Red Christmas

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Red Christmas
Red Christmas poster.jpg
Film poster
Directed byCraig Anderson
Written byCraig Anderson
Produced byCraig Anderson
Belinda King
Bryan Moses
Dee Wallace
StarringDee Wallace
Geoff Morrell
David Collins
CinematographyDouglas James Burgdorff
Music byHelen Grimley
Production
company
Red Christmas
Distributed byUmbrella Entertainment
Artsploitation Films
Release date
  • June 17, 2016 (2016-06-17)(Sydney)
Running time
82 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

Red Christmas is a 2016 Australian horror film written, directed, and produced by Craig Anderson. [1]

Contents

Plot

A family gathers together to celebrate Christmas. Amidst the celebrations, a mysterious, cloaked stranger, "Cletus" arrives at the house and is taken in as a guest. He reads a letter he wrote to the family and after he discusses the topic of abortion, he is forced to leave the home and is told that if he decided to return, he would be killed.

It is eventually revealed that 20 years ago, the matriarch of the family, Diane (Dee Wallace), travelled north to have an abortion. During the procedure, a religious fanatic bombed the clinic and took Diane's planned to be aborted child which is revealed to be Cletus. Cletus has now returned to the family home to violently exact revenge on her entire family.

During the night, Cletus kills Hope with an ax, and proceeds to strangle Joe in a car. Cletus smashes Scott's head. A police officer eventually arrives after being called earlier, unfortunately Cletus murders him almost immediately. Later on, Cletus forces Peter's head into a blender. Diane accidentally shoots Jerry. Ginny gives birth to the baby. Cletus stabs Suzy with an umbrella. Cletus stabs Ginny in the back and gently rests her newborn baby onto a table. Diane stabs Cletus with an anchor chained around her neck, then leaps out the window of the second-floor room, hanging herself and ripping out Cletus' insides, leaving Ginny's newborn baby as the sole survivor of the night.

Cast

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 47% based on 19 reviews, with a weighted average rating of 5.41/10. [2] On Metacritic, which assigns a rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [3]

Eddie Cockrell from Variety called it, "An energetic, candy-colored romp through genre tropes that manages to take its subject matter seriously while poking fun at itself at the same time." [4] Noel Murray from Los Angeles Times wrote in his review on the film, "Red Christmas doesn't have any specific political point of view; it's fraught with contradictions, and should make anyone squeamish. Mostly, it's a tightly constructed, unapologetically nasty little thriller, given depth and weight by Wallace's interpretation of a sweet woman suffering for her past." [5] John DeFore called the film "Gory and offensive, but lacking in the scare department.". DeFore criticized the film's pacing, and lack of humor. [6]

Craig Anderson also made a 100-minute making of documentary, Horror Movie: A Low Budget Nightmare.

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References

  1. ↑ "'Red Christmas': Visionary Director Craig Anderson Discusses His Winter Horror". Movie Pilot. 31 August 2017. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  2. ↑ "Red Christmas (2017) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.com. Flixer. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  3. ↑ "Red Christmas Reviews - Metacritic". Metacritic.com. Metacritic. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  4. ↑ Cockrell, Eddie. "'Red Christmas' Review: Ozploitation Tackles the Abortion Issue – Variety". Variety.com. Eddie Cockrell. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  5. ↑ Murray, Noel. "Dee Wallace stands out in Australian horror film 'Red Christmas'". LA Times.com. Noel Murray. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  6. ↑ DeFore, John (22 August 2017). "'Red Christmas' Review". Hollywood Reporter.com. John DeFore. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
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