It doesn't matter whether you've been naughty or nice, because
A Christmas Horror Story is one holiday-themed
Anthology that will give you both presents and coal at the same time.
Ever since the success of
Trick 'r Treat,
Horror filmmakers have been trying their damnedest to come up with their own equally compelling
Horror Anthologies, most of which haven't even come close to measuring up to the lofty bar set by
Mike Dougherty's modern day classic. Quality
Anthologies just aren't that easy to pull off, and neither are
Christmas-themed
Horror movies. For every
Black Christmas, we get a
Santa Claws or
Santa's Slay to put up with.
A Christmas Horror Story is stuck somewhere in between those extremes.
It's interesting to us that the creator of the superb
Horror Anthology,
Trick 'r Treat, will be releasing his own full-length
Krampus movies in theaters this
December. Somehow, we think he'll end up getting it just right.
A Christmas Horror Story is broken down into three main storylines
which are told concurrently, and accented by a wraparound involving a pending battle between
Santa Claus and Krampus. They're also all kind of related to each other, but not to the extent that it alters the plot.
Story 1- Three teens sneak into their school on
Christmas Eve to do
some investigative reporting on the grisly murders that happened there a year prior. Now, why they would do that is beyond me, because they cant show anyone the footage, as they're not supposed to be there to begin with, but I digress. They sneak into the locked basement where the murders happen, and begin to search around for clues or whatever, and end up getting locked in.... but not alone! This chapter started off strong enough, but by the end, it kind of felt like a typical episode of
Goosebumps or something similar.
 |
| HE'S NOT EVEN BEING SUBTLE ABOUT BREAKING THE 4TH WALL, IS HE? |
Story 2- On a trip to visit their rich aunt, a family of four unwittingly unleashed the vengeful evil of
Krampus, who decides that they all need to die. Being that the entire family are complete assholes (save the daughter, who looked like she was embarrassed to be related to any of them), we're siding with
Krampus on this one. This is probably the strongest of the three main stories.
 |
| SHE REALLY HATES HER FAMILY. |
Story 3- The weakest story of the lot involves a
Cop who takes his family out into the country to get themselves a
Christmas Tree. Of course he illegally trespasses on someones land and steals the tree, which kinda makes him a corrupt
Cop, but that's neither here nor there. While stealing the tree, their young son disappears, and when he returns he's not exactly who he seems to be... which basically means death for them all. This one was alright, but it just felt kind of flat throughout.
 |
| JUST LEAVE HIS ASS IN THE WOODS. |
The Wraparound- The wrap is probably the coolest part of the movie. It involves
Santa Claus getting ready to deliver his toys on
Christmas Eve, when all of his
Elves start turning into bloodthirsty zombies, which forces old
Saint Nick to dispatch them in a myriad of bloody ways. When he finds out that its
Krampus who is behind the mischief, the stage is set for a battle for the ages... and a really cool ending.
 |
| ZOMBIE ELF. |
A Christmas Horror Story is an anthology that plays and feels like a
Tales From the Crypt movie; it's funny in parts; the stories are all enjoyable, even if they're also predictable; and the ending has a fun little twist that feels wicked in a campy sort of way. It's also got its own version of the
Crypt Keeper, in
Dangerous Dan; the drunk radio
DJ played perfectly by
Williams Shatner, who provides much of the movies levity. We really loved the bits with
William Shatner, and we honestly can't believe that he's in his mid-
80's. The guy is pretty damn spry for being that old, and he honestly doesn't look a day over
60.
We also really liked the twist at the end, which we thought was pretty damn clever.
 |
| LIVE LONG AND PROSPER, WILLIAM SHATNER. |
On the negative side of things, this is a pedestrian, average effort for the most part. Now that's not necessarily a bad thing, as plenty of average
Horror flicks end up being enjoyable, but this one just felt really generic at times. It was like they could have made it into something great, but just didn't have the tools to do so. As is usually the case, stronger writing would have helped.
Had the movie played out in true
Anthology form -as in showing each story unfold, one at a time, while being accented by the wraparound- we think it would have resonated better with us. Going back and forth and back and forth between three separate stories and a wrap-around not only felt clumsy, but it lessened the impact of those stories.
We're also not sure why they didn't release this one closer to
Christmas rather than
Halloween, as it has a great wintry, yuletide vibe going for it throughout.
 |
| SANTA AIN'T HAVING IT. |
A Christmas Horror Story is a
Horror Anthology that provides a decent amount of entertainment, despite its bland flaws. It would probably be better to watch this one a bit closer to
Christmas, for obvious reasons, but if you feel compelled to make it a part of your
October Horror Repertoire, then it's probably worth giving it a rent.
It's not bad, but it's not great either.
C
A Christmas Horror Story is available now on
VOD.
The ladies of
A Christmas Horror Story.
I share the same opinion about this anthology. that not wow, the stories aren't originals.if u want to watch something new with Christmas theme, u can watch this anthology 1 time.No need to spend 30$ for the bluray . I hope krampus 2015 will be better then krampus 2013. we just have to wait 12 days before tales of Halloween. no None comments on the web are bad .
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