Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Fantastic!

A Brilliant Conflict

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

This is the same film which has the PC cover title "A Holiday Horror Story" being sold in Walmart. The film opens with 4-5 subplots and each builds slowly until the stories are connected, even if loosely connected.1) The first subplot consists of Santa (George Buza) and his wife Marta (Debra McCabe) getting ready for Christmas when an elf zombie outbreak happens. "Stay back Jingles!" 2) Dangerous Dan (William Shatner) is a radio host on Christmas eve. He brings in the Christmas spirit by saying things like "Let's throw another eggnog on the fire." There is an unknown commotion going on at the mall. 3) Three high school kids, Dylan, Ben and Molly (Shannon Kook, Alex Ozerov, Zoé De Grand Maison ) are doing some investigative reporting at St. Joseph Academy where 2 kids were brutally killed last year. The school also has a story of a supposed virginal conception and abortion. 4) Officer Scott (Adrian Holmes) who investigated the murders is together with his wife and child this Christmas. He is setting a bad example by poaching a tree off of posted land. 5) A family visits their rich aunt (Corinne Conley) in hopes of getting her to invest in a company. While there, the insolent teen Duncan (Percy Hynes White) breaks an old statue of a Krampus.The film takes place in the fictional town of Baily Downs (Ginger Snaps, Orphan Black). Krampus has become the latest rage in Christmas horror films, and in that regard, this one is the best. In fact, I would go as far as to say I enjoyed this as much as the iconic "Silent Night Deadly Night." There was scene where I was lulled into a false sense of security and then they made me jump. I haven't done that in a while.This is a keeper.

When I found "A Christmas Horror Story", I needed little convincing to make me sit down and watch this movie after I saw the movie's cover. I didn't even bother reading the synopsis or check who was in it. All that mattered was the fact that it was a horror movie and the DVD cover pretty much sold the rest."Elves becoming the walking dead? No, it does not make any sense..." as Santa himself said it was essentially all that was needed to summarize this movie.For a collaboration of multiple writers and directors, then I must say that "A Christmas Horror Story" actually turned out to be quite nice. The writers Jason Filiatrault, James Kee, Sarah Larsen, Doug Taylor and Pascal Trottier actually put together three interesting stories which worked quite well individually, but also came together quite nicely as an interwoven whole. And the three individual directors Grant Harvey, Steven Hoban and Brett Sullivan did great jobs in directing each their own story and managing to tie the three tales nicely together.They had managed to get together a good ensemble of acting talents for this movie, although I can't claim to be familiar with the vast majority of them. Actually, the only two actors that I were familiar with were William Shatner and A.C. Peterson. But it should be said that the entire cast were performing quite well with their given roles and characters in all of the three different stories.The effects in the movie were quite good and they definitely served their purpose quite well. Don't expect an all out CGI special effects galore though, because this movie is so much more than just a hollow display of multi-million dollar CGI effects - and thankfully so. There was enough blood, gore and mayhem to keep an aging gorehound like me more than happy. And the scenes with Santa were just amazing.And the showdown between Santa Clause and Krampus was well worth the wait and definitely worth the watch, and it alone made it worthwhile to watch "A Christmas Horror Story".The twist to the storyline that was revealed towards the end was just a stroke of genius. I hadn't expected that and much less seen that coming. It was really a nice change to the storyline and a very welcomed one at that.This is hardly going to be a Christmas classic, but it is still an enjoyable movie, especially if you enjoy a Holiday themed horror movie.

On one hand, as a horror movie, it was okay. Not spectacular, but I've seen worse. But I feel compelled to warn viewers about something that slowly dawned on me as I watched the movie unfold, which is that the creators of this film are clearly trying to hide a deeply conservative message in the subtext.This is the point at which the spoilers begin, so if you wish to avoid these, you should stop reading now.In the first story, three teenagers break into their high school, which is closed because of winter break, but also because murders have recently happened there. Early in, the group finds a giant plastic nativity scene in the basement, and the girl (Molly) complains about the "war on Christmas." Later in the story, they find out that a girl died in the building while it was a convent, because the nuns forced her to undergo an abortion at their hands. This is the ghost that is killing people. Further, the ghost possesses Molly and has her try to seduce the first male, who is killed when he refuses. So she gets impregnated by the second guy, and is the only person spared by the ghost, and only because she agrees to carry the baby to term.The second and third stories may have skipped the subtext (or it's better hidden), but the fourth story is dripping with it at the end. For most of the story, you have a straight forward story about Santa killing zombie elves, ending with a showdown with Krampus. Right when that showdown is about to go down, the scene switches to a mall, and we see that a normal schlubb went crazy and started killing innocent people, until he gets gunned down by police. And what caused this psychotic break? The normal schlubb was an atheist who hated Christmas, but his work forced him to dress up as Santa, which of course drove him crazy. The movie ends with Williams Shatner begging people to embrace Christmas, suggesting in a sideways manner that respect for other religions and belief systems is the root of violence.

You either like those short stories that are somehow and somewhat connected to each other or you don't. If it's the latter don't bother watching or reading on, because you obviously are not the target audience. If you are of course, give this a shot. While not the best horror anthology, just the fact that Shatner is a radio host who's telling jokes (you know he's a funny Dude) and is always there after a shock to make you feel good.Having said that, the casting overall is good, as are the stories all not really in the original sense of the Christmas spirit. But with a horror movie that should be the most obvious thing and nothing one should have to figure out. The characters are oblivious to their fates or what lies ahead of them in general. Funny and scary stories that really are entertaining. Job done