Red Christmas is a 2016 horror film directed by Craig Anderson, starring Dee Wallace, Geoff Morrell, David Collins, Sarah Bishop, Janis McGavin, and Sam Campbell. A widow and her bickering family gather at her remote estate on Christmas Eve. She must soon protect them all from a hideously deformed killer who’s out for bloody revenge.

Plot: The story starts off with all this talk of religion and abortions. It’s interesting and intense and sets up the story well. The overall story itself goes at decent pace, giving us time to get to know the different characters, their likes and dislikes, their relationships and their quirks. However, by the end of the film, you’ll be scratching your head wandering what you just witnessed. There’s no interesting side stories involving the characters aside from Suzy going in for fertility treatments and Diane going on a vacation trip, but the film doesn’t flesh them out enough. And there damn sure ain’t no developing arcs. Aside from the whole long lost child bit, the film is essentially a home invasion film and a poor one at that. Other films have done this a million times better. (2 out of 5)

Characters: The characters are what you’d expect from this type of movie. They’re interesting but not particularly well-written nor memorable. The cast includes the matriarch of the family, Diane, Suzy and her preacher husband Peter, adopted daughter Hope, a pregnant Ginny and husband Scott, her son Jerry, and her brother Joe. Most of the characters are either stupid, petty, and frustrating to the point you want the killer to enact his vengeance. Sisters Suzy and Ginny fight all of the damn time, for no apparent reason. Peter is a spineless cunt who ruins nearly every scene he’s in. Hope and Joe don’t get a chance. Jerry, Joe, and Diane are perhaps the most interesting of the bunch. Honestly, I prayed the characters died because they were so stupid. The main antagonist is this hooded guy named Cletus, who was aborted by Diane twenty-years prior. He’s killing people. Why? There’s no explanation. If they were his family why is he killing them? Because they rejected him? The characters are just dumb and a waste of space. (2 out of 5)

Cast: The cast and performances are okay, nothing to run home about but not terrible either. The cast includes Dee Wallace, Geoff Morrell, David Collins, Sarah Bishop, Janis McGavin, and Sam Campbell. (3 out of 5)

Visuals: Now, I’m not going to completely shit on the effects. For what the film does do, it does it well enough. However, it’s style and quality leave much to be desired. I’m not looking for the goriest kills but give me something. Characters get killed but the film makes it clear that the kills aren’t fully emphasized. Yeah, we see characters get killed but afterwards we don’t see the bodies. Hope is the first victim (at least of the family members) to get killed and after the initial death, we don’t see her body, only a shot of her foot. And this is the case with most of the kills. Hell, we don’t even see Suzy or Ginny’s “death”. Even the design of Cletus is a joke. His clothing design is fucking stupid, a giant cloak and wraps that he should hardly be able to maneuver in. Wow. Even his face looked stupid. There are some crazy camera angles, close ups that muddle intense sequences and unnecessary shaky cam. (2 out of 5)

Score: Totally forgettable. Hell, I don’t even remember there being any music. Nothing against Helen Grimley but the music is another factor that brings the rating down. (1 out of 5)

Writing: I don’t know what to say about the direction of this film. First, I’m not sure if this is Craig Anderson’s first film though he’s had his hand in a lot of projects, but this film feels amateurish. Yes, it has decent direction and the pacing is good, but the writing needs a lot of work. First, the characters are poorly written. They have almost no memorable scenes or interesting quirks. In fact, they’re written to be pretty stupid especially how they react to the situation. Second, some of the dialogue just seems dumb. Characters say things that make absolutely no sense. A lot of the conversation lack any depth, or feel out of place.

The film also addresses the subject of religion and abortion, yet muddles its approach to it. There’s a scene where Suzy is talking about fertility treatment for a child but the film never really addresses it again. We really don’t see anything leading up to the conversation, no backstory on it…like nothing at all. And what is the film’s message anyway? Don’t abort your child or they’ll come back and kill you? What is the religious implications of abortion? Not explored at all. No real explanation to the antagonists motivations or for the purpose of why he dresses the way he does. There’s hardly anything in the writing or directing I can honestly say is worth mentioning. (2 out of 5)

The Verdict: In the end, Red Christmas is probably one of the worst films I’ve ever seen. Yes, the highest point of the film is the acting. But that’s not enough to make a film watchable. Unfortunately the story lacks depth, characters are poorly written, terrible camera angles, forgettable music, and poor direction. Red Christmas gets 2 out of 5.