Silent Night, Deadly Night (dir. Charles E. Sellier, Jr., 1984) Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (dir. Lee Harry, 1987) Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! (dir. Monte Hellman, 1989) Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation (dir. Brian Yuzna, 1990) Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (dir. Martin Kitrosser, 1991) Silent … Continue reading Silent Night(s), Deadly Night(s)

Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life (dir. Peter Capaldi, 1993) How do you make the act of writing visually compelling? You don’t. It is one of the dullest things you can depict. Typing. Deleting. Retyping. Checking a reference. Cleaning a room, toilet, kitchen, potentially an entire dwelling. More typing. Maybe if you’re Chantal Akerman you … Continue reading Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life (1993)

It’s a Wonderful Life (dir. Frank Capra, 1946) It took me until my late twenties to see It’s a Wonderful Life. I’m not sure why exactly. I was in no way averse to classic cinema. I had seen and enjoyed other Capra films like It Happened One Night and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. James … Continue reading It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

Don’t Open Till Christmas (dir. Edmund Purdom, 1984) The sleaziest Santas in the sleaziest sections of London are being murdered in gruesome ways. The detectives at New Scotland Yard are on the case, but ill equipped to handle anything like this. DCI Ian Harris (Edmund Purdom doing double duty as an actor as wells as … Continue reading Don’t Open Till Christmas (1984)

The Dorm That Dripped Blood (dir. Stephen Carpenter and Jeffrey Obrow, 1982) Also known as Death Dorm and more enigmatically Pranks, The Dorm That Dripped Blood follows a group of university students who remain on campus over the winter break to assist in renovating the dormitory. Because this is an early eighties slasher movie, they … Continue reading The Dorm That Dripped Blood (1982)

Gremlins (dir. Joe Dante, 1984) For some reason, as a child, it only ever seemed like we had the sequels to movies on VHS. I would catch the first films in series on television, sure, but the second or third ones in the franchise always got cycled in and out of the VCR. Raiders of … Continue reading Gremlins (1984)

Christmas Evil (dir. Lewis Jackson, 1980) Harry Stadling (Brandon Maggart) had his conception of Santa Claus destroyed as a child because he saw his father dressed as him go down on his mother in the living room on Christmas Eve. Most everyone goes through these two events—learning that Santa Claus isn’t real and that your … Continue reading Christmas Evil (1980)

To All a Goodnight (dir. David Hess, 1980) Students and their boyfriends at the Calvin Finishing School for Girls are stalked by a killer dressed as Santa Claus. That’s the movie. There’s not a whole lot else to it than that. Fine, I will try to add something more. What even is a finishing school? … Continue reading To All a Goodnight (1980)

Wind Chill (dir. Gregory Jacobs, 2007) It’s 2007. You’re a pre-fame Emily Blunt badly affecting an American accent. You’re texting someone on your massive Sony Erickkson cell phone during the middle of a university exam. You were planning to take the bus home for winter break, but your anonymous friend—like you and everyone else in … Continue reading Wind Chill (2007)

A Christmas Prince (dir. Alex Zamm, 2017) A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding (dir. John Schultz, 2018) A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby (dir. John Schultz, 2019) Let the record hold that not only did I watch A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby the day that it premiered on Netflix, I also watched it and … Continue reading A Christmas Prince: The Trilogy