‘I didn’t know you two were a thing...’
In 1975, legendary director Bob Clark made Black Christmas. The definitive Christmas horror film. That should have been the final word really. Silent Night, Deadly Night, Krampus, Rare Exports, Jack Frost… some of them are ok, some of them are terrible, but really, after Black Christmas, the whole subgenre was rendered redundant. And so, to Christmas Bloody Christmas…
Tori (Riley Dandy) just wants to rock ‘n’ roll all night and party every day. As the owner of a seemingly thriving small-town record shop, Tori has big Christmas Eve plans to meet up with a Tinder date and drink some whiskey. When she decides to blow him off to get smashed with her co-worker Robbie (Sam Delich) it sets in motion a series of events that will have disastrous consequences for all involved – primarily because there is a crazed robot Santa charging about the place.
It’s ok to have annoying characters in a slasher film because at some point someone will come along and strike them down using extreme violence and a sharp blade of some sort. What’s not ok is when your final girl is annoying, and boy is Tori annoying here. This is not the fault of Riley Dandy who does the best with what she’s been given but writer Joe Begos’ cringe-inducing, pop culture referencing script gives her very little to work with. Elsewhere, the plot is paper thin and the kills uninspired. Christmas Bloody Christmas is not an abysmal film, it has some interesting visual moments, but it is a forgettable one, and a film about a murderous Santa Claus should not be forgettable.
Just watch Black Christmas instead.