Good Tidings

Independent Horror film-maker Stewart W. Bedford is sinfully spreading some good blood smear, his three psycho Santa's slay merrily, bringing gore-ious gut-spill, and good kill to all men! Amen!!!! This grisly 'Good Tidings' is a gruesome gift to Yule-snide slasher fans, while undeniably cheap and deliciously nasty, with Gorgonzola-garlanded goof-ball amateur acting calamity, this frightfully festive fright flick, while far from a silent night is certainly a night to dismember! 'They're cutting people's phooking heads off!'

I would have loved to have been more generous But I really could not give this more than three stars. In spite of apparently being made with a budget of only £15,000 and with a fine allegorical undertone of Christmas being cruel to the poor, I have to be honest and cannot rate it higher.

This whole homage to exploitation and slasher movies of decades gone by simply does not work. The acting and special effects were decidedly dodgy and at times I felt like I was watching a Home movie.

Of course I can feel a little bit guilty by not offering a little bit more praise but I also feel I must be honest. After all, what can one expect for £15,000?

What's the only thing better than one killer Santa? Three of them! I must say, this film exceeded my expectations big time. Despite being a bit on the low budget side, the acting was good, the story was unique and the soundtrack was awesome. Stu Jopia (who played one of the killer Santas) would also serve as one of the film's writers and producers, while Stuart W. Bedford served as writer, producer and director. And seriously, the film's soundtrack by Liam W. Ashcroft is truly outstanding.

A decent rating for a decent effort,as long as you like films about psychos running amok with machetes and knives causing death by beheadings,along with gore aplenty.

The effects were pretty good and for once,the acting was too.

The whole is rather like 'Die Hard' in reverse,in that the putative hero ultimately fails and relies on another character to save the day.

Very entertaining,if you're into that sort of thing.

I saw Good Tidings at the Grindhouse Planet Film Festival.

It was pretty standard horror fare. A group gets locked in a court house during the Christmas season and gets tormented by three killer men in Santa suits. A couple of pretty effective grizzly moments aren't enough to balance out the over-long, boring sequences of the Santas staring and cackling as their hostages say things like 'please don't do this' etc.

You could cut out half an hour easily and although that wouldn't leave you with much of a film, that is kind of the problem. There is simply not enough plot and not enough imagination to justify this being feature length. In a year which has seen so many brilliant (admittedly higher budget) single-location horrors come out, (Green Room, Don't Breath, The Invitation) Good Tidings simply can't complete.