Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: Two years after a prank gone wrong, a killer dressed as Santa seeks revenge on a sorority.
Review: At a glance this may appear to be nothing more than a ripoff of "Black Christmas" meets "Prom Night." However, it would appear many classics actually are the ones to rip this movie off. I know, I can't believe it either, but, unless they are lying about the release date, it's true. Now, while "Black Christmas" does predate this film, the rest do not. You have elements of the aforementioned "Prom Night," "Friday the 13th," and even something like "Scream." Maybe ripoff is too strong of a word since this film is definitely on the flimsy side and is inferior to every movie I'm mentioning; perhaps, influenced by this film would be the better proposal. I'm just surprised I've heard so little about this movie and most reviews do not mention these comparisons. Maybe they assume this came afterward?
The story is cliche, of course, but many of these ideas would have been original at the time. Two years prior, on Christmas, a bunch of sorority girls are doing the worst prank ever until this one girl falls off a balcony. With her apparent death, we cut to "present day" where the story picks up very fast; it comes to a near screeching halt shortly after though. Which girls were involved with this prank also appears to be completely glossed over when it's supposed to be crucial to the plot. For whatever reason, a good number of chicks stay at the sorority for Christmas, because this is a movie after all. You should be able to guess who the killer is within the first 10 minutes unless you're blind. They mindlessly show the killer caress a photo of the dead girl only to follow up with showing the individual who has that photo! Ingenious. But don't worry, there is more going on than you'd imagine.
The scheme at hand is that, I guess, the leader of the sorority has arranged for some guys to stay for the holiday as well. Ehhh...these chicks are not worth it, but our survivor girl was cute and another girl had this whole Fergie thing going on (oh, you know...busted face but amazing body). The killer begins to make short work of the fodder until the most bizarre thing happens: the night ends. Whaaaat? Is it Christmas or what? What killer begins a holiday massacre and quits midway? This is a good time to mention that crazy Ralph gets killed. No, that's not me being facetious, this movie actually has a crazy Ralph character before F13 did it. The worst cops known to man get involved in solving the case with one of them saying "everybody's a suspect" just like a certain Randy character we know and love.
The next night, the killer puts back on the Santa suit and gets to work. The shenanigans shift into overdrive with each kill, and, surprisingly, the kills are decent in this movie. Three things that do detract from the film heavily at this point are the "Scooby Doo" music, questionable pacing, and reused scenes especially a shot of the killer walking upstairs (give it a rest with the creaky steps). When only a handful of characters are left alive, we come to learn the obvious: the house mother was the killer, and the girl that died was her daughter. The house mother does this whole Mrs. Voorhees thing until she falls off the same balcony that killed her daughter. That's not the end of things though. You might be wondering about how this middle-aged woman was overpowering everyone and, seemingly, teleporting. Well, surprise, surprise, we have two killers on our hands! One of the cops was the husband of the house mother--obviously the father of the dead girl--and he was the one doing things that seemed impossible. They manage to kill the second killer too, with a crossbow to boot, and the movie ends with the leader of the sorority singing like a lunatic on the balcony. Umm...okay then.
I thought this would be nothing more than another killer Santa story, but it turned out to be more interesting than I imagined. I wouldn't go as far as to say this is a good movie, but, considering how unknowingly influential this has been, it's definitely worth a viewing. In fact, with some tweaking to the pacing and importance of the initial prank, this could have been a 6/10 easily. Is this essential Christmas horror? Not a chance. The Christmas aspect is practically insignificant, however, this should be classified among essential horror viewing as a whole. If you're a slasher veteran this will come off as no big deal, but this movie deserves a noteworthy place within the horror pantheon.
Notable Moment: There were so many ridiculous moments, but I guess the best would be when Fergie and the pilot are chopped up by the plane propeller.
Final Rating: 5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment