Deathcember OK
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again---I love horror
films and anthology films and Christmas films, so I had to see this new one
that is all three. This isn’t A Christmas Horror Story anthology
though, this is an ABCs of Death
anthology. You are aware of Advent calendars,
no? If not, they consist of little doors
to be opened every day from December 1st through Christmas and
traditionally contain chocolates in them.
This anthology film takes the approach of such a calendar and contains
24 stories totaling almost 2 ½ hours, meaning each one is roughly 5 or 6
minutes (give or take; I didn’t keep track of how long each one was), plus
there are 2 extra tales during the end credits (hint---don’t turn it off when
the credits start). Oh, and there’s just
as many segments with subtitles as ones without since filmmakers from all over
the world contributed, just to let you know.
Now, as much as I love short stories, both written and visual, I still
like them to be long enough in order for me to be engaged, and these brief vignettes,
much like the latter aforementioned anthology film, don’t allow me to do
that. I was still interested in what
kind of stories were going to be told in such scant time though. I think I only counted three segments I
hated, many of them were just okay (“Life is too short to see movies that are
just okay,” as Roger Ebert once said, and, yes, that applies to short films
too), even one helmed by Ruggero Deodato (Cannibal
Holocaust) wasn’t that great, and another one helmed by Lucky McKee (May) ended too soon (yes, even for a
brief anthology segment); one was a rather unsuccessful homage to Reservoir Dogs. A few that stood out are ones that involved
dolls (“Santa Is Coming”), a killer reindeer (“They Used to Laugh and Call Him
Names”), girls killing Santa (“Kill Santa”), a giallo-influenced slasher (“Five
Deaths in Blood Red”), “Santa” granting a kid’s wishes (“Milk and Cookies”),
and a guy that is “Getting Away from It All.”
I wasn’t the biggest fan of this film in the general sense, but if
you’re a fan of horror films and anthology films and Christmas films, there
might be something you like in this collection.
12/4/2020
---Sean O.
12/6/2020
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