User reviews

Red Christmas features a memorable character in the form of Cletus: rescued as a fetus from an abortion bin and raised to adulthood by a pro-life priest, he hides his deformed appearance under bandages and a big cloak, and goes in search of his mother, Diane (Dee Wallace), looking for some maternal love. But when mom rejects him (again), he picks up an axe and takes revenge by hacking his way through her dysfunctional family.

Like the elephant man, only uglier, Cletus is a sympathetic character driven to kill when all he wants is a motherly hug and some loving words; this makes him a rather unique movie maniac, but one deserving of a much better film. Writer/director Craig Anderson might have created an impressive killer, but he doesn't do the slobbering freak justice, his film suffering from a weak script and dreadful dialogue, crappy acting, horrible lighting (unnatural green, red and blue colours) and duff direction. Dee Wallace used to be a Hollywood A-lister, and it's a real shame to see her appearing in such rubbish, but she's only got herself to blame: she is the producer of the film, after all.

As for the whole Christmas setting, it is purely incidental, having no real bearing on the plot: Cletus could have turned up on Shrove Tuesday and it wouldn't have made much difference (except that the title wouldn't work so well and Anderson's garish lighting scheme would feel even more out of place).

3.5/10, rounded up to 4 for the scene where a guy has his head pushed onto some kind of spinning device (it was hard to make out exactly what it was) and his eyeballs turn to mush and burst out of the sockets.

A mother (Dee Wallace) must protect her family on Christmas Day from a demented stranger (Sam Campbell) who is hell-bent on tearing them apart after being rejected.

The 2016 Fantasia International Film Festival shattered my expectations, and not always in a good way. Two of the best surprises were Geoff Redknap's "The Unseen" and the conspiracy-themed "Man Underground". But then we had the proverbial stinkers. Takashi Miike added a dud to hid otherwise illustrious career with "Terraformars". And then there is "Red Christmas", a modern slasher.

First of all, I am a big fan of Christmas-themed horror films. Not all are winners ("Silent Night, Deadly Night II") but almost all are at least entertaining. And "Red Christmas" has Dee Wallace both starring and producing, which is a good thing – she has been a genre icon for over three decades thanks to "E.T.", "Cujo" and "The Hills Have Eyes", among others. But somehow these two strengths just do not carry the picture.

And then there are secondary considerations. I also love most slasher films, and you have to appreciate the design that went into Cletus. He is certainly one of the more refreshing masked killers we have seen in years, with no comparison in recent memory. And the idea of having an abortion clinic theme was very wise, as it makes you realize how much this is an untapped area for horror. There was John Carpenter's lackluster "Pro-Life" (2006), but no other horror movie touching on this taboo topic comes to mind. So these were some of the few strong points.

But the shortcomings just far outweigh the positives that everyone brought to the table. The dialogue seemed poorly scripted and delivered, while the pregnant woman looked like she was literally holding up a beach ball under her dress. Every character makes poor decisions; and while poor decisions are common in slasher films, these may be among the worst. The lighting – what is up with the neon lighting? I presume it is supposed to be Christmas lights, but it does not look like them (and how are they working if the power is out?). And let us not get started on the stereotypical, one-dimensional closeted Christian pastor.

One of the biggest downfalls is actually making the film a Christmas story. There is a bit of Christmas-related plot (the giving of gifts), but this is rather irrelevant to the story at large. Cletus could have shown up on any day of the year and it would have been just as well. The setting of Australia also seems wrong for Christmas, because an important part of Christmas horror is snow. I suppose this criticism might be unfair to Australians because it more or less suggests they cannot make Christmas horror films… but I think my point is really that if you are going for a Christmas theme, really make it somehow recognizable (hint: snow) or important to the plot. Instead, it seems like this was just pandering, trying to capitalize on a title that is similar to "Black Christmas"… and this film is not even as good as the "Black Christmas" remake, which is saying something.

I may be coming down unusually hard on the film. After all, "Red Christmas" is better than many of the low-budget horror films that flood the market these days. And I have to give them credit for the practical effects; some are rough, but I'd rather see a bad practical effect than bad CGI. What really disappointed me, to be honest, was how this film made the cut for Fantasia. With the dozens of top-notch world premieres, it is a shame when something like this slips through. Critic Matt Donato really sums it up when he says the movie "falls short of being the next killer yuletide classic." Yep.

When first reviewing the film, I wrote, "Expect it to die a quiet death on video store shelves." This has since come to be half correct. On the one hand, it did not get a wider theatrical release. And for a movie that I saw in July 2016, it seems like October 2017 is an awful long time to go from festival to Blu-ray. However, the company that picked it up is Artsploitation, who have some solid titles under their belt (Jonas Govaerts' "Cub" comes to mind). Soclearly they believe there is something marketable here -- perhaps more than the derivative title and the star power of Wallace.

You do not have to take my word for it. Thanks to the power of Blu-ray, the film can now be yours, and with a nice batch of special features. There are a handful of interviews, and most crucially the feature-length commentary from the director. Commentaries can tell you the secrets of how good films are made, or perhaps in this case give the creator 90 minutes to defend himself. You be the judge.

When I read the synopsis for this movie and saw that Dee Wallace was in it, I did decide to give it a go, because the movie had the potential of actually being a fun movie.

As it turned out, then "Red Christmas" has a very poorly written storyline, and was equally poorly executed on the screen. The storyline was so generic and predictable that it was insulting to the audience.

The cast were doing good jobs with whatever little material they had to work with, and as expected it was Dee Wallace that carried the movie most of the way.

"Red Christmas" had adequate special effects, although it made no sense that a woman could be chopped in two by a single blow with an axe.

The characters were generic and one-dimensional, and you didn't really connect with any of them.

This was hardly a memorable movie in any way, and it doesn't have the contents to support more than just a single viewing. All in all, don't really bother with this movie unless you have nothing better to watch or if you are a die-hard fan of anyone on the cast list.

I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 400 Christmas MOVIES.

BEWARE OF BOGUS REVIEWS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW. WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE PRODUCTION. NOW I HAVE NO AGENDA! I AM HONEST! I REVIEW Christmas MOVIES AS A WAY TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT I HAVE SEEN!

Horror legend Dee Wallace (The Hills Have Eyes, The Howling, E.T., Cujo, Critters) stars as the stressed-out mother of a squabbling family, gathered together in a remote Outback estate on Christmas Eve. When a mysterious, deformed young man named Cletus appears at their door, things soon change from petty insults to bloody, imaginatively orchestrated violence as Wallace attempts to protect her family from the vengeful intruder. The film deliriously infuses comedy, dark family secrets with outlandish gore and adds the always controversial subject of abortion in its blood-stained mix.

This film is amateur hour. The camera work is terrible. The director thinks his low angles and weird color schemes add mode but they are a distraction.

If you want to see a good horror film that has a Christmas setting then watch the original "Black Christmas"

Don't be fooled by some positive reviews. They are clearly written by people that were involved in this movie. The only reason I watched this movie is that it was christmas and that I felt like watching a horror movie instead of the usual boring christmas movies. Now the so called boring christmas movies all look like award winning movies after watching this garbage. It's not even a good slasher for people who like that genre. The acting is below average if not to say sometimes very bad. The story, I didn't expect much of it honestly being it a slasher, is even worse than I thought it would be. The story-line is so boring and badly written it makes you cringe. There is only one advice that I can give you and that is avoid at all cost!

Red Christmas (2016)

** (out of 4)

This bizarre film starts off at an abortion clinic where someone walks in with a bag, which eventually explodes. Flash-forward twenty years and Diane (Dee Wallace) has her family at her home where they are preparing a big Christmas event. Before long a strange man wrapped from head to toe shows up. He wants to read a letter to his mommy and before long brutal murders are happening.

RED Christmas starts off with an abortion bombing and it grows every bit weirder as it moves along. I'm not going to say this movie is a complete success but there's no question that it contains some pretty bizarre ideas and a bizarre execution. This film isn't what I'd consider good but there are enough weird ideas that make it entertaining to watch and then you throw in the graphic violence and you're probably looking at something that is going to gain a cult following.

As I've said throughout, I give writer-director Craig Anderson credit for attempting to go to a very dark place and create a bizarre holiday tale. The killer here is a deformed creature and also a haunted human who just wants to know why his mother was willing to kill him and not love him. A lot of horror films try to give their killers origin stories or some sort of weak backstory but this film here actually delivers something rather strong and something that can make you think. I mean, for a horror picture that's really saying something.

With that being said, the execution wasn't the greatest and there's a point around the forty-five minute mark where things get rather stale and slow down to a very big crawl. I'd also argue that some of the points of the story could have been expanded on but the 82-minute running time didn't allow for that. Performance for the most part were good and especially Wallace as she gets a good meaty role to work with and she does a very good job with it playing a character who must face her face and see the damage it has had on her future.

As I said, gore hounds will be extremely happy as there are some pretty brutal murders here that have all sorts of CGI blood being thrown around. Technically speaking the film was well-made and has a very professional and good look to it. RED Christmas isn't a masterpiece or even a good movie but there are enough good moments to make it worth sitting through.

Love Christmas/Christmas-themed films and have an appreciation for horror with shades of thriller. So despite hearing a lot of negativity, 'Red Christmas' premise did really intrigue. Plus the cover was an attention-grabbing one. Really wanted to like it and for it to not be another waste of decent potential.

Watching it, unfortunately 'Red Christmas' turned out to be exactly that...a waste of decent potential. Not how to execute such an intriguing idea. It's not irredeemably awful by any stretch, there are a couple of good things. Those good things are sadly eclipsed by the numerous things 'Red Christmas' gets catastrophically wrong. Killer is the completely wrong way to describe it, the Christmas theme didn't seem relevant and was bland, the more serious elements (i.e. abortion) the film tried to include were diluted and the horror elements were predictable, not scary and too tame.

Lets get the good things out of the way first. The best thing about 'Red Christmas' is the villain's look, it is great. So cool and menacing, not goofy at all.

Dee Wallace brings heart, class and dignity to the film, something that was so lacking elsewhere that her presence was in a different league to everything else and put them to shame, she deserved a much better film.

Generally the acting ranges from very bad to truly terrible, Wallace excepted. Their cringe-worthy, unintentionally silly dialogue (one deserves a prize if they succeed in not bursting out laughing when they're not meant to, that is a challenge), annoying characters with stupid and illogical decision-making and behaviours and indifferent direction gave them no favours.

Neither did the story, where there is no warmth, cosiness, charm or magic to the Christmas theme (the Christmas spirit just isn't there). The more serious elements didn't feel like they belong and felt trivialised and cloying, when reading about the film initially admired that the film was including mature and sensitive subjects but it does nothing with them. There is no tension or suspense here, no surprises, no creativity, no wit and the only thing that is scary is the look of the villain and the scare factor ends there. The kills are un-creative, instead of biting the nails one is shrugging their shoulders, and the whole horror atmosphere feels tame and leans towards being dumb.

'Red Christmas' is an eyesore visually. With the lighting, colour schemes and camera work, it seemed to striving for the showing off or experimenting with supposedly arty to them feel but instead it comes off amateurish and nauseating. Cannot remember the music.

Overall, not irredeemable but very bad. 2/10 Bethany Cox

When I saw the ad for this film I immediately thought it was going to be another poorly made low budget piece of crap that has been regurgitated time and again.

I was completely wrong and pleasantly surprised how good this film was. Dee Wallace (as the Matriarch) does a great job as does the supporting cast. The lighting and score was exceptional and the story unique and was very relevant to the plot and narrative.

Once again a great Aussie horror film. I have to say the Australians have the Horror genre down to a science. I never expected this film to be so creepy and have such a strong subplot that you never see coming. Original kill scenes and diversity in each character makes this film all the more better. The antagonist is very creepy and covered in robe and swathing. He has a mission which is revealed (sort of) towards the middle of the film. It's fully explained towards the end to wrap up the baseline narrative.

As I typically never like to disclose spoilers in my reviews I won't divulge too much about the story, but will say, if you are a Horror fan and fan of the sub genre Slasher flick, you will Love this film. Additionally, this film will appeal to any horror fan who likes well done twists and unexpected plot surprises.

Bravo for a very entertaining and original take on the Christmas Horror scenario. This is one of, if not THE BEST, Holiday horror film I've seen in 20 years!

Watch and enjoy....

Personally I don't think this film has a political agenda, either pro-life or pro-choice. All the characters are awful IMO. I think the reason for the bad reviews comes down to politics. Christmas + abortion. What a heartwarming combination! but if you can get past that, I actually really enjoyed the film. It wasn't as shallow as the typical hack and slash horror flick. No, not every scene was realistic, but so what? Very few horror films are. Recommended for anyone that isn't politically sensitive and enjoys horror.

If you go into a movie like this expecting award-worthy writing, you'll be disappointed. But if you go into it expecting a true slasher film, which is what it is, you won't be disappointed. It's hilarious, gory, and a glorious edition to holiday traditions, if you're a horror lover. The fact that Dee Wallace is in it is such a bonus. Of course it's not perfect, but it's not supposed to be. Bring a sense of humor to horror films. Horror lovers must watch this.

I generally like aussie horror films a lot, quite a few gems in the outback and such & this one, despite the ratings, was a very intriguing choice - A directional debut by an aspiring filmmaker who put his all, financial and mental, in making a low-budget slasher about an aborted fetus seeking revenge on his family. How did it go? Considerably well, I'd say.

"Red Christmas" is, overall, quite the messy amateur horror flick, a comic slasher that's, for the most part, self-conscious enough. The plot is morally questionable, I suppose that's where some of the bad ratings come from - the movie tackles subjects of abortion and down syndrome in not exactly the most sophisticated ways. However, I'm not taking points away from it because of those themes. I take points away for the entirety of story simply being average. The first half an hour is decent, the dysfunctional family theme works, the introduction of the villain is decent - but all gets more murky as the movie goes on. Basically, in the core it's a Slasher, so, everyone's familiar with the tropes. I thought the cast did a pretty good job, there were definitely enough over-acting moments and the characters can be cartoon-ish, but the performances provided some entertainment. Dee Wallace gave her best as the life-tired and caring mother, confronted by her past traumas. "Red Christmas" has some cool and creative kills while also managing not to rely solely on violence - gorehounds will find something to their liking. Visually it was equal parts good and chaotic, muddled - we got dynamic and creative camera work that sometimes goes well overboard, candy-colored and contrastive cinematography with lighting that raises an eyebrow every now and then & inescapably, a vibe, a sense of student-like filmmaking.

I believe that by any general/objective standards "Red Christmas" is average at the most, but for the genre fans & b-movie fanatics it can be a fun holiday horror that smells like independence, effort and both defeated and lost filmmaking challenges. My rating: 5/10.

Most Christmas horror movies revolve around psychopathic killers dressed up in Santa suits or feature mythological Holiday season creatures. Some others feature dysfunctional families butchering each other over Christmas dinner, and a few noteworthy exceptions deal with satanic elves. "Red Christmas", on the other hand, has a totally unique premise... In this bonkers movie, Aussie family members gathering around the matriarch's Christmas tree are getting slaughtered one by one by a freak in bandages and a cloak who turns out to be an aborted fetus!

All this may sound awesome (and the main premise most definitely is), but "Red Christmas" is nonetheless a huge disappointment of a Christmas horror movie, and this also despite a couple of gory kills and the presence of a bona fide horror cinema icon; namely Dee Wallace ("The Howling", "Cujo", "The Hills have Eyes"). What went wrong? Mainly the awful editing, shaky camerawork, and the dreadful overuse of hideous green-red-blue color patterns. The screenplay often makes bizarre leaps in logic, and creating suspense or atmosphere never seems to be a priority for writer/director Craig Anderson. Two or three great murders and colorful decorations aren't enough to make a good holiday-horror classic, unfortunately.

Man, this is one twisted little low budget slasher-gore film from Australia.

It focuses on a family, who is being tormented by a bandaged (and extremely deformed) axe murderer with down syndrome.

Turns out, that after having one child with down syndrome, the mother decided to have an abortion when she found out the child of her next pregnancy also suffered from the same syndrome- while her husband was dying in the hospital.

However, during the procedure, the abortion clinic was attacked by a right to lifer...and her fetus was stolen, revived, and reared by an extreme right wing christian.

Thus, after his upbringer's death...the boy went on a mission to find his real mother and family.

But when he tracks them down, and they reject him...he decides to opt for his adopted father's approach: vengeance.

There are a bunch of creative kills in this.

And the gore is pretty good.

But what is most effective, is how it's shot.

Using cult style techniques, with lots of low, canted camera angles, sporadic camera movements, and quick refocuses...which really make for an intense viewing experience.

That little twist they throw in shortly before the conclusion is quite sad.

I was having a good time with this, up until that point...but, man, was that depressing turn of events.

It really works to unnerve you.

Up until the twist, this film really is quite humourous (in a black humour sort of way).

And the acting is pretty solid across the board.

I rather enjoyed this.

It messed with me. And I like that.

6 out of 10.

Hmm. Something this bad should have been funny, and I did laugh a couple of times. It was hard not to - watching an old Aussie drama actor destroying whatever regional American accent he was going for, seeing that the messed up priest is played by a physical comedian known for slapstick and t.v. ads, even half way through when I recognised the voice of Cletus as a young comedian (if by now I had had any reason to take this movie seriously, it would have been gone. I didn't anyway though). As others have mentioned, the camera work is terrible, moving from scenes, to shaky cam, to POV, to all kinds of weird angles. While this happens, solid single filter colours are used with the subtlety of a sledge hammer. Dark to light transitions with no significance. Characters are one dimensional, and become even less believable as the actors struggle with the script...oh what a script. If the directing is 1st-year university level, the script is high school. Massive plot holes, quirky details that are as inexplicable as they are completely unnecessary , and horrible cliche - "You can do this, you're a fighter!", to a thematic tie-together as complex as a word association game. There is one or two neat gore bits, but they are slotted so badly into the mess that they are simply a relieving distraction from the real horror - the quality of the movie. The practical effects look like they could have had potential, but just...no. Some great shots of the house and surrounding bush serve to demonstrate just how the setting is wasted in the badly staged and lit indoor scenes. It must have been a blast to film, what with the cast, but that seems to have killed any sense of terror any of them could portray. Heck, even the family drama before the killing starts is below Australian soap opera quality...eeeh maybe even. Ugh...so many more faults, but I will stay out of spoiler territory. This is just a flat out stinker, only watch for fan reasons - Dee, Aussie comedians, or because it is part of this recent wave of Aus horror and you need to see just how good some of the other ones are.

I'm a SLASHER maniac, and Christmas movies are always fun. I enjoyed RED Christmas from the beginning till the end, ans we have to give credit to the beautiful ans talented DEE WALLACE who give another TOUR DE FORCE performance. I really envoyed seeing her, and i think she's a fantastic Scream Queen. But beside all that, that little movie, shot in 15 days has a real soul, and i really appreciate the way they used the light in the film. For me, it's an instant Christmas Classic that i'll buy and watch every years in the Holiday beside GREMLINS and BLACK Christmas. If you like 80 Slashers films, and if you felt in love with DEE WALLACE since your childhood (E.T, or HOWLING), you'll have a great time.

Arriving for a family holiday, a group of people in a remote mansion for a get-together find themselves stalked by a homicidal madman intent on punishing them for their beliefs against abortion and must fight to save their Christmas from the deluded psychopath.

This was a solid if slightly flawed effort. One of the better aspects here is the film's rather strong and enjoyable concept of the holidays where this one finds plenty to like here. Taking place in Australia instead of out in the countryside has plenty of somewhat familiar celebrations to focus on, from the way the food preparations are given to the way the house holds up under the decorations and lights which manages to really let the holiday flavor really sink in here. That also helps with the later slashing antics here, with the film featuring some solid scenes here with the opening ambush on the hospital carrying out the service which allows for a more action-oriented start, the initial appearance on the house which manages to feature some rather decent stalking with the killer moving through the various areas of the house which makes for some tense confrontations out in the backyard or through the kitchen. Once it gets to the killer chopping through the family members this one gets incredibly fast and frantic with plenty of nice scenes featuring the family continually trying to avoid his advances as the brawling throughout the house and outside generates the kind of solid action that makes for a solid and enjoyable time here as well as letting the excessively brutal and graphic kills generate some solid enjoyment here. These here manage to hold this one up over it's few but somewhat significant flaws on display. The main disadvantage is the fact that the film has way too many connections to the abortion theme which is incredibly hackneyed and doesn't really generate the impact it could've. The fact that this one ties that into the reasoning and motivation make no sense as the people said to have that condition are far and away completely different from that mindset and wouldn't have any kind of impetus to go on this rampage as that gives this the kind of cheesy feel that goes against the important message it's trying to make with that storyline. Not only that, but the killer himself is a joke with his hobbled and bent-over appearance not in the slightest invoking any kind of fear due to the fragile nature of his physical form, and that large number gathered together with weapons would have no problem ganging up to overpower and subdue him, especially in his physical state which doesn't in the slightest look capable of inflicting that type of intense trauma on people. The last issue is the rather awkward finale that goes on way too long and seems like it lasts too long to get it up to a respectable length, rather than flowing naturally. These here are all that really hold it back.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, a mild sex scene and themes of abortion.