One of my best friends and fellow
filmmaker, Carlo Rodriguez (Gothic Films, Underdogs FilmDistribution) and I often relive the classic argument “what's in a
name.” Carlo and I tend to employ different strategies when naming
our films to achieve an admittedly different result.
When you watch a film called SANTA'S
SLAY (get it?) you kind of know what you're going to get. (Score 1
for Carlo!) What made this film one of the most badass things I've
see lately is that you got everything you were expecting.
From the opening dinner scene where
Chris Kattan and Jimmy (I can call him that ) Caan get it in yule
tide fashion to the bloody bitter end, the movie delivers. Most of
the kills are Christmas themed (he kills a stripper with miseltoe;
exploding gifts decapitate kids; sharpened candy cane anyone?) and
are all played for laughs. The movie would have been enjoyable had
it just been THAT. But there's more. Bill Goldberg is killer as the
“jolly old Elf.” There's a great performance from Robert Culp
(who doesn't love him?) and a neat story line explaining that Santa
is really Satan's son. You see, Santa used to like to kill people
once a year, but he loses a bet with an angel and, for a thousand
years, he has to be nice. Well, times up and the killing spree
begins. (All of this is told through an awesome claymation sequence
in which Santa loses a game of curling to curse him for the thousand
years. I knew that game would get us.)
The kills are violent, but funny. A
nice darkly comedic tale. And in case you're scoring at home, it
isn't just a Christian problem. Our friendly neighborhood Jewish
deli owner gets it with his own menorah. He gurgles “there is a
Santa Clause.” And of course the cops tough talk him: “Someone
turned off his festival of lights. Wait, something isn't kosher
here.”
Nothing better than a movie that
doesn't take itself too seriously. Even the music is badass using
rock covers of Christmas carols.
Umm, how 'bout just plain awesome? This movie was pretty much the most fantastic thing I've seen in its genre in a while.
ReplyDeleteThe dialogue was the best part of it all. Let's look at some memorable quotes
"thank you and go fuck yourself"
"move bitch, get out the way."-
"i don't mean to sound ungrateful, but are you fucking retarded?"
"i'm as happy as a make a wish kid"
What made this movie the most fun is that the creators knew what kind of movie this was and they didn't try to go overboard in any way.
Also, the kill scenes in this movie were not only hilarious, but surprisingly original. I found myself saying 'OH SNAP' during most of them because they were so crazy awesome.
I really loved this movie. It was just enough ridiculous to get me through my week.