‘Christmas Bloody Christmas’ Review: A Bloody Good Time with a Capable Final Girl
4 out of 5 stars!
Slashers set during the holidays are almost always a lot of fun. Are they always quality with characters that we give a damn about? Not really. That’s a problem that plenty of ’80s slashers ran into, but that’s neither here nor there. Thankfully a lot of slasher films being released these days aren’t relying on naked women to keep our attention. Not that there’s anything wrong with being sexual or naked in horror! But the genre has largely evolved beyond needing to use female nudity as a mere lazy trope to distract from a lack of substance. In our modern horror era, we can have it all.
Christmas Bloody Christmas isn’t a sexless slasher, and it delivers on everything you expect when you watch the trailer. It also fucking rocks as a very metal holiday-themed slasher. It presents mostly fully fleshed-out characters and their relationships with each other are believable and engaging. And Tori (Riley Dandy) is a cool-as-hell final girl to add to our ever-growing list. Even though she’s not perfect at surviving a killing spree, she is so capable.
The beginning of the film focuses mainly on Tori and her friend Robbie (Sam Delich) working at the record store she owns. Their relationship is full of UST and neither of them is very passive when it comes to addressing it. In fact, Tori is very sexually expressive and has strong (occasionally horrible) takes on music and horror films. The overt bisexual lighting at the store gave me hope that she’s lowkey bisexual but we can’t always get what we want, now can we? Until killer robot Santa appears, that is, and then we are getting exactly what we want.
This killer Santa is merely a robot that’s on the fritz—there’s nothing supernatural or human about this scenario. That means killing him ends up being much harder than it would be in either of those cases. Once the action gets started, our main characters are thrust into a night of frenzy—one that includes a partial hook-up at her place before robot Santa shows up at Tori’s apartment building and continues his murderous spree, also targeting Tori’s sister and Robbie.
Setting this movie in a small town adds an almost claustrophobic element. There are no alleyways to escape through or city streets filled with people. Tori is forced to rely on herself because who else is going to save her? The cops are useless in this film and she’s largely alone in this very quiet town (as is typical for the holidays in a small town).
This slasher is perfect for anyone who enjoys gore, bloody moments, badass final girls, atmospheric music, and a whole lot of cussing. Turn off the lights, grab your favorite snacks, then turn this on if you have Shudder. I promise it’ll be worth your time, and you won’t be disappointed if you’re a slasher freak.
(featured image: Shudder and RLJE Films)
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