[Movie Review] A Christmas Horror Story (2015) ★★★☆☆

Krampus and Santa fighting in A Christmas Horror Story 2015

A Christmas Horror Story unleashes horror fun for the most wonderful time of the year.

A Christmas Horror Story is a supernatural anthology horror movie that evolves around Christmas themes and takes place on Christmas Eve in the same little town somewhere in America. It could be your little town this year where evil elves, ghosts, a psychopath or even the mighty Krampus shows up to wreck havoc on this magical peaceful night. Four stories are all connected in one way or another and one story in particular is the big twist and wraparound of this nightmarish hell. This Christmas horror is well worth a watch for the holiday season.

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Plot

The film starts with a radio DJ Dangerous Dan who has to work that Christmas Eve but doesn’t feel all too happy about it. While drinking whiskey he tells his listeners about a disturbance at the mall.

Meanwhile the real movie is about to start with three friends, Molly, Dylan and Ben who want to make a documentary about a grisly murder exactly a year ago on Christmas Eve at their school . So they break into their school, but they get locked up in the basement and a ghost roams the halls, who’s out to get them.

The second story is about a family, father Scott, mother Kim and son Will who go into the woods to find their own Christas tree. Scott is a police officer who worked the murder case from the first story. But then Will gets lost. When they find him and bring him home, he acts a bit strange.

The third story is about a family with daughter Caprice and son Duncan who have to visit old aunt Edda. Caprice was supposed to go with her friends in the first story. Aunt Edda tels them about the legend of Krampus and when Duncan teases Edda’s caretaker Gerhardt, there might be some truth to the legend.

The fourth story is about Santa himself, who gets to deal with infected elves who act like demonic evil elves. He has to fight them and he even has to take it up with Krampus himself. But there’s a big twist to this story.

Why you should watch it

Every story has something to do with Christmas, some more than others and some are better than others. The story about the ghost and the Christmas tree are indirectly connected to Christmas, but the other stories bring on a full Christmas horror vibe. Most stories have a great twist, but the final story is the very best of the bunch and it can even feel like all the other stories are just preparing you for this brilliant unexpected twist.

The stories all are intertwined through the characters and are all connected to the first story. The grisly murder at Christmas last year is in a way the wraparound. So it’s more clever than at first glance. Especially after watching the last story.

Overall it’s a great horror anthology that is a perfect watch for Christmas and immerses you in the Christmas vibes. It’s dark, it’s snowy, there’s Santa and Krampus. Putting up a tree, telling ghost stories, being joyful and nice, it all brings Christmas to your screen with campy humor and dark tales.

The film is mild on the horror and focuses on the lore of Christmas and the humor. That makes it a fun watch that explodes in the best way in the final part of the film. It’s a fun popcorn movie that definitely delivers at the end.

My favorite part

Maybe the film doesn’t start off the best way and the first stories are not the most appealing ones. But it does get better and better with each story until the last story manages to blow you away with a craftily made twist that was already there right at the beginning, but smartly overlooked and which at the end brings some great chaos. I can’t say much more, because I really don’t want to spoil the ending or any other twists, but the final twist is guaranteed a great one. The last segment is why you should really put this Christmas horror on your watch list for Christmas.

Ratings

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Fun factor: ★★★★☆

Scare factor: ★★☆☆☆

Popcorn factor: ★★★★★

Entertainment factor: ★★★★☆

Cast and crew

A Christmas Horror Story is directed by Grant Harvey, Steven Hoban, Brett Sullivan and written by Jason Filiatrault, James Kee, Sarah Larsen, Doug Taylor, Pascal Trottier. It stars William Shatner (Dangerous Dan), Zoé De Grand Maison (Molly), Dylan (Shannon Kook), Ben (Alex Ozerov), Adrian Holmes (Scott Peters), Kim (Oluniké Adeliyi), Orion John (Will), Amy Forsyth (Caprice), Percy Hynes White (Duncan), Jeff Clark (Taylor), Michelle Nolden (Diane), Corinne Conley (Aunt Edda), Julian Richings (Gerhardt), Rob Archer (Krampus) and George Buza (Santa Claus).

Duration: 99 minutes. Music: Alex Khaskin. Cinematography: Gavin Smith. Edited by: Brett Sullivan, D. Gillian Truster. Produced by: Steven Hoban, Mark Smith. Production company: Copperheart Entertainment, Entertainment One. Distributed by: Image Entertainment, RLJ Entertainment.