Killer Holiday

This movie is an example of what I like to call "The New Wave of Slasher Films" that I've been renting lately: Killer Holiday -- It's like your young novice Director's starting his first project for college and whatever and he decides to throw together My personal favorite slasher film --The Funhouse-- along with The Hills Have Eyes and add a dash of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The Director definitely knew how to get the most out of the props and settings that were available and, at times, tried to get that garish carnival Funhouse look going as if I had traveled back in time to some seedy Drive-In and was watching a new slasher film released back in the old glory days of such films! At the same time this film felt retro/slasher . . . it also had a modern edge to it that I liked! It actually made me smile in a sinister way, because I know these guys have the right influence of classic slasher and torture porn .... This movie will probably end up being one of this generations late-night slasher films that you watched and scared your girl-friend with, or, you watched from behind the couch when your parent's told you to go to bed!

If you are a lover of great horror thrillers, and have any sense of film history you could not enjoy Killer Holiday more. For a very low budget Lionsgate movie, it screens like a 5 million dollar film. A large cast, with diversed locations, the movie delivers a large bounty for the movie goer. Bought it for my sister as a Halloween gift.

Taking a road-trip for college, a group of friends find themselves drawn to an abandoned amusement park where their activities bring them into contact with a vicious serial killer living at the park and must find a way to stop him to get away alive.

This here was a rather atrocious slasher and only had some worthwhile moments. Among the few solid parts here is the fact that there's just an absolutely blistering pace to this one once it makes it's way to the abandoned amusement park where it goes for a strong series of action scenes in the bowels of the facility. This has some of the film's only attempts at suspense and enjoyment as the stalking present here is quite fun with the twirling-car ride stalking, the guys down with the series of traps and the different series of brawling throughout the hiding-grounds deep underground which leads to some decently-gory kills there, giving this the film's best qualities. Still, there's some pretty big flaws to this one. One of the bigger problems here is that there's yet another cast full of utterly intolerable characters that don't for the slightest second scream like a group of friends hanging out with each other much during the majority of the film. There's plenty of cruel ribbing and utterly mean pranks that are supposedly committed in the name of trying to kill time on a road-trip yet none of these really make for an engaging or enjoyable time as there's not much about it that makes them seem that worthwhile to be followed. On top of that, there's the fact that the film features so much time with them driving along to get there that it's simply a matter of not really having that much interesting stuff to do during there as the film's focus on them getting sidetracked by the different attendants at their stops as the unnecessary scenes of them in the snake's cage or going around twice to the motel owner are just perfect examples of that. Not only that, the fact that these here create such an extended running time before the killings start that the pacing is off throughout here with the utterly bland first-half before getting to the rushed stalking scenes in the later half, even though these are well aren't that impressive either with the utterly low-quality work to them and are so haphazardly shot and arranged that there's little impact to be had from them. This one also gets rather artistic for no reason here with the rather inane ability to go for a black-and-white insert for many of the various scenes makes for some rather questionable decisions during these scenes and stick out incredibly well. The main issue, though, beyond all these problems is the fact that the killer is one of the lamest and most non- threatening killers in the genre's history which really takes out so much of the film's powers here by showing him to be a deranged lunatic that makes quips at his victims, tends to come up with the lamest possible kills and is a smiling, arrogant douchebag more than a philosophical cunning mastermind as there's just no way to take him seriously and the gut reaction of his antics is simply laughter. These here are what really hold this one back so much as to be quite disappointing.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Brief Nudity and a mild sex scene.

Killer Holiday (2013) is currently streaming on Tubi. The story follows a group of teenagers on a road trip who decide to stop and spend the night at what seems to be an abandoned park. What they don't realize is that a serial killer is also lurking there-and they've just become his next targets.

Directed by Marty Thomas (Hotties), the film stars Michael Copon (One Tree Hill), Rachel Lara (The Wayshower), Julia Beth Stern (Rebound), and Rosamund Rinehart (Unbelievable).

Killer Holiday is a low budget picture that comes up just shy of being a hidden gem. The acting and overall premise are straightforward and lack polish, but the film includes some solid twists that, with a bigger budget and stronger production values, could have elevated it significantly. A few of the kills and horror elements stand out as creative and even fun, and the way the twists tie into the horror narrative had potential. However, just as the film starts to draw you in, the poor acting and uneven execution snap you right back out of it. The odd choice of soundtrack doesn't help, either.

In conclusion, Killer Holiday had the potential to leave its mark on the horror genre but ultimately falls short. I'd give it a 4/10 and recommend skipping it, unfortunately.

As a whole, I thought this movie was good, but I am also a sucker for movies like this so that does not help, I am also a huge fan of B movies and think they are glorious so far, out of the majority of horror titles this one has to be my favorite.

The actors in this movie did a great job with what they were given, Taylor was my favorite person in the entire movie, and I personally thought the killer was interesting although this seems like on of those movies where more back story is actually needed to explain how the killer really became the way he is.

While I do feel like Micheal Copon did a good job portraying spider, I feel that he was not scary enough to get the point across, a person who is able to act creepier and possibly more scary would be a better choice.

In the end I have to say, this movie is worth watching, even if you have your doubts give it a chance, maybe you will be surprised.