Apparitional

The film started off promising, giving hints that this could be a surprisingly good low budget film. Unfortunately I was surprised but not in a good way. The film built up as any good horror film would however at the first opportunity to capture the audience the acting failed miserably. I have seen several high school projects and the the students in those projects gave far better performances than this crew. The acting was below terrible. The character shallow with no depth in any way. At no point did I want any of the characters NOT to die. The lines, camera angles, unrealistic reactions (or complete lack of reactions) and absence of a basic plot made me register on IMDb so that I could warn others about this film.

Low budget horror that follows the crew of a TV ghost-hunting show as they investigate a haunted prison. Not 'found-footage', thankfully. No 'name actors', other than Dee Wallace, who gets an early scene as a foul-mouthed, ball-busting network exec. The location (the real life, closed Missouri State Penitentiary) is terrific, the cast are far better than normal for this sort of thing, and whilst the story is pretty generic, they do go for a 'twist'. Unfortunately, the CGI looks cheap, the music jars sometimes, and - despite the great setting - there isn't much tension. 5/10.

Getting a new Christmas themed horror movie is always an interesting occurrence to receive, especially in the unique, and some-what weird way presented in this movie. "A Christmas horror story" has ideas, executes them.. but they seem to fall a bit down..

We get multiple stories in this one film, delivering about four stories all at once, making an anthology. I honestly felt it annoying, and a bit hard to follow with the choice the filmmakers decided to go with, that being clumping all the stories delivered all at once, flipping from one scene, cutting it, and moving to the next constantly. This made it slightly annoying in the sense of our attention gripping on one part of a story given, and having it suddenly cut off, heading to another. Following that note, of course, are the stories themselves. The stories we were given were slightly clichéd, they, however managed to lift themselves from cliché garbage to a slightly nicer, more unique kind of way. They passed the clichéd to be a bit newer, more refreshed due to the way each story was heading. So in a way, they managed to rise up, and succeed the audiences cooperation. Another factor involving the stories, the pacing. I honestly didn't like the pacing in this movie. It felt way, way too slow then what if could of been, regarding each story of the anthology. The elements of which were leading up to the finale, involving for example the characters getting stuck were feeble attempts to clutch out attention, and it just didn't really work, instead boring us more, the audience wishing the events / stories were over. The movie's poster shows a battle between Krampus, and Santa. Sadly. Don't be fooled, this film does not revolve around our favorite Christmas devil, Krampus. In fact we don't get action involving Krampus at all until around the end of the film, disappointing myself, and others hoping for some action involving Krampus. And even when we get to the battle, and action scenes, we still don't get what we were hoping for, instead small scenes, glimpses, and actions involving Krampus, once again, not exactly paying off successfully. Now that all the negatives are pointed out.. are there positives? Sure! The movie adds some form of relief with its tactic of forming each of the anthology stories together, of which, at the end of the film leads to a twist that was slightly mediocre. But manages to actually pay off. We also get interesting little Christmas morals here, and there to follow through with, minor little elements. Finally, as said before the twists featured in the film. Once again. It wasn't the best. But enough to hold the attention of the audience.

... you won't be disappointed. Some of the cliches are annoying i.e. Overweight guy always thinks of food although, if you can look past them while suspending your belief for the duration of this movie it is at least watchable. There is nothing new to discover here but, it handles all the ghost-hunting norms competently. The SFX are not amateur rather dominantly convincing even the CGI. I love seeing the actual old locations where these films are usually shot and this one was no letdown both dismally, despairingly, darkly atmospheric. About the only disappointment you may experience is the lack of deaths therefore, is you're looking for a slasher you will not be a happy viewer.

In a nutshell this movie looks professional, the actors are good enough for what it is, and the story is minority engaging. My only negative comment is: why are the paranormal investigators in these movies never prepared for odd situations like:

1. First aid 2. Extra batteries for all equipment 3. Extra flashlights 4. Headlamps 5. IR goggles to see in the dark if all lights fail 6. Bolt cutters, pry bars, basic tool kit.

I liked this film. Nothing to hate nothing to love just an easy B rated horror flick.