Holiday Hell

Just another sup-par horror outing. As dbrown alluded to in his review, some very bad dialogue. Just really not much to see or hear.

I didn't know what "Holiday Hell" was before I sat down to watch it, aside from it being a horror movie of some sort. Which, actually, was enough to make me have an interest in sitting down to watch it.

Turns out that "Holiday Hell" is a horror anthology, and actually a good one at that. Needless to say my surprise and excitement when I saw Jeffrey Combs appear on the screen. I didn't know he was in it, and he is definitely one of my all-time favorite actors in the horror genre. And I must say that he was quite good in the role of the shopkeeper, the one presenting each individual segment of the anthology.

Without going too much into detail with each segment, I will say that they individually were interesting. Sure, they weren't the most fulfilling of storytelling and could seem a bit shallow at times. But they were entertaining enough and that served the purpose for me. Some segments were, of course, better than others. Personally, I actually found the in-between-segments to be the most entertaining and enjoyable, as it was a story in itself, and it had Jeffrey Combs in it.

The had a good ensemble of actors and actresses on the cast list for the various roles in the segments. And that definitely helped to lift up and carry the segments afloat.

The effects in "Holiday Hell" were fair enough, and served their intended purpose. Don't expect to be blown away by over the top impressive special effects and CGI, because then you'll be disappointed. However, the effects were there and they fulfilled their function.

I enjoyed "Holiday Hell" for what it was, and it was definitely nice to sit down and watch this one. My rating for the 2019 horror anthology "Holiday Hell" is a six out of ten stars.

This low-budget, indie horror film has some genuinely impressive filmmaking in it. I'm not a horror aficionado, but I know the tropes and these film-makers clearly have had some fun playing with them. Yes, there's some questionable dialogue, and the "don't go into the basement" (in a suburban split-level, ha-ha!) moments are schlocky, but there's definitely thought put into this, and some admirable and hilarious twists. As in many indies, the acting is a bit uneven, however, there are notable exceptions, and Joel Murray's performance is outstanding, by turns poignant, funny, terrifying. Jeffrey Combs is perfect as the smarmy owner of a creepy little shop of horror stories. And a special shout-out to Meaghan Karimi-Naser as the young woman seeking a last-minute gift for her sister. Karimi-Naser plays the slightly-too-innocent/what's-going-on-underneath role with wonderfully hinted-at layers. There's also a fantastic pay-off to her performance. (Whatever you do-stay for the last frame. You may know something's coming, but I promise, you are not going to guess the exact form it takes!) I hope to see more films by this group of indie filmmakers.

Holiday Hell was an entertaining romp through the infernal holiday seasons. Great film to watch with friends at gift exchanges while munching on cheese logs and quaffing spiked egg nog. I had a blast watching a kid (Forrest Campbell) battle his babysitter with the help of a possessed Rabbi doll (WTF? and YESS!), and a drug-impelled miserable husband/Santa (the amazing Joel Murray) becoming the life, er death, of the office party. Check this one out.

I watch movies so often that I'm running out of options and often look for new stuff on streaming apps like Netflix, Tubi, Crackle, Hulu, ect... Anyways, I don't understand people's ratings. I just watched Last American Horror Show on Tubi, and it was flat out TERRIBLE! How does that have a 6 and yet Holiday Hell is in the 3ish range? I must be watching something different than these people? Perhaps I'm partial, because anything with Jeffrey Combs gets an automatic 5 or above... Sure, this is low budget, but at least there is some work put in. I say it's a fun little anthology that doesn't look like a student project as some others do. Plenty people love Tales From The Crypt (including me), so I don't see how this is so different other than the lack of comic drawings and skeleton host. There is dark humor, the tales revolve around twisted morality, cheesiness, and some naked breasts. That's the good ol' formula for horror anthology to me.