Red Christmas

Director - Steve Rudzinski (Super Task Force One, The Slasher Hunter)
Starring - Seth Gontkovic (Everyone Must Die, Demon Tongue), Amie Wrenn, Shawn Shelpman (The Slasher Hunter, The Other Side)
Release Date - 2014
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "She will make you shout, she will make you cry"
Format - Streaming (online screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I fucking love Christmas.  I honestly do.  I love everything about the holiday.  I love the food, the decorations, buying presents for my friends and family, and spending time with those I love.  However, I hate how there is just not enough Christmas oriented horror flicks for the avid horror fan to watch during this amazing time of year.  We do have some Christmas slashers and creature flicks but most are horrible.  That brings me to director Steve Rudzinski.  Steve is the man behind two of my favorite indie flicks, Super Task Force One and Captain Z.  He reached out to me to review his newest film Red Christmas.  He told me it was a found footage film and he went outside his comfort zone to make it.  This made me need to see it and I thank Steve for sending me the link to see it!
     The film follows a female serial killer named Tara (Wrenn) who kills a few men every year around Christmas.  This year she decided to document her horrific exploits in case she is ever arrested by the police.  This year she ventures to the local mall where she picks up men to bring back to her place so she can tie them up and torture them before killing them.  She has studied the patterns of male serial killers and kills in a way they would so no one would suspect it to be a female.  This year she hit the mall up and picks up a tall, blonde male wearing a Christmas sweater back to her pad where she ties him up with Christmas lights.  She tortures him before strangling him.  She strangles her victims so they can get a post-mortem hard on for her to ride before she dismembers the body and disposes of it.  However, once she leaves her home a slasher by the name of Axe (wielding an axe) enters her home and kills her.
     Found footage can be effective but very few films are able to pull it off.  I can't stand the whole shaky camera when I'm watching a movie.  Lucky for me, Steve knows that is not the best way to tell a story and he went another route.  Instead, he delivered a found footage flick that is easy to watch but you still get the feel that it was actually recorded by the lead.  The acting in this one is not the best but it is indie good.  The film only has three characters that interact with each other with the exception of a small cameo by Steve himself.  Seth Gontkovic, Amie Wrenn, and Shawn Shelpman all did a decent job but it was painfully obvious that they do not have a lot of experience in front of the camera.  With that being said, they all have natural charisma and look great on camera.  The story for this one is one told before but never in a holiday setting.  Serial killers documenting their horrific murders has been done before with films like the August Underground trilogy.  This film fully submerges itself in the holiday and even makes use of the decorations to kill and torture.  That makes this film a perfect watch for the holidays.  However, some of the scenes are just way too long with the lead's dialogue just going on and on.  This really tries the viewer's patience.  Those with short attention spans may not be able to finish the film.  The film also has an amazing ending.  The introduction of the slasher is brilliant and Steve really needs to follow this film up with another one involving the slasher!  Finally, the film only has one on screen kill but they made good damn use of it.  We get a very unique kill that is full of Yuletide.  The special effects we do get are practical and decent.  we get some great torture scenes and these special effects make them enjoyable.  Overall, Red Christmas is a fun found footage film that does moves slow but if you ride the film out you will really enjoy yourself.  This is another film to add to your Christmas rotation.  Check it out!