CHRISTMASSACRE (aka SECRET SANTA, 2015)

Streaming on Tubi from Wild Eye Releasing!
Directed/Written by Mike McMurran.
Check out the trailer here!!

CHRISTMASSACRE aka SECRET SANTA focuses on a group of college kids who are planning to throw a party during their Christmas break. Little do they know; a masked killer is sending his own weaponry to members of the group in wrapped presents only to kill them after they open their gifts.

Yeah, goofy concept but still it makes for some fun scenes as people react to the gifting of power tools and cutlery only to be killed with them minutes later. But while this isn’t the goriest of films or even the scariest, the writing of the characters is what makes the whole thing worth checking out. Filmmaker McMurran fills this movie with characters that at first glance may be your typical cast of soon to be dead people but tosses convention on its ear after closer inspection. The typical innocent “final girl” is actually an online sex cam girl to pay her way through college. The seemingly noble boyfriend slept with another one of the girls and now regrets it. Each character seems to have their own story and it all just happens to converge at this party. And that’s the type of attention to character you don’t normally get in a slasher movie, specifically one of this scope and budget.

SECRET SANTA is a film you’re going to chuckle at more than quake with fear. I like the grainy film stock filter used to make this feel like an old school holiday horror film. I also liked the way the killer looked. This one doesn’t go for the Santa outfit motif and instead just has a guy dressed all in black with a black ski mask, which is unsettling in its simplicity. The effects are rudimentary, but pretty gory and effective as well. The ending’s got a decent SCREAM-like twist that I didn’t see coming and I appreciate McMurran’s tendency to veer to the right when a left turn is expected. This Santa horror film won’t blow you out of the chimney, but for low budget slasher fare, it ain’t half bad.