In 2016’s audacious Australian flick Red Christmas, one family is left wishing they’d spent the holidays anywhere but home, after a deformed killer targets them all for bloody revenge. It’s a slightly silly premise that dares to play it totally straight, as a bizarre-looking guy named Cletus (Sam Campell,) covered head-to-toe in bandages and full-on grim reaper black cloak turns up asking for help at the front door of Diane (Dee Wallace)’s house, just as the family are settling down for Christmas dinner. Director Craig Anderson plonks this outlandish, yet oddly polite character, babbling about having a letter from “my mummy”, right in the middle of a totally normal Christmas day for maximum discomfort and weirdness. Diane, being a total sweetheart, takes pity and invites the guy in, leading to hilarious awkwardness as the family try to be polite, even offering him a (really crappy) present, while oddball Cletus talks about how his cloak “keeps my skin on” and offends everyone by casually mentioning Diane having a secret abortion years ago.
Eventually, it all kicks off, with lashings of cranberry sauce flying about, along with some shocking family revelations. After a moody slow burn of an opening, it all escalates quickly with some ridiculous and entertainingly well-executed kills involving bear traps , blenders and even death by umbrella. A macabre strangulation scene set to a soundtrack of ‘Good King Wenceslas’ is a particularly unsettling, freakily festive delight. For a low-budget horror the effects are satisfyingly gloopy and the film has an invigorating, frantic momentum with the insanity refusing to let up until the dark, grisly end.
It's unclear if Anderson’s film is anti- or pro-abortion in its messaging, but there’s no denying it’s trying to push some buttons. The explanation for who Cletus is and why he’s here is daft as a brush, but the scares are legit and it’s clear this is a film that is not messing about.
Wallace, of E.T. fame, gets the chance to shine as the lead for the first time in years and she’s awesome as the gentle matriarch who transforms into ass-kicking protector when the chips are down. It’s also great to a see a film featuring a character with Down’s Syndrome who is treated so affectionately . Diane’s son Jerry (Gerard Odwyer) is allowed to be a living, breathing, capable person, rather than just being defined by his Down’s. He quotes Shakespeare, cracks great jokes and is really charming, though that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be spared, as anyone is fair game in the eyes of this deranged slayer.
It’s a thrilling, slightly off-kilter film full of ‘Holy Shit!’ shocks that also raises some tough questions with this family receiving a visit from their own hideous Ghost of Christmas Past. It’s perhaps a little obscure, but for fans of good ol’ jump scares, gore and inventive kills, this is highly recommended. I’m left impressed, invigorated and ever so slightly queasy. Good job.
Comments