Silent Night Deadly Night (1984)

I suppose it was about time for me to get to this most infamous of Christmas horror flicks. Though if I’m going to be honest, and I always am, the controversy is sort of overblown. Other than the Santa outfit this movie isn’t terribly shocking for a slasher flick and was never intended for the kids that still believe in Santa to see anyway. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Things kick off with young Billy going to see his grandfather, who when no one is looking scares the hell out of him. On the way home he then sees his parents murdered by a criminal dressed as Santa. Now an orphan he is raised in an orphanage run by a nun with some odd issues at how to properly raise children his issues become worse. Between the ideas of punishment from the nun and the idea that Santa has a naughty list, things go rather poorly when he is asked to dress as jolly old Saint Nick by his employer. Determined to do his best and believing it is now his job to punish the naughty he goes on a killing spree.

As I’ve already stated this movie is rather infamous for the reaction it got when first released. I suppose that parents didn’t like a slasher flick about Santa killing people coming out right before Christmas. Who knew that might be an issue? Though again this was never intended for the younger crowd there were some unfortunate advertising mistakes like running ads while the kiddos were watch the television. In a way the controversy and subsequent pulling of the movie from theaters was probably the best thing that could have happened to Silent Night Deadly Night. Don’t get me wrong the movie is a solid slasher flick, but this pushed it into must watch territory.

This is not going to end well...

The story is paced decently, though the Billy growing up in the orphanage stuff isn’t terribly interesting to me. Though once he dons the red suit and starts growling “Naughty” at his victims it picks up. What is a nice touch is that we can sort of understand why Billy does what he does. The guy is messed up and is only doing what he thinks he is supposed to do. For a slasher movie to make us feel sympathetic to the killer is a nice twist. Also, the fact that the plot basically follows him as the main character and not a final girl was a bit different from the formula. I like it when filmmakers subvert my expectations and/or put their own spin on things.

The gore is plentiful and of course there is some nudity. The lovely Linnea Quigley provides that and is done away with in one of the most creative and festive kills you will ever see on screen! Other kills include some work being done with a hammer and axe. There is a lot of blood and fun, though this time I did notice that more of it happens off camera and implied then I remember from past viewings. That said it is still a good time and delivers what I expected with a solid eight kills and one accidental death.

If you are looking for a Christmas themed horror movie then this one is an obvious choice, though I’d still pick Bob Clark’s Black Christmas before it. But then that is a genuine classic, so this isn’t a shot at Silent Night Deadly Night. If you are a horror fan and haven’t seen this yet you really should.

 

© Copyright 2021 John Shatzer

 

 

 

Jack Frost 2: The Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman (2000)

I love these movies and I’m not going to apologize for it. They are silly, over the top, and filled with goofy dialogue as Jack drops one-liners right and left. While this isn’t as good as the original there is still some fun to be had with this worthy sequel. With that said lets get to the story.

It has been a year since Sheriff Tiler and his town were terrorized by the killer snowman Jack. After a recap of what happened and how he was created we are treated to some dummies digging up the containers of antifreeze that contain his remains. Of course, someone dumps hot chocolate in the tank and that brings Jack back to life. Why? Hey man I don’t need to explain the science! He immediately heads off to kill Tiler who happens to be in the tropics celebrating Christmas with his wife and soon to be married friends.

Now you would expect that location to prevent our snowman from being able to continue his homicidal ways, but you would be wrong. Jack heads on down to the islands stopping along the way to murder some lost at sea guys for their carrot. Hey, he needed a nose. When he gets to where he was headed, he takes a few tourists out before changing the climate and making it snow. How does he manage this? Hey man I really don’t need to explain the science. We do find out that Jack was able to track the sheriff because he bled into the antifreeze in the first movie, so they share some genetic material now. That is important because of a banana allergy.

This movie is goofy as hell, and I love it. The dialogue is filled with some very funny lines which I won’t ruin by repeating them in this review. Even after repeated viewings it still is laugh out loud funny. We also have some great setups for the kills including an ice cube gag with a model that was a blast… literally. The plot is quickly paced and wastes no time getting to what we want, a wisecracking killer taking out his victims. The characters aren’t well developed but the cast is solid enough to get the job done and lets be honest this isn’t the sort of flick that leans too heavily into that sort of thing anyway. The late Christopher Allport is back as the Sheriff, and he has some fun chewing up scenery. The rest of the actors aren’t well known but again they do a good job. That said watch for a blink and you’ll miss it appearance from genre favorite Doug Jones.

The kills are more cartoonish and played for laughs. While we get a lot of CGI because of the tongue in cheek nature of the proceedings I was okay with this. The highlights include some icicles bursting thru chests, a woman drowning in a frozen swimming pool, a neck slash, an arm gets torn off with a wicked snowball, and some tongs to the eyes. My favorite is an ice anvil that squishes one woman “Wile E. Coyote” style. In addition to Jack, who is basically just a costumed actor we also get some baby snowball monsters that are puppets. They get to create some havoc before getting whacked by science. Well, I mean someone figures out that they share DNA with the sheriff, so we wrap back around to bananas again!

Jack Frost 2 is played for laughs and does it very well. I’ve always enjoyed this one and try to watch it every couple of years around Christmas. If you haven’t seen this or the first movie I can’t recommend them enough. Trust me this will put you in a very merry mood for this most festive time of year.

© Copyright 2021 John Shatzer

 

 

Krampus (2015)

Here we are with another Christmas horror movie. This time around we watch as a young boy named Max deals with his extended family and all the bickering that comes with it. After being thoroughly embarrassed by his cousins he storms off saying he hates Christmas and all of them! That is a bad thing since it gets the attention of Krampus aka. Saint Nicholas’ shadow. Instead of Santa they get a very angry spirit and his minions who are determined to get up to some serious mischief. One by one they all fall victim to them until only Max is left. But then he wakes up in his bed and goes downstairs to see his family next to the tree opening gifts. It must have been a dream and we are getting a happy ending… or not.

I enjoyed the heck out of this movie. The story is entertaining and jumps right to the action without hesitation. There is always something annoying, creepy, or scary happening on screen, which makes for a quick ninety-seven-minute runtime. The movie quickly becomes a siege with all sorts of spooky festive critters trying to get in the house. Spoilers they do manage to get in and that is when it really hits the fans. We also get a fun animated flashback where the German grandmother, who knows things, explains her history with Krampus and what is about to happen. There is a lot to enjoy with this one.

The cast is excellent in their roles with the highlights being Adam Scott, Toni Collette, and David Koechner. This one is played for laughs at times so Scott and Koechner are given a chance to shine. This movie also proves that if you give Collette something decent to work with, she can be a great actress… I’m looking at you Hereditary! We even get some fun with the late Conchata Ferrell as the unpleasant Aunt Dorothy who can handle a shotgun pretty well.

When I sat down with this one, I expected a decent looking creature and that is what I got. The Krampus design is all practical effects work and looks awesome. What I didn’t anticipate was the menagerie of mayhem that accompanies our main bad guy. There are CGI Gingerbread men who wield a nail gun, a maniacal teddy bear that tripes to chomp on folks, a crazy jack in the box that acts like an anaconda in the way it eats people up, and a creepy baby doll. Oh, and I almost forgot the creepy elves and the stabby machine in the attic. I did say there was a lot going on. Though be warned that this one is PG-13 so you aren’t going to get a lot of gore or creative kills. In fact, while we get a few implied deaths in the end it appears that everyone survived.

Sometimes you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. What we have with Krampus is a movie that is just fun. Other than a twist at the end that I didn’t see coming this is a predictable flick that checks a lot of boxes. There is some humor, some horror, and some fun creature effects work. If that would make your holidays merry, like it did mine, then check it out.

 

© Copyright 2021 John Shatzer

 

 

Throwback Thursday - The Decline of the Genre Podcast

Note: I originally wrote this for my old website twelve years ago. I just found it while digging thru my archives and thought I'd post it here at the new site. Why? Well being a consumer of podcasts as well as a creator of them my points are still if not even more valid today. I also want to make sure that everyone understands that I do this to help out my fellow podcasters from falling into traps that will destroy the interest in their shows. So now lets get onto it.

Disclaimer:  Let me be very clear that this is in no way an attack on any particular podcast or website.  This is more my take on the rise and eventual decline of podcasts dedicated to the genre movies that we all love. 

Like many of you I was really into the horror podcast scene of several years ago.  This is even before I thought for a second about doing my own show.  We all had our own favorites, but regardless of what shows you listened to the experience was the same.  Personally, I looked forward each week to downloading the shows and listening to fellow fans talking about the new releases and discussing their memories of growing up the warm glow of the television while watching the late-night horror show or a favorite VHS tape.  For a guy like me it was a Godsend because I lived in an area where there wasn't a community of fans for me to connect with. 

But then something changed.  At first, I thought it was just me getting old and jaded.  Then I started having one conversation after another with fellow fans on the net and at conventions.  It seems that I wasn't alone in suddenly losing interest in the podcasting scene both as a contributor thru the Gutmunchers podcast and as a listener.  What happened?  I have some ideas that I'm going to share in this article. 

Before you start recording ask yourself some questions.  (aka. What the hell am I doing here?)

Before you ever record a second of a show you need to ask yourself what your goals are.  What kind of show do you want to do?  What sort of content do you want to provide?  Can you pull it off?

These might seem like obvious things to sort out before you do a show.  But I’ve listened to podcasts that are put together by people who are in love with the concept of a show but haven’t put any thought into it.  When I started the Gutmunchers podcast I knew that I had a specific set of goals.  Heck I even had a mission statement (like the on the front page of the website).  I wanted to review a couple movies in each show.  These would be movies that either myself or my co-host liked.  I didn’t care if it was a new release or not.  My goal was to turn other fans onto the movies that I liked. 

The other big goal of mine was to interview interesting people who worked in and around the movies we all loved.  Some of them had done other shows and some of them hadn’t.  One of our first interviews was with Carol Speed who a lot of fans and promoters thought was dead (I’m not kidding guys).  This was the kind of person that I wanted to talk to and share with others. 

Now I’m not trying to say that this was the only way to do a show.  There are a lot of different approaches to podcasting.  When the shows first started it was all new and people put a lot of thought into what they wanted.  Especially since in the early days the editing tools and hosting weren’t necessarily free people it caused put effort into it.  Then things got cheap and even free sometimes so that everyone piled on without thinking about it.  This of course leads to my next point.

Too many podcasts (aka. The good ones got buried quickly)

I think that the combination of free tools for editing and free hosting options lead to everyone and their brother starting up a podcast.  This is further complicated by the ease in which you were able to get it added to iTunes and therefore delivered to anyone that had an iPod.  When this first happened, I thought it was amazing to be able to reach so many individuals with so little effort.  And it really was.  But that also caused a fatal reaction for the podcasting scene.

With all the free services that were available you could literally decide to do a show and have something “live” in just a couple of hours.  And this was with some basic editing.  So what happened is that suddenly everyone had a podcast and the market was saturated.  Not only that but since it so easy most of the shows were put together terribly.  The editing was lousy, there was dead air, and no one put any effort into the content.  I could go on, but I’ll talk more about this later.  Bottom line was that the one show that put the work in and sounded somewhat professional got tossed in with the fifty others that were garbage. 

I know you are asking yourself what is the harm in friends recording stuff and being goofy?  If it was just a hobby like when my friends and I used to make “shows” with my old cassette recorder then no harm no foul.  But that isn’t what happened.  Those involved acted much like the independent filmmakers that run around the woods over a weekend with a camera and call it a movie.  They started to promote their “shows”, fought for listeners, started tearing each other down, and went to companies to try and get screeners.  Now personally as a fan I got so burned out with the feuds (to be fair I was part of one) and the hosts constantly bitching about one another that I stopped listening.  I don’t think that I was the only one either.  As a former podcaster, it was also embarrassing to tell anyone that I had a show because I didn’t want to get lumped in with this crowd.  Hell, I always lead off with the website and never mentioned the show until I was established with them. 

You just aren't that interesting! (aka. Fart jokes just aren't that funny after the 20th time)

This one is simple.  I've sampled so many different podcasts that I lost count a long time ago.  One of the observations that I made along the way is that far too many podcasters want the show to be about them.  In some kind of attention-grabbing desperation move they want their personality to be the central focus of the show.  Sorry guys but even Howard Stern got boring after a couple of years of listening to his radio show uncensored and I personally think he is a genius.  What chance do you have in holding an audience?  The answer is not much.

In my humble opinion, a horror podcast or really any movie podcast should be about the flicks and not about some goof talking about how much his farts smell or calling his co-host names for two freaking hours.  Guys you need to understand that the movies are your content and are why your audience is "tuning" in for each episode.  When we were doing the Gutmunchers podcast I tried hard to focus on what was important, the DVDs that we were covering and the interesting people that we were interviewing. 

Too many people half doing half assed work.  (aka. Watch some damn movies!)

This one just kills me.  I was listening to a show that I won’t name here.  They were doing a best of show where they discussed all the horror flicks from a particular year.  Only they hadn’t seen or couldn’t remember half of them!  This is just lazy and shows a total lack of respect for your audience. I might have sucked as a podcaster, but I always watched the movies and did the work for the show.  If you don’t have the time to do your research, then chose a different direction for that particular show.  Maybe the professionals can just wing it but you can’t.  If you could then someone would be paying you to do this instead of you recording it in your bedroom. 

This leads me to another point about doing the work.  Would it kill you to have a script?  I’ve listened to shows that had no focus and wandered all over the place.  The hosts didn’t know what they were trying to do or in what order they wanted to do it.  You need to know what the plan is before you ever record a damn thing.  There is nothing so annoying as dead air. Podcasting isn’t a visual medium, so you need to keep things rolling along. Nothing will bring a show to a screaming halt faster than not having a script.

Wrap up (aka. Yes, I probably pissed off some people)

These are my thoughts on what happened to the podcasting scene.  When I first started writing this I approached it as a how to for podcasting.  You know so I could pass on my experiences and encourage other budding podcasters.  But the more I got into it the more I realized that I didn’t want to encourage anyone to become a podcaster.  Trust me the work you put in will never be worth it.  The online horror community is vicious.  You are either going to do a lousy show and add to the crap already out there, or you will be good at it and then incur the wrath of those that are jealous of your success.  Instead of spending hours editing and tracking down interviews I’d recommend just chilling out and watching some movies. 

Agree with me?  Disagree with me?  I don’t hide behind a screen name, and I put my contact information right out there.  Either way you should feel free to email me at gutmunchers@gmail.com with feedback.  This isn’t meant to be a shot at any podcaster or show in particular and shouldn’t be taken as such. 

 

© Copyright 2021 John Shatzer

I’m Dreaming of a White Doomsday (2019)

I hadn’t heard about this movie until my friend Donovan picked it for a podcast that we do together. We were interviewing the director, Mike Lombardo, so I figured it was a good bet the movie would come up. With that in mind I went off to Amazon and rented myself a copy. Please note that there are spoilers in my review. I rather enjoyed the movie so I recommend you just go watch I’m Dreaming of a White Doomsday and then come back to see what I have to say about it.

Doomsday has happened and the world is destroyed. We see a mother and her young son in a bomb shelter counting the days until their food runs out. In a series of flashbacks, we see that the husband/father had headed out for more supplies but never returned. That means mom must leave her son to go looking for food. She finds another survivor who is hurt and tells her that something attacked her and her brother. We never see what that is but it does let us know that the world is scary outside of the shelter. To protect her son she steals the injured girl’s food and leaves her to die.

Returning to the bunker we watch as mom realizes that it is hopeless. She finds some cookies in the girl’s bag and makes one last Christmas treat for her son, with a poison chaser. Yeah, she is planning a double suicide! Merry Christmas… Here is where it gets weird. As they are decorating, and she is planning Santa Claus shows up and marches across the wasteland. He has the boys name on his list, yeah this is the “real” Santa, and is hauling a bag of toys. He reaches them and immediately attacks the boy. Santa can’t die as long as a child lives who believes in in and the poor old fella just wants to put himself out of his misery. So yeah, the mom’s plan doesn’t work as Santa chokes the kid out before she can poison him.

This one is a kick in the butt!

This is a depressing and serious movie that I can’t say I enjoyed in the traditional sense of having fun with it. But I very much appreciate how well it is made and that ending has stuck with me for a couple of days. I know that some might find the pacing a little slow but I thought it was fine. The characters are going thru the motions in what seems to be a hopeless situation, so it kind of had to be that way. Plus, this is more of a drama then an action movie so if you are looking for a shoot ‘em up with monsters then this isn’t the flick you should be watching. The twist with Santa is worth the wait. That hooked me as it was unexpected and fun. This is an example of a solid movie that sticks the landing with a crazy fun ending.

The acting is decent especially the young actor who plays the son. Honestly, I’ve seen big budget productions have horrible casting choices when it comes to casting a child. Here the director/writer Lombard got very lucky to find a kid that has talent and can act. He is one of two actors that has to pretty much carry the movie so this could have been a deal breaker. They are helped with well written dialogue that feels natural. Something else that I liked about the writing was the fact that the movie managed to tell us a compelling post-apocalyptic story without having a huge budget. They keep is simple, spending most of the time in the bunker. This controls their locations and scales down the setting to what they could afford. Nothing will kill a movie like being overly ambitious and exceeding your resources. Here Lombardo clearly knew what he had and used it perfectly.

Due to the nature of the story I can’t imagine revisiting this one often. But the fact that it bothered me says that I’m Dreaming of a White Doomsday did the job it intended to do. I don’t think this one is supposed to put you in a holiday mood, but instead is meant to tell you a slightly off kilter and darker story. Mission accomplished. If you have stuck with me this far I’d like to recommend that you check this one out. It is one of the best written and interesting stories that I’ve seen filmed in a long time. I highly recommend it.

 

© Copyright 2021 John Shatzer

The Ten Best Movies of 2021

Since I’m already making this list for a podcast that I do I thought it might be fun to share my top ten movies of the past year. These aren’t all going to be horror, though honestly most of them will be. That is my favorite genre, so it just works out that way. Below are the best new movies that I watched this past year. Or at least new to me. I’ll start off with number ten and move my way up. Oh and since the year isn’t over yet I reserve the right to change the list if I catch anything awesome over these last couple of weeks.

The list below goes from bottom to top so the last movie you see is my favorite movie of the year. I realized after assembling the list that it might not have been that obvious how I set it up. So with that clarification lets get to it.

I’m Dreaming of a White Doomsday (2019) – This movie from independent filmmaker Mike Lombardo blew me away. For much of the runtime I was thinking I knew exactly where the story was leading. I mean it was still a very well movie that I was digging, but then there is a huge twist. One that is totally original, unexpected, and shocking. As an added bonus this is a Christmas themed horror flick!

Force to Fear (2020) – This was one of the best low budget movies I’ve seen in a long time. A solid mashup of action flick and slasher movie. The kills are a little lame, but the action sequences are well staged, and I loved the characters. Best of all it is beautifully shot. This, like the previous movie, is a prime example of an independent filmmaker knowing their resources and shooting the best movie they could within those limitations.

Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021) – This Nic Cage flick is, as you would expect, completely nuts. We get mutants, samurai, and cowboys all existing in the same universe. I also loved the visuals, the swordplay, and of course Cage’s take on the odd character. Plus, they blow one of his balls off. I think we all agree if you blow off one of Cage’s balls then you get at least a three-star bonus. Spoilers this isn’t my only Cage vehicle on the list! If you are interested, I covered it for the site. Click here for the review.

Werewolves Within (2021) – I had no idea what I was getting into with this movie. It turned out to be a blast with cool characters, an interesting mystery that kept me guessing, and in the end a decent werewolf reveal. Plus, the AT and T lady… damn. If you are looking for a funny and quirky take on the Lycanthrope genre then this is the flick for you. My full review can be found here.

The Deep House (2021) – Honestly The Deep House wouldn’t’ have been on my radar but it was picked by my friend Kyle for the Bloodbaths and Boomsticks podcast, so I watched it for the show. I was shocked at how great this movie was. A haunted house under the water! Both spooky with good scares as well as the skin crawling feeling idea of running out of air topped off with an ending that kicked my ass. This was a lot of fun. Check out my full review here.

Caroushell the 2^nd (2021) – This is the sequel that we deserved. The original Caroushell was a fun flick that featured a carousel unicorn coming to life to get some payback on the people that treated him like crap. Duke, the unicorn, gets a backstory and a son in this follow up. Just as funny but with more heart filmmaker Steve Rudzinski somehow tops himself the second time around.

Willy’s Wonderland (2021) – Nic Cage is back on the list. This time he is fighting satanic knockoff Chuck E. Cheese animatronic mascots. I know a lot of fans liked Mandy, but for me this is the vintage crazy eye Cage that I wanted. Hell, he doesn’t even have any dialogue and still kicks ass. I loved this flick. If you need more encouragement then Cage versus animatronic mascots check out my full review at this link.

Benny Loves You (2019) – Who doesn’t love a killer stuffed animal? This movie is gleefully twisted and gory. The pacing is spot on with something fun always happening on screen and most of the jokes landed for me. The titular character Benny is one of my favorite new horror icons and I hope we get some sequels. I had a blast with this flick.

Nobody (2021) – This feels like an old school action movie like a Death Wish flick. Lots of action Bob Odenkirk is kick ass as the family man who is a former hitman. The dialogue is fantastic and the movie balances action and story perfectly. Odenkirk does such a wonderful job portraying a character that tries to get away from who he was but eventually gives in when he is pushed too far. Really this is a must watch.

Fear Street (2021) – I cheated a bit with this one. Technically they are three movies but tell one main story. These fear Street flicks were an amazingly fun time. Somehow, they managed to make three different movies that all stand alone as solid flicks all while doing a nifty bit of world building. When I got to the end of the third installment I wanted more. That is a good sign. Check the links below for my full reviews.

Fear Street Part One 1991

Fear Street Part Two 1978

Fear Street Part Three 1666

Before you get mad at me for leaving something off let me give you my honorable mentions. Movies that either were on my list and got bumped or were fun but just didn’t cut the mustard. Boys of County Hell is a fun Irish vampire movie. Mortal Kombat was a surprisingly fun bit of mindless action movie. Shadow in the Cloud has my favorite Chloe Grace Moretz performance ever. Boss Level is another fun mindless action movie that reminds me of the old school flicks I used to watch all the time. Psycho Goreman was a fun flick, though the nineties nostalgia didn’t play with me as I’m a bit too old for it. Finally, Cowgirls vs. Pterodactyls is every bit as silly as the title suggests but was also a heck of a lot of fun. Okay now you can get mad!

So, there you have my list. I’d love to hear if you think that I’ve missed anything or for you to share your list with me. You can email me at gutmunchers@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you. Now to create a new word document and start filling it up with the good stuff for 2022.

 

 © Copyright 2021 John Shatzer

Letters to Satan Claus (2020)

The movie opens years ago when we see a spoiled little brat angry that her out of work parents can’t by her the Darby dream car that she wants for Christmas. Because of that she writes an angry letter to Santa telling him all she wants for Christmas is for her parents to be gone. Later in flashbacks we see her and her younger sister on Christmas morning opening presents… each one containing a piece of her murdered and chopped up parents. Feeling festive yet?

The movie jumps twenty-two years later, and we see that the litter girl, Holly Frost (yes, all the names are very festive) is an investigative reporter. Though her dream is to get the anchor’s seat and that chance has finally come. Though she needs to be more approachable, so her boss sends her to Ornament… yep that is the name of the town, to cover their yearly Christmas festival. This also happens to be her hometown that she has been avoiding since high school.

Holly comes home, drinks a lot, and is totally snarky. She also finds the letter she wrote as a little girl and realized that she misspelled Santa as Satan. Again, being sarcastic and a scrooge she sends Satan another nasty letter. He shows up again and starts killing everyone. Initially no one believes Holly but eventually enough people disappear, and bodies drop that they catch on to what is happening. She must find her holiday spirit so that she can lead the rest of the town in a battle to send Satan on his way! This is a weird movie.

I don’t know how many of you out there either watch those Hallmark Christmas movies or have a spouse that does, but this is a fantastic parody of those. Let’s look at some of the tropes of those and see how they twist them in Letters to Satan Claus. Obviously, we have the fish out of water successful big city girl come back home only to be charmed by the simple ways of small-town America and falling in love. Here she has to so that Satan can be banished, and the killings stopped, but it is pretty much the same thing. There is also a handsome man who lost his wife and has a young precious daughter. Here the wife was killed by a falling hot air balloon and the daughter is a creepy adult child that well… just has to be seen to be believed. In the end Holly rejects the big job to return to her small-town home to be with the man she loves… though that doesn’t turn out as you would expect. We even get a proposal from a secret prince from Eastern Western Europe!

Now if that doesn’t appeal to you there are some horror goodness that might. We get some fun kills like Aunt Becky the baker getting tossed into her oven, cookies that bleed and ask why you are killing them, and even death by obnoxious Christmas music! Though I think the biggest thing that I learned is if a snowman suddenly comes to life and offers to show you what can be used for his eyes you might want to step back a few paces. Just to be clear this isn’t an overly gory movie but the kills are creative and most importantly festive. The look of Satan Claus is decent. They created an actual appliance and have an actor in it which is always what I prefer. Here he has some snappy one liners and cackles in a silly but creepy way. To sum it up I liked the kills and the creature.

I suppose if you haven’t been forced to watch Hallmark Christmas in July, and yes that is a real thing, then you might not get some of the jokes in Letters to Satan Claus. But there are still others that are more obvious that will probably put a smile on your face. To catch them you must be paying attention to the dialogue because they sneak some good ones in under your nose. This movie is very well written, acted, and directed. It will be on my yearly watch for the Holidays list from this point forward. I highly recommend Letters to Satan Claus.

 

© Copyright 2021 John Shatzer