Holiday Horror: All the Creatures Were Stirring (2018)

All the Creatures Were Stirring is an anthology holiday horror film. The frame story has friends Max and Jenna seeing an avant garde, minimalist play on Christmas Eve. A title card for each segment is presented and a part of it is pantomimed after each one. Overall, the frame story is cute and a little weird. The ending of it (titled And To All a Good Night) seems unfinished, but is definitely creepy and unsettling.

* All the Stockings Were Hung

A corporate Christmas party with white elephant gifts goes horribly wrong. Someone decides to make it his personal Saw where the building is flooded with toxic gas and coworkers have to open presents that could be conventional presents, weapons, or something that exposes a secret. This segment ramps up really fast with the first surprising kill. People's behavior goes south real fast as this sick game continues. The corporate environment is captured well and a few kills are unexpected and well done. It's a fun short for sure, but the bad effects, tenuous logic in choices, and spotty acting held it back.

* Dash Away All

A man is last minute grocery shopping on Christmas Even when he locks his phone and keys in his car. The only people around are three women in a van, so he approaches them for help. This is my favorite segment by far because the concept and execution are the best. There's a little bit of Christmas in the family frustration and shopping aspect and a really interesting creature that is mostly kept hidden. It's hard to talk about this one with spoilers, but it's the most successful and fun of all the segments.

* All Through the House

A curmudgeonly man, who hates his neighbors and their gaudy Christmas decorations, decides to stay home and watch TV on Christmas. It's essentially a modern, short take on A Christmas Carol with a coke-snorting jerk instead of a greedy old man. This segment is pretty forgettable for the most part because it doesn't really do anything to the formula of the story. The rest comes off as silly and weird without much of a payoff.

* Arose Such a Clatter

A distracted driver hits a reindeer and bashes its head in to put it out of its misery, but something witnesses the accident and follows him home. The concept is fun and one of my favorites, but the reality disappoints. It's revealed quickly that the reindeer is Blitzen, so Rudolph watches and seeks revenge. This could have been so fun, but Rudolph is never shown. We only see his red tinted point of view. The budget clearly wasn't there to fully flesh out the unique concept and the acting makes the characters seem like they aren't taking the threat seriously.

* In a Twinkling

Gabby and her friends have a surprise Christmas party at her boyfriend Steve's house. He always spends Christmas alone and they all will soon find out why. This segment would fit in well with The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. There are automaton people who look like their friends, some unknowable beings, and a surprisingly sweet ending. This one has the best acting by far and it's a wonderful segment to end on.

Overall, All the Creatures Were Stirring has a lot of potential and good concepts, but the execution suffers at times. Most of the segments look very low budget and what visual effects looked shoddy. Many segments are supposedly to be dark comedies, but the execution made it fall flat for me. I had high expectations for this, especially with the inclusion of several talented indie horror actors. However, there's something missing in the writing and acting and the budget seemed to limit their ideas.

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins

Holiday Horror: Anna and the Apocalypse (2018)

In Little Haven, Anna and her friends are seniors in high school and poised on embarking their adult lives. As they agonize about the effect they have on the world, what they will do next year, and if their love is returned, zombies take over their town on Christmas. Anna and her friends must hack, slash, sing, and dance their way to the school to rescue their friends and families.

Anna and the Apocalypse is a breath of fresh air in the current state of horror. Most films take themselves deadly serious and it's nice to have a horror comedy that provides gore, some drama, a little bit of sadness, and a lot of humor. Our protagonist Anna is bored with her small town and wants more for her life than what her friends and father want for her. Her friends want everything to stay the same so they hang out and have fun while her dad wants her to immediately go to college and embark on a career. She wants to explore the world and find her place in it before she settles down to adult life. This is met with incredulity and eye rolls from everyone around her. It's a horrible feeling at any age to not be supported by those around you.

The other teens have different goals in mind. John is Anna's best friend and completely in love with her. He has conventional dreams to go to college. Their friends Chris and Lisa are rather wrapped up in each other. Steph is more of an outcast, but wants to truly make a difference in her community while being thwarted by classmates and authority figures at every turn. This varied view of teens feels refreshing. They aren't all bored or consumed by technology or monolithic in any way. Everyone wants something different and wishes others would see and support them. The one outlier is Anna's ex Nick, a bully who spread rumors about Anna. Even his character is fleshed out and sympathetic by the end of the film.

The songs prove to be much better than I expected. In the trailers, the tune and words seemed fairly basic. However, each song shows how a character feels and is fun to listen to. Break Away and Hollywood Ending establish the characters and what makes them tic with relatable themes of fitting in, the unknown of the future, frustration, and dreams. It's That Time of Year is ridiculously laden with double entendres, a more vulgar Santa Baby. Soldier at War is my favorite zombie fighting song with sass and energy. My favorite visually is Turning My Life around because Anna and John obliviously sing this upbeat, inspirational song as zombies destroy their town.  Even seemingly throwaway songs are a delight like Christmas Means Nothing Without You and The Fish Wrap. The former could have been any Christmas song, but it gave a specific flavor at the start of the film. The latter is so silly and punny that I wish it were longer. The songwriting is good on every song even if the production and orchestration aren't the best. The use of non-autotuned voices is not only refreshing, but makes the characters and the film have a sense of realism and vulnerability.

The actual plot is pretty basic with Anna and her friends gathering weapons (the best being the giant candy cane lawn ornament) and saving their friends and family. Tonally, the vast majority of the film is lighthearted and fun, which I love. Some scenes are more comedic like Headmaster Savage's whole character and his songs. He desperately wants to control everyone in the school and becomes hilariously unhinged when zombies attack. When people start dying, it just doesn't have the emotional resonance needed. It seems out of character compared to the rest of it and simply doesn't fit. It's the only real flaw in an otherwise fun, enjoyable film. The ending has a dose of realism that felt more in line with everything else.

I knew Anna and the Apocalypse was my kind of movie just from the trailers. This Christmas zombie romantic comedy musical combines the gore and horror of zombie films, the wonder of Christmas, and the warm fuzzies of a romantic comedy with some surprisingly well written songs. The main characters feel real with their own view of the world and how they fit in it. The film's biggest strength is taking its teen characters seriously and portraying them as varied. I had so much fun watching Anna and the Apocalypse and I'm eager to own it to put into my yearly Christmas viewing rotation.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

Holiday Horror: Body (2015)

Holly and Mel return home for holidays and plan to party at home. Their friend Cali has other plans and convinces the others to go to her rich uncle's house with luxuries galore. They have a fun night playing games and drinking only to discover that the house isn't Cali's uncles. A groundskeeper discovers them and falls down the staircase after a fight with the women. They assume he died, but soon discover that he's only paralyzed. Cali wants to kill him since the harm is done and the others want to save him.

I went into this film no knowledge of what it was about. The women act realistically with foul language, drinking, and teasing each other. They simply want to have a good time. When they go to the mansion, it's everything they wanted. All of it comes crashing down when it's revealed that it isn't Cali's uncle's place, but it's owned by a family she used to tutor. Without knowing it, Holly and Mel are guilty of breaking and entering, enough to spook and panic them.

When the caretaker falls down the stairs, Holly and Mel just want to call an ambulance. Cali is the one pushing to kill him since he saw their faces and she tries everything to convince the others. It calls into question what you as the viewer would do and comments on the more prevalent cynical and selfish nature. Cali is only thinking about her own future and how to get out of the situation scotch free. The others are thinking more about morality and the man's life rather than saving themselves.

Body is an thought provoking thriller that could have been a short film. It struggles to fill just over an hour with such a bare bones plot. The tension could have been amped up if it was shorter and it wouldn't feel so empty. The twists are well done, but the characters are thin. After watching, they blend together because their dialogue together is too light. It's worth a watch, but flawed.

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins

Holiday Horror: Red Christmas (2016)

Diane gathers with her four adult children for Christmas dinner at her house. No one knows that twenty years ago, she had an abortion that happened to be bombed by right wing extremists at the same time. She escaped and the baby somehow survived the operation. The terrorist raised the deformed child and he returns to his family on Christmas day. At first, the family tries to welcome him despite his odd clothes and bad smell, but once he accuses their mom of trying to abort him, they throw him out. He takes offense and starts murdering each member one by one.

Red Christmas is an odd movie that tackles some controversial subject matter with mixed results. Abortion is on the forefront. The prospect that a fetus would survive an abortion and then raised by the terrorist that bombed the clinic is a right winger's wet dream. The fact that a woman endangers her entire family because of a secret abortion years ago pretty squarely puts abortion the evil side of morality, apparently even more so due to the fetus likely having Down Syndrome. She already had a child with Down Syndrome and understandably didn't want to raise another on her own when her husband was deathly ill. Even though Diane believes in her choice and doesn't take anyone's criticism about it, a murderer is still hounding them as a direct result. I don't like media, even over the top, silly media like this, that paints abortion as evil in a time where every inch of bodily autonomy has to be fought for.

The film does have some things going for it. The gore and kills are over the top crazy with head explosions and blood rocketing in all directions. The filmmakers' had enough sense to create a villain with Down Syndrome and also have a conventional character, Diane's son Jerry, with Down syndrome. This makes Cletis, the murderer, a monster because of his actions and not because of his disability. Diane is a kickass woman who fights tooth and nail for her family even though they are all insufferable. One of her daughters is devoutly religious and judgy while the other is the polar opposite, drinking and smoking pot while pregnant. I wasn't sad to see either die.

Red Christmas touches on hot button issues for shock value and not much else. It seems to be on the prolife side of things, which isn't great as I already addressed. If you go in looking for a silly, gory ride and don't read into the story, you will have fun. Other than that, it's a bit of a mess and not even very satisfying as a slasher movie.

My rating: 1.5/5 fishmuffins

Holiday Horror: Follow (2015)

Quinn aspires to be an artist and works as a bartender to support himself and his girlfriend Thana. Both of them are waiting for acceptance to Columbia University. Five days before Christmas, Thana intoduces a gun into their foreplay and asks Quinn to kill himself. He refuses and everything goes black. When he wakes up with the gun in his hand, he discovers Thana dead from a shot to the head, shattering his entire world.

Follow is an impressive indie horror that tells its story in bits and pieces. Small flashback vignettes fill in the gaps to the story and show more of Quinn and Thana. Thana seems to have been obsessed with death shown in her continually asking Quinn cryptic questions and acting strangely. She challenged him to hold his breath underwater for as long as he can and asked him what he would do with her body if he found her dead. These are bizarre questions and hypothetical situations that showed her true state of mind. Quinn largely dismissed them and sometimes humored her.

The reality of the present is bleak as it looks like Quinn killed Thana. He has a choice to make: call emergency services or cover it up somehow. After a reasonably dazed time trying to remember or figure out what happened, Quinn decides to clean it up and act as if it never happened. It would work a lot better if he didn't still have the body lying around. He grows obsessed with her and decides to bathe her body, have dinner with it, and even tries to preserve it. I understand the grief and sadness Quinn is going through, but his choices go from bad to worse to psychotic as his mental state deteriorates. Honestly, the inital situation with the gun should have been shut down right away and his actions started out pretty bizarre. As a result, he gets less relatable as time goes on.

Outside of his grief spiral, various people enter the house and try to see what's going on, including Quinn's co-worker Viv (who has fallen in love with him), his landlord, Thana's twin sister Shay, and a Christmas caroler who sings a carol for $1. Not all of them fare so well. Reality warps with Quinn's psychosis and what we see isn't always what actually happens. The Christmas aspects put cheery holiday trappings right next to this depressing plot. Overall, the film has an uncomfortable air that gets more and more intense. Most of the film takes place in one claustrophobic house. Follow has a unique form with interesting twists, but populated with unrelatable main characters.

My rating: 3.5/5 fishmuffins

Holiday Horror: P2 (2007)

* spoilers *

Angela Bridges is working much later than expected on Christmas Eve and almost everyone else . Her sister and the rest of her family are waiting for her at a party that she's desperate to get to. Her car won't start, so, with armfuls of presents and a Santa costume, she gets help from Thomas, the security guard. When he can't fix her car, she calls for a cab and waits in the lobby. The doors to the lobby won't open when her cab arrives and it leaves without her. She returns to Thomas for help, but she finds chloroform instead. Angela wakes up in a white dress and red lipstick chained to a table all laid out for Christmas dinner with Thomas across from her.

P2 is another mixed bag horror Christmas movie. It starts with businesswoman Angela, completely unappreciated and bossed around despite her ability to anticipate her bosses' needs at almost every turn. She's every person working hard at a job with no recognition and her frustration is palpable when everything starts to go wrong. Her actions are reasonable and thought out from her decision to wait for the security guard to walk with her down to her car to her decision to take a taxi. Unfortunately, her character isn't very fleshed out through the course of the movie. It's revealed that she grew up on a farm, but it's not very relevant since she doesn't do anything to indicate that. It seems to only be there to justify why she is final girl material as if a woman from a privileged background can't do the same.

Thomas starts out as a helpful if odd security guard who tries to help her start her car. He orchestrated the entire situation to spend Christmas with her. He knocks her out, changes her clothes, puts on her makeup, and acts like this is a totally normal situation. While she is panicking and looking for a way out, he is asking her where she is from and trying to get to know her, oblivious to her emotions. Through his ramblings, he has some points of clarity like when he points out that she has no time for herself. Everything else is delusional nonsense that includes some of the most abusive and misogynistic garbage. Gaslighting and guilting are two of his favorite tactics, typical of abusers and manipulators. He thinks he loves her but only seems to truly hate her. Thomas' whole line of thought and how he treats Angela shows exactly how he values women as objects he is entitled to.

Angela and Thomas have many discussions where Angela tries to convince him to let her go and he acts like the situation is normal. She talks about a boyfriend that doesn't exist, an unfortunate but effective tactic against unwanted male attention. This doesn't work since he has been spying on her for a while and knows much about her life. At a recent Christmas party, an older colleague assaulted Angela in an elevator and Thomas tied up that man for her to kill as a present. She had already addressed the situation with the man and is understandably horrified at the prospect. I get that she wanted to save his life, but rationalizing his disgusting behavior and calling him a good family man was gross. Thomas wants Angela to prove she's not a "slut" with the murder and then does it for her since she's such a good person. He tells her to "stop letting these assholes have their way with you," completely missing the fact that he is in fact one of those assholes.

P2 is a decent movie overall, but something is missing. The tension I expected simply wasn't there throughout. The gore effects are impressive. Wes Bentley makes Thomas sound almost reasonable with his delivery. Rachel Nichols' performance and the writing for her character left something to be desired for me especially in the responses and reaction to Thomas' insanity. The fact she had to run around in that white dress the entire movie and how it seems to be a selling point of the film is infuriating. P2 has some interesting ideas, but fails to impress.

My rating: 2.5/5 fishmuffins

Holiday Horror: Christmas Evil (1980)

Harry Stadling is completely obsessed with Christmas. Every inch of his home is covered in Christmas decorations. He dresses in a Santa suit for bed and he plays Santa in his own neighborhood. You'd think that it would just be dressing up and listening to the local children's wishes for Christmas, but it goes much further than that. He has ledgers full of notes about his observations in passing and with binoculars of each child in his neighborhood. This is a literal naughty and nice list made from creepy voyeurism and obsession.

Harry works at a toy factory and others think of him as a bit of a loser. He finally gets a promotion that only further exposes the corruption within the company. The higher ups create a program to donate toys to needy children with company money matching employee donations, but they lied. Only employee donations will go to the kids because the company wants to look good without actually losing profits, rightfully outraging Harry. His reaction is to become Santa (and truly believe it) in a fugue state on Christmas Eve, rewarding good children, punishing bad children, and killing bad adults. He takes a huge amount of toys from his job and delivers them to a hospital for sick children. 

This movie is a mixed bag a movie with odd editing and weird situations. The corruption at his work and in the adults around Harry seems to be enough reason for his mental break. He also has childhood trauma when he witnessed his mother and father (dressed as Santa) caressing each other after he was supposed to be in bed and then he dropped a snowglobe, cutting his hands on the broken glass. This part of film wasn't really needed and only served to show his parents' awkward foreplay scene several times throughout the story. My favorite scene is when Harry gives his neighborhood kids presents causing their parents to realize he's the killer Santa. The children form a shield around him and an angelic blonde girl gives her father's switchblade to Harry. It's a weird scene, but shows his genuine goodwill beneath the psychosis and voyeurism especially compared to every other adult (and some kids) in the movie.

Christmas Evil is a bizarre movie where creepy Harry who thinks he's actually Santa is the most likeable person in the whole thing. His grievances are valid and ones we are still dealing with today. The film has a weird mix of 80's tropes (consumerism and corruption), slasher tropes, and a heartwarming underbelly where hospitals and good children get deserved free toys. This film is surprisingly watchable and entertaining for what I expected to be a slasher dud. Despite the overall weirdness and bizarre ending, I enjoyed this killer Santa story that had much more heart than expected.

My rating: 3.5/5 fishmuffins

Holiday Horror: Jack Frost (1997)

Prolific serial killer Jack Frost killed over thirty people in eleven different states before being apprehended. He was on the way to execution when the police truck collided with a genetic research truck (like that's a thing). The accident and chemicals somehow made him melt and fuse with the snow. Jack Frost terrorizes the city of Snowmonton as a killer snowman, leaving bodies in his wake.

Jack Frost is one of the worst movies I've seen with terrible puppets, the worst fake snow, and the most dismal acting. The movie starts with an awful squeaky voiceover that sounds like an weathered adult trying to imitate a child. Cut to the police truck and the most comically filmed car accident I've ever seen. Somehow fire, chemicals, and a criminal makes him fuse to water which will become snow which becomes a killer snowman...Sure. The killer snowman has mitten hands that can launch deadly icicles and the ability to transform between water and snowman at will.

The fact that this serial killer's name is Jack Frost before anything even happens is both ridiculous and not apparent at the beginning of the movie. It seems like Sam, the sheriff of Snowmonton who took Jack down, has an irrational fear of Jack Frost, the personification of winter. For a town called Snowmonton, there is literally no snow in the town. It's all either ice on the ground and felt cut into vaguely icicle and other snow shapes, which the camera is unfortunately too focused on. The snowmen all seem to be made up of shaving cream and coconut.

The death scenes are predictably ridiculous, awkward, and ignore any sort of logic. Shannon Elizabeth's death in particular made me cringe as Jack mashed her against the shower wall while she was naked. Other deaths were more silly and ridiculous. Speaking of ridiculous, apparently the reason for his transformation is the soul as a chemical and his only weakness is antifreeze, discovered by Sam's son trying to murder him with antifreeze in his breakfast oatmeal. So of course they fill a whole truck bed with antifreeze (even though most of it will uselessly sloosh out onto the floor) to defeat the killer snowman terrorizing their town.

Jack Frost is a movie that you watch with drinking with your friends and shouting things at the screen. The Final Girls Horrorcast had a fantastic livestream with some of their listeners watching the movie. If you're expecting an awful movie, Jack Frost is a lot of fun with ridiculous kills, terrible writing, slapdash sets, and dismal acting.

My rating: 2/5 fishmuffins

Holiday Horror: Better Watch Out (2017)

* spoilers *

It's the Christmas season and 17 year old Ashley is babysitting 12 year old Luke when his parents go out for the evening. He's a bit old for a babysitter, but he sleepwalks and can't be left alone at night. The evening starts out a little bumpy as Luke is pushy and annoying until an intruder enters the house. They throw a brick through a window that says, "u leave u die." Luke and Ashley are cut off from the outside and have to rely on each other to survive this ordeal.

Better Watch Out is one of the best Christmas horror movies I've seen. It starts out with a tried and true formula: a teenage babysitter and her charge are under siege by an intruder. The very beginning of the movie invokes dread with a black car following Ashley as she walks to Luke's house. When she gets to the house, the rich parents are hilariously hateful to each other, Virginia Madsen and Patrick Warburton in tiny but impactful roles. Luke starts off as incredibly annoying as he chugs champagne to impress and awkwardly seduce Ashley, supporting his beginning conversation with his best friend Garrett where they objectify women and talk about how to have sex with them.

The home invasion aspect feels familiar and I start to make mental predictions about what's going to happen, which are all wrong. Ashley and Luke sneak around the house, dodging the masked intruder with a shotgun. Ashley is terrified, but Luke acts like it's another opportunity to prove how manly he is. He seems to be feigning bravery in the face of real danger. The intruder subtly leaves signs that he's watching them like ordering pizza when he knew they wanted to but hadn't don it yet, calling them with a Scream-like question, facing a glowing Santa towards the window when Ashley placed just outside the door, and leaving a knife in the tire of her car where he knew they would see it. Then the identity of the intruder is discovered due to Ashley's attention to detail and the movie takes a significant turn.

The film goes from a home invasion to a hostage situation. Garrett was the invader, but Luke masterminded the entire thing. All of that detail that the intruder designed was his, showing his conniving and intelligent nature. Ashley is tied up, after Luke slaps her and causes her to fall down the stairs, and she tries to logically lay out for them the consequences so they will let her go. Luke enjoys his power over Ashley as he grossly touches her and forces her to play truth or dare. When Ashley's boyfriend and ex-boyfriend arrive (and then die), it's clear that Luke has much more in mind than he has shown. Garrett has no idea Luke would murder someone, but he follows his friend anyway. It's what he's always done.

I was mildly annoyed by Luke at the beginning of the film, but completely infuriated by him after the reveal. Luke is a sociopath with absolutely no regard or empathy for everyone else. He cleverly combines this with his privileged background and the sickly, stunted persona he has built up over the years. In his everyday life, he uses all of this plus charisma to get out of trouble at every turn whether it's getting Garrett out of detention or killing Garrett's gerbil. Whenever anything goes wrong and he loses control, he yells that someone made him do something, mentally absolving him of all blame. Even though he's completely naive, he acts confident that everything he does will turn out fine because it always has. Luke and Garrett talk about sexually assaulting Ashley and then making her forget as if it had never happened. The way we as a society treat young privileged white men and the very different way women are treated is exactly why he thinks and acts like this. 

Ashley, on the other hand, is right about to leave for college. She makes measured, though out decisions at every turn in the film. If it wasn't safe to move, she quietly waited, looking weak and complacent to her captors. When logic doesn't work with Luke, she pits him and Garrett against each other. She knows both well and takes advantage of the secrets she knows about them. When her boyfriend stumbles in (much better in person than what we had heard about him), she isn't sentimental about leaving together. Whoever gets free first gets out of there and brings help. I felt so much anger and frustration for her as well as admiration for how she kept a cool head through the whole thing. Olivia DeJonge, the actresse portraying Ashley, captures reactions very well. Much of the gory violence is off camera and we only get the horror due to other characters' reactions to the event.

Better Watch Out is a refreshing film. It starts off very much like The Babysitter and veers off into its own, much more interesting direction. All of the characters (except Garrett who stays a loser stoner kid) are dynamic and nuanced. Although Luke is an unrealistic version of a child, he still makes human mistakes. This film also puts ridiculous humor right next to tense and uncomfortable scenes that make it border a horror comedy. It's a must watch, especially for Christmas.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

Holiday Horror: Holidays

* Valentine's Day

Maxine, AKA Maxie Pad by horrible bullies, is an introverted girl in love with her swim coach. Said horrible bullies make her life hell by constantly mocking her and even pushing her off the high dive. Maxine gets the last laugh as she exacts her revenge. This segment is a strong beginning for the anthology. It's gorgeous with bright, 80's neon colors and striking imagery including over the top reactions and slow motion reactions. The plot and style bring to mind other horror films like Carrie and The Craft. Maxine barely says anything, but manages to be a very sympathetic character. The ringleader bully could not be more odious, especially when she seems totally oblivious to the mental and emotional torture she inflicts. The gym teacher is frustrating, especially watching as a teacher, when he allows this extreme bullying to go on. The ending is too abrupt, but it's gratifying and gory.

* St. Patrick's Day

In Ireland, a young teacher tries to connect with a contrary red headed child named Grainne. Grainne gives the teacher her deepest wish for a baby, but with a dark twist. The teacher is so ernest and sweet that I don't want anything bad to happen to her. When the type of baby is revealed, it's a bit heavy handed, especially after all the spiral imagery to come before it. I loved the development of the story and the ending. The teacher decides to carry her baby as it is to term despite everyone urging otherwise, which is important as she exercising her bodily autonomy. Although the baby looks ridiculous, she loves it as it is and an enjoyable film. Grainne was amazing because she never said a word, but had very intense looks and a creepy as hell smile.

* Easter

This segment addresses confusion with Jesus and the Easter bunny during Easter. A little girl asks her mother about it and receives a muddle response. Later that night, she catches a horrifying amalgam of these two figures in one: a bunny with a man's body, a crown of thorns, a gash in his side, and stigmata in his hands. The chilling ending brings up some questions about pushing faith onto children and the effects it might have on them. It's another wonderful performance by a child actor and a very creepy segment.

* Mother's Day

A woman terminated nearly 20 pregnancies and gets pregnant every time she has sex. Her doctor suggests she go to a fertility ceremony since modern medicine won't help. The woman decides to go and receives a chilly response since the rest of the women are struggling to conceive. The fertility group women kidnap her and force her to bring her pregnancy to term, keeping her docile with as much drugs as they can safely give her. The forced pregnancy is completely terrifying to me. The situation seems to be developing and then it ends abruptly and oddly. It has a lot in common with the St. Patrick's Day segment and seems odd to be in the same film.

* Father's Day

A young woman receives a tape from her dead father that leads her to find him again. She's elated that he's alive, but so angry at her mother for lying. The tape leads her to places she remembers from her childhood and even hears her younger self on the tape as her father walks the same route. This story keeps you guessing and builds tension right until the end. Unfortunately, the ending isn't as good as the build up and disappoints. Jocelin Donahue's emotional performance elevates the segment.

* Halloween

Shame on Kevin Smith. Halloween is such a cool holiday and it was wasted on this stupid and juvenile story. Cam girls are exploited by their director as he forces them to work on Halloween. The director really lays on the misogynistic comments thick. The women take revenge in a disgusting fashion that doesn't even make sense. The ending implies that they will continue on exploiting other cam girls, making this "empowering" story even more horrible and completely the opposite. I find it sad that his own daughter stars in the short. I will definitely examine future Kevin Smith films more closely if this is how he's going to write.

* Christmas

A pathetic father who waited until the last minute to buy the latest VR gadget for his son;s Christmas gift. The clerk gave the last item to another man, who has a heart attack just as he's getting into the car. Instead of helping the man get his dropped pills, he steals the gadget and goes home to his domineering, cold wife. The VR device shows the father more about himself and some shocking revelations about his wife. Seth Green is always awesome, but this character is such a spineless worm. The ending is very Tales from the Crypt, but is left open ended.

* New Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve, a serial killer finds a date and hopes this one will be different. His date is much more similar to him than he expected. The two major reveals were surprisingly gory. The serial killer is a little too over the top in comparison to his date, especially with his brown colored teeth. While this was kind of a weak one to end on, I enjoyed it.

After every segment, a beautiful card for each holiday is opened before the next one. It was a nice way to tie them all together. Overall, Holidays is pretty uneven and many of the segments had weak endings. Some had some interesting ideas, most notably Easter and Father's Day. I would recommend for a watch, but not enough for a repeated viewing.

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins