Holidays (2016)

Don't let the trailers fool you, this was not a fun movie to watch. I had high hopes for a fun, comedic horror film anthology when I saw Seth Green in the trailer and Kevin Smith was attached, but it was just an incredible disappointment that was difficult to finish. It seemed like in order to include your film in this anthology you had to write the script while high, since they seemed to give off a drug induced vibe. They were written poorly with bad dialogue, stupid stories, and directed like someone who thought they were pretty darn special. The stories were all fairly horrible, with only two that were minimally entertaining being Christmas (the one with Seth Green) and New Years. Kevin Smith's story about Halloween was so disappointing with a stupid story and pretty bad dialogue -- that's why I thought it must have been written high. I really miss the clever dialogue from long ago Kevin Smith. The other directors just seemed like they wanted to be cool and artsy and failed at both. However, it was nice that after each little story, they listed the writer and director so you know who to blame for such crapitude. I would definitely say wait until its free so you can shut it off before its done without feeling guilty for wasting the money.

Fmovies: I went into this with high expectations, and while "Halloween" and "Christmas" (the ones I expected the most from) proved to be disappointments, I found the "Father's Day" segment brilliant, touching and also terrifying. The manner in which the story builds thru the playback of a childhood recording, how she drives out to the middle of nowhere, and the suspense leading to where she was headed, all great elements rounding out a truly unique segment. I found myself on the edge of my seat from the time she started the tape to the very end.

"Easter" was bizarre and interesting and "St. Patty's Day" was pretty unexpected but cool. "St. Patty's Day" felt like classic British horror or something. Very elegant, artistic and suspenseful. The little girl did a fantastic job. "Christmas" suffered from what many shot-in-LA indie productions experience which was the total lack of snow, thus creating a true "Christmas" atmosphere. It was an OK concept, but overall not really scary or exciting. And I feel like the gadget the story focuses on will really date it in 10-15 years and seem silly. And I felt like "Halloween" was a total wasted opportunity. With the "Halloween" setting they could have done so much, but other than it being centered around 3 girls stuck inside on Halloween, you wouldn't know it was set on Halloween. No pumpkins, no trick-r-treaters, no atmosphere what-so-ever. Seemed more like that story could have been molded into any of the "Holidays" and I wish that segment went to someone who really cared to do something cool with it, as that segment alone could have really brought this indie anthology into "classic" territory. "Valentine's Day" was a classic style shocker and "Mother's Day" was pretty creepy, but had a weak ending. I was really hoping for a cool "Independence Day" story or "Thanksgiving", but maybe it was for the best since there was really only a couple standout segments. Overall, well worth the watch, even if a handful of the stories are throwaway. I'd compare it to "ABCs of Death", with about the same ratio of good stories.

'Holidays' opens up with the Valentine's Day sequence, that gives almost immediate odes to De Palma with it's high school-heartbreak atmosphere. To make a short story shorter, the plot revolves around a misunderstood and exiled young girl would happens to have a crush on the school's swimming coach. After getting word that he may have eyes for her fair-haired nemesis, she retaliates through violence. This one does border on creepy as the feelings between Maxi ("Maxi Pad") and her teacher are somewhat mutual. But life is like a box of chocolate.. or hearts. By the time you see the credits, the tone does seem comfortably familiar. From the director of Starry Eyes. (5/10)

The next segment surrounds Irish myth & folklore on St.. Patrick's Day. While I do have a clover tattoo and I love the color green, this was not one of my favorites. Plot follows an elementary school teachers who has just received a reserved new student. Ginger-hair, freckled and somewhat adorable, the young girl does not seem to integrate well and quickly upsizes the teacher with rude dismissals and eery glares. We are soon given hint that the teacher longs for a child and eventually becomes pregnant after a night out drinking. The young girl becomes eerily fond of the teacher as if she knows something she doesn't know. They reference Polanski in this one, but it's no demon she's carrying, something a lot more scaly. This one was brought to us by Gary Shore, director of Wicker Man. (5.5/10)

Easter is never really looked upon with much horror, much like the preceding holiday St. Patty's. However, director Nicholas McCarthy ("At The Devil's Door") manages to hint at a surreal dimension filled with unseen terrors that leaves you thirsting for more. The Easter installment opens up with a young girl being put to bed by her mother. They have a somewhat intense and offbeat dialogue about the iconic Easter Bunny and how no child has ever seen him, or should. The same young girl happens out of her bed that night and stumbles upon something only seen in nightmares. Kudos to the FX team and any behind the visual the bunny, an image that'll stick with you for sure. Peter Cottontail meets Pan's Labyrinth. (8/10)

Mother's Day...... a lot can and will be said about this one for sure. This sequence put me to sleep and woke me in the same damn sittnig, stressful. The overall downside to a lot of the shorts is they feel just too short. This is not the case here, in this indie desert horror from "Midnight Swim" directer Sarah Adina Smith. The concept is basically a young girl becomes pregnant every single time she has sex. She feels she is medically ailed or cursed. After seeing doctor after doctor, she is referred to a retreat house in the desert somewhere. This place is filled more with woman who are having opposite issues with fertility and she again, feels slighted. Somewhere in this drawn out entry, I dozed off and came to in time for an OUTRAGEOUS finale. It woke me up, revitalized me enough to rewind and rewatch. All I can say is geeeeeeeeeeez. And what was that in the sky? A devil? An angel? (6/10)

Like in real life, Mother's Day is followed by Father's Day; without a doubt the most gripping entry in the production. They must have strategically placed it after the previous snooze fest, besides that ending of course, to regain viewers attention. I immediately appreciated the dark, deep tone of the setting. We are introduced to a young woman who

Holidays fmovies. So it isn't that easy to make an Anthology after all. That's one of the "positive" things you can take from watching this. If you're mean you could even argue that SyFy has done better feature length movies than most of the shorts being on display here. One thing is for certain: there is not much to cherish to be found here.

And it's a shame, because it did sound cool. Kevin Smith alone doing a short sounds great. But then again, I guess even he was either too busy with other stuff or somehow else occupied. Maybe something else happened, you never know, except you do know where the short stories are going. And almost none of them actually can create a mood, a tension, a story or anything else substantial to hold the viewers attention. There are some neat effects (the Easter Bunny story comes to mind) and occasionally a bit of quality that seems to shine through a story. But in the end, it's more like "whatever" and "why did I watch this again?" feelings that overwhelmingly win and leave you befuddled

Holidays does a few things right, and a lot of things wrong, and because of this, Holidays becomes a one time viewing. I don't ever see myself revisiting this flick intentionally.

Let me start off by talking about some of my favorite parts. Easter was a creepy highlight. But it didn't flesh anything out enough to make you care about it. This is a problem that almost all the parts have.

Christmas was my favorite part but it might just be my Seth Green bias. The ending wasn't as predictable as New Years, Valentine's Day, and Halloween.

Halloween was... stupid. And sadly, after Xmas, Easter, and New Years this might be my fourth favorite. You could tell it was Kevin Smith directing it. That doesn't help in my opinion.

New Years was actually a lot of fun, with 2 awkward characters. You could see the twist coming a mile away but that didn't stop me from enjoying it.

Valentine's, St Paddy's Day, Mother's and Father's Day all were lacking severely with the worst of them being Mother's Day. The ending was just abrupt and confusing. Father's Day had a lot of good build up to an awful ending. Valentine's Day really reminded of something out of Creepshow. Again it was predictable and the characters were way too over the top and just not believable in the slightest.

St. Paddy's Day had a lot of potential as it had a little girl who was seriously creepy. The ending was just bizarre and the whole build up was a "WTF" moment. It went from Day 12 to Day 366 in an instant.

All in all this was not a good anthology movie, nowhere near Creepshow or Trick r' Treat quality.

I've given it 1 because I can't give it 0. A woman giving birth to a snake and a Cross between Jesus and the Easter Bunny. Yes really! It just feels cheap and pointless. It's not even stories, it's scenes. Nothing is ever explained or finished. Everything is just pointless!!! Thank the lord this isn't something I bought!!!