Five film in, and I feel like I can recognize Joe Begos film from a mile away. That isn’t something you can usually say about an indie director, even one making their mark in the genre space, combined with the fact that the bones of a lot of his aesthetic trademarks are coming off the heels of the 80s nostalgia wave that has swept the entertainment industry for the what seems like a decade now. But even with those similarities, Begos has carved a compelling niche for himself among genre aficionados, especially after his previous two films, Bliss and VFW.
His latest film is Christmas Bloody Christmas, a sort of Silent Night, Deadly Night meets The Terminator (maybe a little bit of Hardware thrown in there), if we’re going pure elevator pitch. It’s about as straightforward as a slasher can be. We have our lead, the foul-mouthed and very opinionated record and video store owner, Tori (Riley Dandy), who just wants to get drunk and have a good time on Christmas Eve. But the fun between her and her employee/potential hookup, Robbie (Sam Delich), gets interrupted when a robotic Santa (Abraham Benrubi) meant for decorative purposes (after being repurposed from an abandoned Department of Defense project…I know, just go with it) suddenly becomes sentient, and goes on a killing rampage.
And that’s the movie, that’s all you need to know. You got a killer robot Santa going around just completely annihilating people, crushing heads, shopping limbs, doing all sorts of nasty business. Tori and Robbie get caught up in the middle of all the mayhem, finding friends and policemen dying around them as the Santa keeps his ruthless rampage going into the night. Bodies just keep piling up, and Tori comes to realize that if something has to be done, she may need to take things into her own hands.
Begos has a compelling visual aesthetic, with his grainy 16mm cinematography, hazy ambiance, high saturated colors, and what often seems like utilizing neon lights as the only light source. With this and his last couple films, the creative impulses have only heightened, and they give the film a really unique vibe from a lot of the other neon drenched genre fare we’ve been seeing in recent years. Begos embraces a grungy vibe that adds a feeling of danger and grittiness – while also using the darkness cleverly to hide effects that would otherwise look a bit hokey with bright lighting, but looks satisfyingly gnarly with the color grading and neon lights.
That’s pretty much all there is to say about Christmas Bloody Christmas. It’s not a very demanding movie or a particularly complex one. It is an unabashed slasher movie that is only concerned with keeping things violent and gruesome and engaging to watch, and on those terms, it very much succeeds. I think VFW is still Joe Begos’ best work to date, but this is an admirable and entertaining effort that fits neatly into his filmography. The performances are solid, considering most of the folks involved are just waiting to be corpses. Dandy is a great lead who brings a lot of personality to her performance, being a very different kind of final girl than we usually see. It’s easy to become involved with, especially since we’re dealing with a killer that is as relentless as the robot, which Benrubi does a great job at portraying. It’s a good time, probably more so to horror fans who want something a little extra bloody as we get into the holiday season.
Christmas Bloody Christmas is now out in select theaters, VOD platforms, and streaming on Shudder.