Don't Open Till Christmas

Director - Edmund Purdom (Pieces)
Starring - Edmund Purdom, Alan Lake (The Black Stuff), and Belinda Mayne (Doctor Who)
Release Date - 1984
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "The gift of terror that just won't wait," "Fourteen unforgettable kills, the ultimate festive slasher," and "...twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature stirring...they were all dead"
Format - Streaming (Youtube)

Rating (out of 5):

     As all of you know we are in the middle of December and this month's theme is Christmas.  Being the huge horror junkie I am I was wanting to watch some Christmas themed horror flicks.  Sometime last year I caught wind that an 80's holiday slasher was being released called Don't Open Till Christmas.  I thought nothing of it and let the release pass me by.  Big fucking mistake on my part.  As summer was winding down I wanted to order this flick so I could have it come Christmas.  That was a no go.  Amazon.com does not have any copy of the DVD available and the VHS was around $50.  To me, that price for a VHS is absurd so I decided to wait.  A few weeks ago I decided to give it another shot and had the same results.  Pissed that I didn't order it when it was released, I search Netflix and Youtube so I could give it a watch and found it on Youtube.  Before I watched it I decided to look up a few things because it is a bit of an obscure slasher.  Similar to To All A Goodnight, this movie was the directorial debut of another horror actor, Edmund Purdom, who gained some momentum among horror fans for his role in Pieces.  However, he was removed from the director's chair before the film was finished and replaced by the producer.  There is three different versions of this film floating around.  Each one has scenes edited into different parts of the film.  Two versions of the film are edited in a way that makes the film seem as if it has two stories going at once.  However, the third version was edited to make the story flow smoother with the change of directors.  Unfortunately, the latter version is impossible to find.  From what I could tell the version I found on Youtube is the popular version found on most VHS copies, as well as, the DVD that was released sometime last year.  

     London is in turmoil as men dressed as Santa are being brutally murdered.  A young girl's father was one of the many killed and the police suspect her boyfriend is behind the murders.  Her boyfriend is a flute player that plays on the street for change and they suspect him because she will inherit her father's wealth.  As the police tail her boyfriend other Santas are still turning up dead.  Inspector Harris (Purdom) agrees to hunt down the holiday killer, however, a reporter named Giles has been giving another inspector information to help him be promoted.  As Inspector Harris is slowly taken from the case, the young girl has been doing a littler research of her own and discovered that Giles is actually Inspector Harris' brother.  Giles was committed to an insane asylum and Harris changed his name because he was ashamed of having an insane brother.  After discovering this, Giles arrives at the young girls apartment and kills her.  Due to the police tailing her boyfriend they now know that he is not responsible for the murders.  Inspector Harris is now following any lead he has and follows up with a nude dancer that witnessed one of the Santa murders.  Giles knows she spoke to the police and abducts her.  He tells her that he was giving her the gift of living for a few extra hours and chains her up in a small room.  When he un-cuffs her so she can eat, she hits him in the head with a board and then a chain before making a run for it.  However, she does not get too far before Giles catches her.  After a struggle, Giles falls to his death.  

      This is one of those slasher films, that after watching the opening scene, you get the feeling that your in for a shitty ride.  However, that is not the case.  This movie is a great holiday slasher that does not disappoint.  The acting is very good and that makes the movie very easy to follow.  Most of the cast had some acting experience before in major television and films.  The story is also very good with what seems like two different stories playing out at once.  I liked that aspect of the film.  It added dimension to what would be a typical slasher film.  Now as for the special effects and deaths, they are both hit or miss with me.  The special effects are what you would expect from your typical 80's slasher with some fake blood smeared on someone and the generic stabbings.  However, there is a scene where a guy gets his dick cut off by a straight razor, which is something different.  Some of the deaths made me laugh at how goofy they were.  Some of the people were stabbed in the belly and they died instantly.  I laughed at this the first few times but after the bodies started piling up it got old real quick.  The editing in this version was choppy and I can see what people complain about when they talk about this movie.  Where the film started with one director and ended with another did take away from the overall film but not enough to ruin it.  Finally, this movie does a great job keeping with the holiday spirit.  During the entire run of the film I never once lost that "I'm watching a Christmas movie" feeling.  Overall, this is a great slasher film that needs to be watched during your holiday season