Treevenge is a 16 minute 2008 creature feature that definitely qualifies as a Christmas film, telling the unsettling and frankly horrific tale of living, breathing sentient Christmas trees unceremoniously ripped from the forest before plotting their revenge against humanity. Directed by Jason Eisener it’s a demented, altogether sick and nasty little gore-fest, depicting our beloved fir trees as poor, abused, uprooted victims of the holiday season, with parallels to the Holocaust.
The idea of living trees might have made for some cutesy kid-friendly fun but this one goes for all-out manic terror. The unfortunate evergreens find themselves uprooted, burned and wood-chipped (screaming all the way), while the fortunate ones are taken away to be sold to families for Christmas.
Of course, the trees decide enough is enough and decide to exact bloody vengeance on the oppressors. It’s dark and brutal with a harrowing climax I don’t see coming. The nastiness is dialed all the way up and, for me, it crosses a line into sickening bad taste. It's a savage film that goes for shock value with violence against children on Christmas morning presented as entertainment.
The short is well made and almost hypnotic in its fast-paced, kinetic visuals, but it’s definitely not for me. It’s just too willfully, proudly sickening. Though it is a brutal reminder that, for humans to enjoy the holidays, other life-forms - be they turkeys, trees or parcel delivery men – all have to suffer.
Weirdly, I watch this just before my daughter has me read her a bedtime story about – yes, really – a Christmas tree that comes to life. Thankfully, the tree in that tale is more mischievous scamp than psychotic shrub, but the coincidence of it does unsettle me. After I calm down, I find myself quite pleased that I’m able to share a little bit of Christmas in the middle of April with my little buddy. That’s the beauty of pre-schoolers – they don’t care what time of year it is and if they feel like a Christmas story, nothing will stop them enjoying it. Why can’t we enjoy some Christmas magic whenever the mood takes us? Fair enough, I’m old enough to know better, but this does make me feel like just a tiny bit less of a weirdo.
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