Review: ‘Christmas Evil’ – A Slasher Film that Fails to Slash

“Christmas Evil” was almost called by alternate titles “You Better Watch Out” and “Terror in Toyland.” The 1980 Lewis Jackson picture attempts to blend the bookend holidays of Halloween and Christmas. This feet has been done with varying degrees of success throughout the years. “Black Christmas,” “Silent Night Deadly Night,” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas” are immediate examples. Even the classic Charles Dickens novel “A Christmas Carol” has ghosts in it and is often regarded as the genre of horror.

Harry Stadling (Brandon Maggart) suffers a “trauma” as a child on Christmas Eve, and this so-called trauma is enough to scramble his brain into a permanent state of Christmas aloof insanity. Maggart does do a really good job of portraying the crazed man who of course works for a toy company and seems to have an affection for children. There are some really good scenes that depict his madness, and his continuous humming of Christmas songs under his breath as he goes about his day is a nice touch. A bit more thought into why he’s nuts may be going too far for something like this, and by the time he dons the iconic red suit and takes to the streets any reason for his actions is long gone. That the title refers to something evil but the main character is mentally unstable is as well a disservice to the type of story one may expect to find.

“Christmas Evil” bills itself as a slasher film but that’s a gross overstatement. While there are a few brutal deaths, you can count them on one hand and may have found yourself dozing off far before the first one actually occurs. I was stone bored five minutes into the plodding paced ninety minute flick. I didn’t expect “It’s a Wonderful Life” but if you are calling yourself a slasher film, then slash, damn it!

Whilst the tone is far more unsettling than scary, it does excel in that particular facet. The desolate landscape is fully amplified by the Christmas time setting. Cold, snow, darkness, shadows, songs; there is something that works for terror about bright decorations, cardboard cutouts, and 70s era trees and lights.

The film has a cheap feel to it and it actually works at stressing the bleakness of the situation, however accidental the chilling props ultimately are – they have a creep factor just because they are old and look like a glimpse into the past.

“Christmas Evil” is the type of movie everyone should see just once. It has an unnerving quality that allows it to work in the month of October, but the limited gore and sluggish pace render it boring at best.