A Christmas Horror Story

As most have said, the stories are somewhat uneven. All the stories started out great, but most of them ran out of steam and their ending was anticlimatic. The 1st story about the school was a complete bust in my opinion. What started out as extremely interesting case turned into just a cliche mess.

However, the main arch story was awesome and without giving spoilers, that ending was really unexpected.

A solid 6.

So I am fresh off of watching this and I have to say that I am a bit disappointed. The trailer and the current reviews made it out like this was going to be a blast to watch, and some parts of it were, but for the most part I felt pretty let down.

So this is an anthology film, but instead of running each story back to back the film instead runs them simultaneously throughout. So basically you jump around from each story, the main problem here is that I found two out of four of the stories to be pretty cliché and boring. It was a bummer to be right in the middle of one story that is picking up only to be thrown back to a story that is just plain boring. The pacing was a big problem too, nothing at all really happens until about an hour in, once things do get rolling it is decent but not enough to make up for the first dull hour.

I do have some good things to say, the Santa and Krampus scenes were absolutely awesome, it mostly made me wish that I was watching a movie that was strictly about them. The acting was well done throughout, and the special effects/gore was all top notch considering they didn't have a huge budget. Plus William Shatner is thrown into the mix, hard to hate that.

I feel like this could have been so much better because the parts that worked did work really well, but the stories just didn't blend well together and since you have to watch them all at once that really effected the entertainment of the overall film. It's rare that I truly hate some parts of a film but then absolutely love other parts, unfortunately with this one the good was not good enough to out weigh the bad. The fun parts were still really fun though, it just seems like the whole thing could have been a lot more fun.

5.5/10

It's Christmas Eve. Three high school students go to school to film a documentary about the disappearance of two students last Christmas. Some part of the school was at some point a convent and there's more to the place than just the killings.

A family goes to the forest to cut a Christmas tree. At some point their young son vanishes but they do find him after a while inside a tree. When they return home the kid isn't quite himself.

A family travels to visit the father's rich aunt. But she's creepy and hostile so they quickly leave. But the daughter stole some trinket and the son dropped a Krampus figurine and broke it. That will come back to haunt them as their car breaks down and they have to walk through the forest. Things quickly get bloody.

Santa is getting ready to deliver gifts. Suddenly one of his elves goes nuts, drives a hatchet through his hand and dies. Soon all the elves become zombies and violently attack Santa who will have to take them out one by one.

All these stories are framed by a radio host who is in the Christmas spirit. Krampus makes an appearance in most of these stories and even confronts Santa himself. But when all appears said and done there's an neat unexpected twist.

The stories aren't told independently but are interwoven and aren't anything special initially but improve markedly once they take a turn to the dark. The story of the kid in particularly has some creepy moments. The story of the kids playing investigators in a locked school during Christmas Eve no less is very annoying at first until things change. The whole business with the radio host was mostly irrelevant. It's good to see Santa get a cool role as well as all the resent fuzz about Krampus. I wasn't expecting much from this movie but I was surprised that it did have something different and enjoyable to offer.

I appreciate that while 'A Christmas horror story' echos the format of any given anthology film by splitting its length between distinct stories, its approach to that end is much more loose and free-flowing. Set primarily all within and around the town of Bailey Downs, each story happens concurrently, with passing shots or scenes to initially illustrate that connection. Where other movies in this style would tell its stories one by one, separated with the customary wraparound segment, 'Christmas' cuts from one story to the next, generally a few minutes at a time, until they are all told to completion. Does that style make it easier to engage with, or more difficult? I can't say for sure; mileage will vary from one viewer to the next.

Static imagery, blood, and gore looks fine generally; more dynamic CGI is more of a mixed bag. Other rounding details like hair, makeup, set design and decoration, and so on range from questionable to suitable; the cast's performances range from suitable to swell (although, that said, William Shatner has rarely seemed so indifferent in his acting). Of more concern for a genre picture is the quality of the writing, and here it's a rather mixed bag. Character writing, dialogue, and plot development across each story are founded foremost on contrivances: leaps in logic, poor and unlikely decisions, stubbornness and pride, and so on. To one extent or another some of the story beats are predictable - there are also some great ideas here - but above all, however well done it may be at times, very little strikes me as especially remarkable or noteworthy.

I'll say this: the action-horror vibe at Santa's workshop is a good bit of fun; Kris Kringle has never been so hard-boiled. Despite some ham-handedness, I think each story concludes with a fine ending. And while the wraparound segment here is given less concrete treatment compared to other anthology flicks, I do like the way that it progresses with subtle suggestions of something sinister before summing up sharply. Why, the strong finishes are enough to make me want to hold the entirety in higher regard. The fact remains, though, that while duly entertaining, 'A Christmas horror story' doesn't do much to grab our attention outright. It's enjoyable enough that it's worth putting on if you want to watch a horror flick without necessarily having to actively engage with it, though don't go out of your way to find it.

Worth 107 minutes of your time? You could do a lot worse.

I enjoyed this movie more each time I saw it after noticing how every story had connections that I missed the first time. I feel like it deserves a higher rating but whatever, I enjoy it and watch it every December.