubt the sincerity of anyone involved, and to that end this surely can at least claim to stand taller than the majority of output from The Asylum or especially Uncork'd Entertainment. Between the writing and direction, however, 'Nutcracker massacre' simply doesn't cut it.

From the very start the tone and pacing are both readily described as "astonishingly soft" if not also "slothful." This pertains even to death scenes, and the acting is absolutely impacted in turn. If filmmaker Becca Hirani, or writers Jeff Miller or Joe Knetter, had intended the picture to be, if you will, "anti-horror," then this might make sense. Yet there is no humor by which this might succeed as a horror-comedy; there is no subtlety or nuance to the proceedings with which this might succeed as a more underhanded variety of genre piece (nevermind that the concept kind of throws that possibility out the window in the first place). The dialogue, scene writing, and characterizations are mostly empty and hapless, and almost inspire mocking laughter for how ill-considered they are. The narrative in and of itself is okay, but it feels cluttered and imbalanced: on the one hand toying with an early nineteenth century story, though this element is somewhat deemphasized; on the other hand, heavily driving at the premise of "murderous nutcracker doll," with all other facets further distinctly dragging things down. Even the basic orchestration of shots and scenes, and the cinematography, sometimes raise a quizzical eyebrow. Meanwhile, to the same extent that some cast members (not least Patrick Bergin) really do try to overcome the major deficiencies of writing and direction (with greatly varying degrees of success), some come off notably worse than others - sorry, Andy Dixon, better luck next time.

There were fine possibilities here, but the feature as it exists is bizarrely, woefully lax, lackluster, humdrum, gentle, restrained, muted, subdued - consult your nearest thesaurus for more adjectives. Some aspects are half decent, but the whole is inescapably weak and unconvincing. The root tale and subsequent screenplay direly needed to be revised and tightened to zero in on and boost the best ideas; the screenplay, and the direction, desperately needed a substantial infusion of vitality to allow any of these eighty-five minutes to have anything approaching the desired impact. I see the value that the film has to offer, and maybe more to the point, the value that it could have offered. As it presents, however, 'Nutcracker massacre' is just too meager to really count for anything, and it's hard to give a recommendation. I suppose if you're open to all the wide possibilities of cinema, and are super keen on the idea of 'The nutcracker' being warped as such then one may have fair reason to watch; otherwise, it's tough to conjure a reason. Check it out if you like, and I wish nothing but the best for all involved, but I think your time is best spent elsewhere.

Really wanted to like this one, as I love both the Nutcracker and hilarious horror comedies. But sadly this is not hilarious. Barely managed a smirk. I did like that the protagonist is named Clara, and her aunt is named Marie (the two versions of the lead character in the ballet, depending on whether you're watching the original or the French production). In between kills - there's one good one where an unfortunate young man finds out who really put the cracking in a nutcracker - the story is very dull, and the pacing is terrible. Not even worth putting on in the background while you deck the halls. It's lovely to see Patrick Bergin again, and he's aging nicely, but his character is relegated to just being the mysterious toymaker who drops exposition.

Movie begins, oddly, with a delivery guy encountering the Nutcracker, then rolling back two days until the events get back up to the delivery guy. Unclear why that was done, other than perhaps to pad running time, or someone wanted a kill scene moved up closer to the beginning than the script had it.

Beatrice Fletcher and May Kelly have lovely looks and voices, and both are above average actors for what in many respects seems like a low-budget movie. The latter's (external to this movie) "Bacco" tattoo and modeling shots with cigarettes make one worry about her looks and voice! Get help with that, please; you should have a long life and career! Prematurely aged skin, lip pursing wrinkles, raspy voice, and deep phlegmy coughs aren't things to aspire to obtain.

Picture quality is decent for a low-budget Christmas horror movie. So many of them lack anything even close to top-of-the line cameras that they look cheap from the outset. Pacing was on the slow side, possibly compensating for lack of sufficient action and dialog.

The wobbling of the nutcracker when standing inanimate by the tree is impossible not to note. A dummy should have been used, or a post or preacher's bench for the actor to lean against.

The Nutcracker has two faces, a shattered "normal" one and fanged angry one. That look of a poor repair job to the "normal" head was peculiar: if explained, I missed it. Maybe they should have added some Kintsugi to the plot somehow to justify it.

There's no transformation between the two Nutcracker heads, just edits. A morph, or stop-action accomplished via miniature or something would have been a worthwhile investment; it could have helped. Maybe they should have hired Charles Band or the like for some insert shots. (Speaking of insert shots, there's a gorgeous foggy landscape one about 24 minutes in; stock footage, or actually by the cinematographer?) The angry head's fangs are, ironically, pointless in that the Nutcracker never bites.

A nut pick and candy canes are used as shivs. An ordinary V-shaped metal nutcracker is not used to crack nuts so much as... well, the man with the bag ain't Santa in this one, and he isn't with it for long though the shot does linger on it. Strangling by garland. But also hammer, knife, and gun which don't seem as Christmassy, not as Christmas horror-y, anyway. Slowed-down Nutcracker music periodically is effective; possibly more use should have been made of such recognizable, quality elements of the ballet.

I'd met one of the screenwriters, Joe Knetter, a number of years back; super-friendly guy. I do wish all involved luck on future projects, even though this one was largely a disappointment. Some more script polishing and fundraising could have helped considerably.

Nutcracker Massacre (2022) is a movie recently added to Tubi. The storyline follows a writer who comes home for Christmas only to discover a strange nutcracker in the house. When the nutcracker is left alone it grows significantly and kills people. Can the family figure out what's going on before it's too late?

This movie is directed by Rebecca Matthews (Reign of Chaos) and stars Beatrice Fletcher (Croc!), Julie Stevens (The 31st Amendment), Andy Dixon (World's Most Evil Killers), May Kelly (Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey) and Stephen Staley (Dinosaur Hotel).

Everything about this movie is below average. The cast is mediocre, stiff and made the film feel as low budget as it is. The writing, both the storyline and dialogue, is not good. The costume was okay and had some potential but the kills are weak, lack gore and were disappointing. The backstory wasn't good either, but the flashback kill was the best scene of the film.

Overall, this is a bad movie not worth your time, even for horror enthusiasts. I would score this a 3/10 and recommend skipping it.

Heading off to visit family, a woman's attempts at gift-giving with a special antique nutcracker to help reconnect with her family finds that the doll has come to life with the spirit of a killer inside causing it to start killing those around her causing her to find a way to stop its rampage.

This one was a pretty solid and enjoyable genre effort. One of the better elements present here involves the rather fun atmosphere that provides a setting for this one to evoke the holiday spirit. Due to the purpose of the visit at that time of year, the ornaments and decorations brought up here generate the kind of fine yuletide atmosphere where the warmth of the lights and the homey vibes of everything offers up quite a lot to like. To be around this kind of environment when it gets perverted is a fine touch here as the visual of the being going through this environment offers a fun festival feel. This perversion is brought about nicely through the sequences offering the stoic wooden being coming to life and stalking others. The idea of the doll bringing the conduit for the giant nutcracker to come to life and start stalking others around the property is a fine explanation while getting the chance to generate short ambush scenes where it appears out of nowhere to confront the disbelieving victim. That leads into the solid finale where its presence is known but still is able to run rampant on the family attacking them in the house which offers a series of fun scenes involving creative kills and a clever method to stop it. There are some issues with this one that hold it down. The main drawback is the rather confusing nature of the killer nutcracker coming to haunt the family, as the initial implication and setup look to be purposeful and intended. However, the later revelation here makes it come off as an accident with the mix-up and the reveal about the figure's history that not only stops the film cold but feels contradictory. The other issue here is the sluggish pace at the first half which focuses way too much on a lame family drama angle between the sisters that delves into a wholly underwhelming long-simmering jealousy angle that's quite cliched and undeserved, leaving it slow to start. These factors are what keep this one down overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.