Secret Santa review: Christmas dinner takes a deadly turn in this tale of a family gone feral.
Secret Santa review by Andrew Gaudion.
Secret Santa Review
From the director of Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (but not really all that final), comes this seasonal horror that takes its aim at the most beloved of the family holidays. In doing so, no offensive stone is left unturned in a film that figures that if everyone gets offended then surely no one can actually take offense?
The film follows the Pope family all getting together for the holiday’s. For daughter April (A Leslie Kies), she sees this Christmas as a chance to repair her somewhat broken family. But, someone else in the Pope family has other plans, ones which led some members in a brutally honest and murderous rage.
It is not hard to see the appeal behind the concept behind Secret Santa. There is undoubtedly a decent satire come slasher pic to be made from the simmering tensions that often exist between families who gather for the holiday’s. Attempts to not address bubbling concerns can often become too much, leading to heated arguments. Well, Secret Santa certainly goes full throttle with this idea, leading to extreme moments of violence between the Popes. Which could make for a decent holiday horror. If only the wrapping wasn’t so awful.
There is no denying that Secret Santa pushes its concept to extreme levels, but the means in which does so are not at all that enjoyable to watch. It delves into all kind of bad taste territories, from incest to homophobia, perversion and transphobia. While it isn’t necessarily guilty of any of those behaviours, it certainly doesn’t condemn them (this is a film that woman can only fight a man because she used to be one herself). It leads to moments which are just displeasing to sit through, proving to be dissatisfying even on a genre level.
Quite honestly though, what is more frustrating is the fact that the film is pretty shoddily put together. Often the sound within the Pope household is echoey and in desperate need of an ADR session. The editing is frantic to the point of incoherence, which does add to the explosive extremes when the madness ensues, but is pretty much indefensible elsewhere in the film.
Secret Santa Review
The cast are something of a mixed stocking as well, with many of the performers struggling with what is laughably bad dialogue throughout. Kies is a endearing enough lead, and Drew Lynch also puts across a charming performance. The less said about everyone else, the better.
Secret Santa ends up being a very unpleasant experience, and not just in the way that the film clearly wants it to be. It’s amateurish in a manner which is hard to forgive considering the experience behind the camera, and the manner in which it conducts its dysfunctional family satire often feels smug. It is hardly all that of an original idea, and something similar and infinitely more charming and spooky was given to us only three years ago in the form of Krampus. If you find this film sat waiting for you under the Christmas tree, for the love of God, run.
Secret Santa review by Andrew Gaudion, August 2018.
Secret Santa screened at Arrow Video Frightfest. It is available to own via Signature and Frightfest Presents later this year.
