Christmas Bloody Christmas
It’s fun for all the family at the Midland Mall and T W Bonkers with exclusives appearances by the RoboSanta+, repurposed from military technology and reprogrammed to serve and protect the proud duties of festive season, fully articulated, autonomous and equipped with a large vocabulary, “keeping you and your children safe from degenerate mall Santas.”
For those in retail, Christmas is just work, record store owner Tori and till jockey Robbie looking forward to closing time so they can head over to T W Bonkers to hang with their friends Jay and Lahna and continue drinking through Christmas Eve, no kids meaning none of them are required to get up early the next morning… if they make it through the night.
Christmas Bloody Christmas the fifth film from writer/director Joe Begos, it continues his riotous violation through the hallowed halls of cinematic art, redecorating with a flamethrower as he goes, as having tackled alien abductions, deadly telekinesis, hallucinogenic drugs and street warfare he now asks the question, “what would happen if the Terminator showed up in a Christmas movie?”
Starring Riley Dandy and Sam Delich as Tori and Robbie, the supporting cast is filled out with many of Begos’ regular band of reprobates including Dora Madison, Jeremy Gardner, Graham Skipper and Josh Ethier while The Munsters‘ Jeff Daniel Phillips appears as Sheriff Monroe, incredulous and out of his depth, Mystery Science Theatre 3000‘s Jonah Ray is Jay and Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s Abraham Benrubi is the unstoppable rampaging RoboSanta+.
Opening with a montage of fake commercials which indicate the tone of what is to follow, the opening act of this revisionist nativity is frustratingly slow as Tori moves through town and interacts with acquaintances filled more with whisky than festive spirit, the dialogue frequently unintelligible but largely inconsequential as they discuss iconic bands and movies, but once the RoboSanta+ inevitably goes rogue the film reorients itself and never looks back.
In some ways looser than Begos’ previous films, Christmas Bloody Christmas is less about plot than absolute mayhem and destruction, a ballistic trajectory of smalltown carnage which believes that the true meaning of Christmas is dismemberment, blood and explosions, far from sophisticated entertainment but a refreshing alternative to the cookie cutter seasonal offerings of the Hallmark Channel.
Christmas Bloody Christmas will be available on Shudder from Friday 9th December
