Secret Santa

Secret Santa (2015) is currently available on Tubi. The story follows a group of friends who come together for the holidays. During their Secret Santa gift exchange, tensions rise as they discover someone has a sinister agenda. The festivities soon turn deadly as one of the friends is revealed to be a ruthless killer-but who?

Written and directed by Mike McMurran (The Final Ride), the film stars Annette Wozniak (The Final Ride), Keegan Chambers (Age of the Living Dead), Niki Kerro (Escape the Field), and Tony Nash (Blood & Treasure).

This is one of those films that's clunky and awkwardly executed, yet still keeps you curious enough to see where it's going. The humor often misses the mark, creating several awkward moments, and there's an overuse of unnecessary vomit scenes that add little to the story. On the other hand, the horror elements are well done, with a fantastic throat-slashing sequence and some enjoyable blood splatter and stabbing scenes that stand out.

In conclusion, Secret Santa is far from a great movie, but its solid horror effects may appeal to fans of the Christmas-horror genre. I'd score this a 5/10 and only recommend it with tempered expectations.

Indie horror flicks seem to be getting churned out at such an alarming pace these days that it's hard to keep up, but I'm glad I caught Secret Santa. It at least attempts a little character development here and there, has a great lead (Annette Wozniak), and has a sense of humor to go along with all the blood and guts. It does do the rather annoying "let's add dust and scratches to make it look like an old grindhouse print" thing, which makes no sense since the film takes place in modern day and would never be confused for a film of that era, but that's a small nitpick when there was obviously a good deal of heart and enthusiasm put into this movie. Also, major props for the killer reveal. It's been a long time since I've been that surprised by a slasher movie killer reveal.

At a glance, this is another super low budget holiday slasher flick, and while those are becoming a dime a dozen, I still think this one stands out for several reasons. For starters, it is void of slasher Santas (despite the box art) while still being festively linked to the holiday season. Second, the filmmakers clearly knew their budget limitations and decided to give it more of an 80s B horror/comedy grindhouse throwback kind of vibe, which absolutely works. Likewise, they had to improvise on the gore and I'm sensing some PA ended up hitting the grocery store for assorted shredded meats and maybe some Spam. Again, it works. Last, it doesn't take itself too seriously and that actually is really important with a low budget film. The acting is amateur but a lot of the characters are intentionally over the top which ends up making it a pretty fun movie. Overall, if you don't mind low budget and campy, definitely give this one a shot.

Shot on video with a godawful grainy 'grindhouse' filter effect (Quentin Tarantino has a lot to answer for), comedy slasher Secret Santa delivers some fairly decent gore effects, the majority of which occur in the final twenty minutes, meaning that there's the best part of an hour of 'character development' to get through first - not great when most of the characters in question are so tedious, the script lamentably dumb, and the acting unbearable.

The worst offender is, without a doubt, Geoff Almond as hopped-up loser Dwayne, who is as irritating as he is bald, but there are plenty of other obnoxious types guaranteed to rankle, including smarmy professor Ramsey (Tony Nash) who is diddling his student Olivia (Nicole Kawalez), promiscuous blonde Carissa (Keegan Chambers), and two-timing Bryan (Brent Baird), who cheated on his girlfriend Nicole (Annette Wozniak), the only likeable character in the whole film (even if she is a web cam model).

Nicole is, not surprisingly, the film's 'final girl', all of her friends bumped off before the end of the film by a masked killer who has been sending them Secret Santa gifts that reveal how they will be killed: a meat cleaver, an electric knife, gardening shears (for a spot of graphic penis pruning!), and a hairdryer (which leads to the funniest moment in the film, when the cable proves too short for the killer to throw it into the victim's bath). The bloody and well executed gore (head smashed in, decapitations, chainsawed legs) in the final act, and the occasional spot of gratuitous female nudity (although, rather strangely, no boobage), make it just about worth persevering until the end.

4.5/10, rounded down to 4 for the aged/distressed look, which is completely unconvincing and totally unnecessary.

Also titled Secret Santa. Early 90s Straight to video college buddy let's make a horror movie fan film schlock. Direction and editing make it interesting, but the comedy is juvenile and tries hard to hijack the film. Instead of using 16mm scratch effects, the better choice would have been VHS tracking lines. The acting is clumsy and immature and no actor separates themselves with any charisma, which is probably right so that you root for the next clumsy kill. One plus is the use of practical effects, the hairdryer scene being the highlight. Random note: eggnog, like blood is supposed to be thicker than water. Music vacillates between nintendocore and synth used in Eli Roth Thanksgiving trailer. As we reach the final 20 mins of the film one wonders if this was filmed as a stream of consciousness with the sole purpose to make some gore effects. No knock on that. I've done that. Best served earlier in a movie marathon, 1/4 in the bag, with a few friends. Or better yet on some horror film fest circuit. Maybe then the humor would sputter a bit better. Survived with a couple drams of Old Soul. Warning: The closing credits may cause seizures or flashbacks.