Red Christmas (2016)

A mother (Dee Wallace) must protect her family on Christmas Day from a demented stranger (Sam Campbell) who is hell-bent on tearing them apart after being rejected.

The 2016 Fantasia International Film Festival shattered my expectations, and not always in a good way. Two of the best surprises were Geoff Redknap's "The Unseen" and the conspiracy-themed "Man Underground". But then we had the proverbial stinkers. Takashi Miike added a dud to hid otherwise illustrious career with "Terraformars". And then there is "Red Christmas", a modern slasher.

First of all, I am a big fan of Christmas-themed horror films. Not all are winners ("Silent Night, Deadly Night II") but almost all are at least entertaining. And "Red Christmas" has Dee Wallace both starring and producing, which is a good thing – she has been a genre icon for over three decades thanks to "E.T.", "Cujo" and "The Hills Have Eyes", among others. But somehow these two strengths just do not carry the picture.

And then there are secondary considerations. I also love most slasher films, and you have to appreciate the design that went into Cletus. He is certainly one of the more refreshing masked killers we have seen in years, with no comparison in recent memory. And the idea of having an abortion clinic theme was very wise, as it makes you realize how much this is an untapped area for horror. There was John Carpenter's lackluster "Pro-Life" (2006), but no other horror movie touching on this taboo topic comes to mind. So these were some of the few strong points.

But the shortcomings just far outweigh the positives that everyone brought to the table. The dialogue seemed poorly scripted and delivered, while the pregnant woman looked like she was literally holding up a beach ball under her dress. Every character makes poor decisions; and while poor decisions are common in slasher films, these may be among the worst. The lighting – what is up with the neon lighting? I presume it is supposed to be Christmas lights, but it does not look like them (and how are they working if the power is out?). And let us not get started on the stereotypical, one-dimensional closeted Christian pastor.

One of the biggest downfalls is actually making the film a Christmas story. There is a bit of Christmas-related plot (the giving of gifts), but this is rather irrelevant to the story at large. Cletus could have shown up on any day of the year and it would have been just as well. The setting of Australia also seems wrong for Christmas, because an important part of Christmas horror is snow. I suppose this criticism might be unfair to Australians because it more or less suggests they cannot make Christmas horror filmsÂ… but I think my point is really that if you are going for a Christmas theme, really make it somehow recognizable (hint: snow) or important to the plot. Instead, it seems like this was just pandering, trying to capitalize on a title that is similar to "Black Christmas"Â… and this film is not even as good as the "Black Christmas" remake, which is saying something.

I may be coming down unusually hard on the film. After all, "Red Christmas" is better than many of the low-budget horror films that flood the market these days. And I have to give them credit for the practical effects; some are rough, but I'd rather see a bad practical effect than bad CGI. What really disappointed me, to be honest, was how this

Fmovies: Fantasia 2016: 'RED Christmas': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

Another entry in this year's 'Fantasia International Film Festival', is this Australian slasher flick; written and directed by actor, and TV director, turned first time feature filmmaker Craig Anderson. It stars veteran scream queen Dee Wallace; as a mother, protecting her family from a deranged home intruder (on Christmas day). The movie costars Sarah Bishop, Janis McGavin, Gerard Odwyer, Sam Campbell, Geoff Morrell, David Collins, Bjorn Stewart and Deelia Meriel. The film is pretty dark, and twisted, but it's also a lot of fun; if you enjoy this type of movie.

The story is set on Christmas day; when Diane (Wallace) has gathered all of her offspring together, to celebrate the holiday. Some tense drama erupts, immediately between her daughters, but that changes when a creepy cloaked stranger (Campbell) knocks on the door. Diane invites him in, to be hospitable, but she soon realizes she doesn't want him there; when the stranger brings up past heartbreaking trauma. The family kicks the unwanted guest out, which they quickly realize was a mistake, when family members begin showing up dead (one by one).

The movie is frightening, and quite disturbing (in many different ways); it begins with an Abortion Clinic bombing, and never lets up from there. The directing is very stylistic (in a classic 80s slasher flick way), and the story is surprisingly involving. All of the characters are really well developed, and the performances are equally as impressive. Dee Wallace is especially amazing, in the lead role. I was really impressed by how much I enjoyed this movie! If you're a horror film fan, you'll probably love it.

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Don't be fooled by some positive reviews. They are clearly written by people that were involved in this movie. The only reason I watched this movie is that it was christmas and that I felt like watching a horror movie instead of the usual boring christmas movies. Now the so called boring christmas movies all look like award winning movies after watching this garbage. It's not even a good slasher for people who like that genre. The acting is below average if not to say sometimes very bad. The story, I didn't expect much of it honestly being it a slasher, is even worse than I thought it would be. The story-line is so boring and badly written it makes you cringe. There is only one advice that I can give you and that is avoid at all cost!

Red Christmas fmovies. Arriving for a family holiday, a group of people in a remote mansion for a get-together find themselves stalked by a homicidal madman intent on punishing them for their beliefs against abortion and must fight to save their Christmas from the deluded psychopath.

This was a solid if slightly flawed effort. One of the better aspects here is the film's rather strong and enjoyable concept of the holidays where this one finds plenty to like here. Taking place in Australia instead of out in the countryside has plenty of somewhat familiar celebrations to focus on, from the way the food preparations are given to the way the house holds up under the decorations and lights which manages to really let the holiday flavor really sink in here. That also helps with the later slashing antics here, with the film featuring some solid scenes here with the opening ambush on the hospital carrying out the service which allows for a more action-oriented start, the initial appearance on the house which manages to feature some rather decent stalking with the killer moving through the various areas of the house which makes for some tense confrontations out in the backyard or through the kitchen. Once it gets to the killer chopping through the family members this one gets incredibly fast and frantic with plenty of nice scenes featuring the family continually trying to avoid his advances as the brawling throughout the house and outside generates the kind of solid action that makes for a solid and enjoyable time here as well as letting the excessively brutal and graphic kills generate some solid enjoyment here. These here manage to hold this one up over it's few but somewhat significant flaws on display. The main disadvantage is the fact that the film has way too many connections to the abortion theme which is incredibly hackneyed and doesn't really generate the impact it could've. The fact that this one ties that into the reasoning and motivation make no sense as the people said to have that condition are far and away completely different from that mindset and wouldn't have any kind of impetus to go on this rampage as that gives this the kind of cheesy feel that goes against the important message it's trying to make with that storyline. Not only that, but the killer himself is a joke with his hobbled and bent-over appearance not in the slightest invoking any kind of fear due to the fragile nature of his physical form, and that large number gathered together with weapons would have no problem ganging up to overpower and subdue him, especially in his physical state which doesn't in the slightest look capable of inflicting that type of intense trauma on people. The last issue is the rather awkward finale that goes on way too long and seems like it lasts too long to get it up to a respectable length, rather than flowing naturally. These here are all that really hold it back.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, a mild sex scene and themes of abortion.

When I read the synopsis for this movie and saw that Dee Wallace was in it, I did decide to give it a go, because the movie had the potential of actually being a fun movie.

As it turned out, then "Red Christmas" has a very poorly written storyline, and was equally poorly executed on the screen. The storyline was so generic and predictable that it was insulting to the audience.

The cast were doing good jobs with whatever little material they had to work with, and as expected it was Dee Wallace that carried the movie most of the way.

"Red Christmas" had adequate special effects, although it made no sense that a woman could be chopped in two by a single blow with an axe.

The characters were generic and one-dimensional, and you didn't really connect with any of them.

This was hardly a memorable movie in any way, and it doesn't have the contents to support more than just a single viewing. All in all, don't really bother with this movie unless you have nothing better to watch or if you are a die-hard fan of anyone on the cast list.

Red Christmas features a memorable character in the form of Cletus: rescued as a fetus from an abortion bin and raised to adulthood by a pro-life priest, he hides his deformed appearance under bandages and a big cloak, and goes in search of his mother, Diane (Dee Wallace), looking for some maternal love. But when mom rejects him (again), he picks up an axe and takes revenge by hacking his way through her dysfunctional family.

Like the elephant man, only uglier, Cletus is a sympathetic character driven to kill when all he wants is a motherly hug and some loving words; this makes him a rather unique movie maniac, but one deserving of a much better film. Writer/director Craig Anderson might have created an impressive killer, but he doesn't do the slobbering freak justice, his film suffering from a weak script and dreadful dialogue, crappy acting, horrible lighting (unnatural green, red and blue colours) and duff direction. Dee Wallace used to be a Hollywood A-lister, and it's a real shame to see her appearing in such rubbish, but she's only got herself to blame: she is the producer of the film, after all.

As for the whole Christmas setting, it is purely incidental, having no real bearing on the plot: Cletus could have turned up on Shrove Tuesday and it wouldn't have made much difference (except that the title wouldn't work so well and Anderson's garish lighting scheme would feel even more out of place).

3.5/10, rounded up to 4 for the scene where a guy has his head pushed onto some kind of spinning device (it was hard to make out exactly what it was) and his eyeballs turn to mush and burst out of the sockets.