Category: Yuletide Terror

Killer Santa Christmas!

Killer Santa Christmas!

You’re right, you’re right, Christmas was last week and I’m sure you’re all Christmas’ed out. But please indulge me for a moment while I talk about some yuletide offerings where Santa isn’t as jolly as we all remember him. Once upon a time, these types of movies were incredibly controversial, with titles such as Silent Night Deadly Night and Christmas Evil even being banned in some places, but now we’ve eased up a little, and it seems like every year there’s one or two new killer Santa movies. Usually, these movies suck, mostly because the films rely on the shock of Santa killing people rather than making a decent movie, a shock that has kind of lost its edge from the early 80s, but movies should be analyzed on a case by case basis, so here are the two killer Santa movies I watched over the past month!

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Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)

Directed by Jalmari Helander

The holiday season always seems to sneak up on me and this year is no different. While I work on bigger and better things, please enjoy a review of a charming little Finnish flick with some big ambitions, Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale. Before all the recent high profile releases of Christmas horror films like Krampus, Anna And The Apocalypse, and A Christmas Horror Story, Rare Exports was a fascinating gem for mainstream audiences used to jolly Christmas films. Now that we have so many Christmas horror films, is Rare Exports still worth watching? Probably…but why not read below to find out?

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Krampus (2015)

Krampus (2015)

Directed by Michael Dougherty

Viewed on DVD

Oh man, Krampus has been exploding these past few years! The once obscure figure of Christmas folklore has starred in at least half a dozen movies, usually of abysmal quality, but this is the film that really got him popular, so we’ll be talking about this version and not any of those other movies, at least not yet, anyway. I can understand why this movie was in stuck in production hell for so long though, the idea of Santa’s evil counterpart probably sounds silly to a lot of people, but let’s see how well this oddly premised film can execute its ideas!

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Christmas Evil (1980)

Christmas Evil (1980)

Directed by Lewis Jackson

Viewed on Shudder

That last Christmas horror movie, Black Christmas, was significantly better than I was expecting it to be, so now it’s time to take a look at another old-school Christmas horror classic. How to pick though, how to pick…how about we go with one recommended by the maestro of transgressive cinema, John Waters? The movie Christmas Evil has been described by Waters as “the greatest Christmas movie ever made.” So I think that means I am now obligated to see it. I do quite enjoy Christmas movies, so let’s see what made the top of Waters’ list. Time to explore some Christmas Evil!

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Black Christmas (1974)

Black Christmas (1974)

Directed by Bob Clark

Viewed on Shudder

 

Summary: Slasher classic Black Christmas has aged surprisingly well, and I will never forget the disturbing noises made by the villain. Recommended!

 

Ah, my second favorite time of the year is finally upon us. Obviously my favorite time is that sacred month of October where we all wait patiently for the glorious day of Halloween, but Christmastime is a close second because dammit I do love the Christmas season and the Christmas spirit and all that. So why not combine these two wonderful holidays and spotlight some Yuletide horror during the most wonderful time of the year? Let’s start with one of the granddaddies of both the Christmas horror subgenre and the slasher genre, Black Christmas!

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