‘Tis the season to say, “Oh, golly,” especially if you aren’t a fan of traditional Christmas films and want something a little more on the darker side. While Violent Night is occupying all the headlines at present, Joe Begos‘ Christmas Bloody Christmas might bloody well be the most fun holiday horror in forever.
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What is Christmas Bloody Christmas about?
Record store owner Tori (Riley Dandy) isn’t feeling too merry about Christmas Eve, so she decides to spend some time with her employee, Robbie (Sam Delich), and drink away the silly season together. However, there’s a slight problem that no one could have predicted: a robot Santa at toy store has glitched and decided it doesn’t want to spread joy but macabre instead. Now, Tori and Co. need to fight off this unstoppable killing machine on the holiest night of the year.
A mishmash of tones
As the writer and director of Christmas Bloody Christmas, Begos understands the entire premise of this film is rooted in silliness and an over-the-top concept. Much like Child’s Play, there’s a humorous undertone that offsets the horrific displays of violence on screen. Everyone knows the likelihood of this event happening is next to none, and the filmmaker leans into it rather than trying too hard to convince the audience otherwise.
At the same time, some of the best moments of the film are the conversations between Tori and Robbie that feel like they could have been lifted from a Kevin Smith film. These two characters are highly entertaining and their conversations about what is and what isn’t defined as a Christmas song is often as riveting as seeing Robo-Santa wielding an axe in the film.
What differentiates it from other holiday horror films?
While Christmas Bloody Christmas certainly shares DNA with Chucky and the Child’s Play franchise, it also borrows more than a few elements from Terminator for its fear factor. The size of this Santa makes him more believable as an immovable force and one would expect a hack and slash from this dude to be more impactful than that from a wise-cracking ginger doll. In a weird way, this St. Nick is more reminiscent of Bill Goldberg’s Santa from Santa’s Slay, whereby anyone would be terrified to go up against such a beastly-looking opponent.
Again, no one expects a toy store Santa to go off the rails and embark on a murder spree, but it might make someone side-eye that robot Santa in a mall a little more closely than before.
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Is Christmas Bloody Christmas worth watching?
Christmas Bloody Christmas is a wild and entertaining time for fans of holiday horrors. It brings something familiar but also unique in the sense that it combines a whole host of different elements into something refreshing and fun. Don’t be surprised if this becomes a regular watch around this special time of the year.
