This Christmas based slasher by Shudder has been popping up on Horror Twitter and, having just signed up to Shudder myself, I thought I should watch it myself and see what all the “fuss” is about before the end of the festive season.
Plot
The film starts with some festive cheer a few bloody murders from a masked assassin, the lead’s best friend is one of the victims. Our “final girl” is Winnie (Jane Widdop) and she takes out the killer, saving her brother’s life and revealing the killer as Henry Walters (Justin Long). Flash forward a year and everything in the town has gone mad – Winnie’s best friend is dead, her parents are favouring her brother and the whole town is acting like nothing happened.
So, what does Winnie do? She makes a wish, like in the winter classic It’s a Wonderful Life, she says that it would be better if she hadn’t been born. Boom, her wish is granted and she wasn’t around to save her brother or reveal the killer, who is still at large a year later.
Frantic Winnie, who is unrecognised by friends and family, befriends Bernie (Jess McLeod), who everyone else thinks is a “weirdo” and together they try and thwart the killer, who Winnie already knows is Walters. Because Walters owns most of the town (a direct lift from It’s a Wonderful Life) Winnie has to find a way to save the town and restore her life – and all in one night! (For some convoluted reason).
Review
The premise, stolen from one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time, is solid. Winnie quickly discovers that the whole town would be better if she was, in fact, in it – a little too quickly, actually, after only about two interactions. There is no subtly to her existential crisis, she has about three lines of dialogue with her family, friends and boyfriend before she accepts they don’t know her and befriends Bernie instead of trying to convince one of her existing friends or family. (Author’s Note: Paul, if this happens, I’m coming for you).
Joel McHale plays Winnie’s father, David Carruthers. Lovely, lovely Joel from Community. However, his acting in this is very questionable. He’s over-the-top, has no pacing and comes across like he gives zero fucks. In fact, most of the “adults” in this film deliver their lines in a cringe-worthy fashion, making my skin crawl and not in a good way. Justin Long is in very little of the movie, but I don’t hate him as much as the others – he’s playing a villain so the campiness isn’t the worst and to be honest, the odd bit of “you’re on my naughty list” style of line, I enjoyed. In fact, I wish there had been more of this, more Christmas based horror humour.
I liked Winnie and Bernie. Winnie is a good final girl, and she has this great Drew Barrymore in Scream style hair that I hope is a homage, but probably isn’t. Bernie is adorable and the kind of weirdo I was in secondary school too. They have good chemistry and I wish there had been a bit more sexual tension thrown into the mix.
Onto the horror! There’s a good bit of gore at the beginning, I especially liked the Christmas “themed” killings, they gave me a giggle – the candy cane was great. But there’s a lull in the middle, as Winnie tries to convince people Walters really is the killer and attempts to come up with a plan. Then there’s a smattering, but nothing too original, nothing that will make you wince or groan (or, if you’re like me, laugh). This, I think, was the reason this movie is a bit of a let down. It’s not a slasher, really, not without more… slashing. If it were me, I would have added in more gore and cut some of the bad dialogue.
Without any spoilers, the final showdown and ending is mostly as you’d expect, but with a few little twists. The actual ending is, of course, all Christmassy and if you want a little more snow and jingle bells before the end of the year then I’d recommend sticking this on if you have something you want on in the background.
One last thing that I loved about this film is that there’s a lot of queerness in the air and I could never be mad at that.
So, was this film worth it? To answer this, we need to think about who this film is for. A film like It’s a Wonderful Life is for everyone (even a 34 year old, single librarian like me, who took offence to the idea that becoming a glasses-wearing librarian is the height of awfulness). This film, is for horror fans who want something to pop on over Christmas and don’t mind that it’s kinda bad. But in a Christmassy way. (Either way, it’s better than Genie, ugh.)
2.5/5 stars, if you’re into that. Happy new year everyone!
That Horror Chick 