Christmas Bloody Christmas is a 2022 American horror film with a Christmas theme, written and directed by Joe Begos. The story follows a robotic Santa Claus. Abraham Benrubi plays Santa Claus. He embarks on a violent killing spree on Christmas Eve. The cast includes Riley Dandy, Sam Delich, Jonah Ray Rodrigues, Dora Madison, Jeremy Gardner, Jeff Daniel, and Kansas Bowling. Released on December 9, 2022, the film garnered mixed reviews from critics.
The Plot
The film opens with a series of vignettes mimicking classic Christmas advertisements. A news report accompanies these scenes. It discusses a robotic Santa Claus that has been recalled. The recall happened due to a malfunction. This malfunction causes it to revert to its original programming as a product of the U.S. Defense Department.
Record store owner Tori wraps up for the night on Christmas Eve with her employee Robbie. Robbie, who has a crush on Tori, persuades her to ditch her Tinder date and join him for drinks instead. They meet up with their friends Jay and Lahna, who work at a nearby toy store. The store houses one of the recalled robotic Santa Clauses. After some drinks and hanging out, Tori and Robbie head to a bar. Meanwhile, the malfunctioning robot Santa turns into a murderous machine, brutally killing Jay and Lahna during an intimate moment.
Smitten with Robbie, Tori invites him back to her house, unaware that the robotic Santa is stalking them. Once at her home, the two continue their playful banter, which leads to them sleeping together. Meanwhile, the robot Santa breaks into a neighboring house, slaughtering the entire family. Tori, horrified, witnesses the gruesome murder of a child. Panicked, she warns Robbie, and they quickly realize the robot Santa has spotted them.
Rushing to act, Tori wakes her sister Liddy and Liddy’s husband Mike, urging them to escape. The group attempts to flee, but the robot Santa attacks, killing Liddy and Mike. Tori and Robbie manage to escape into Robbie’s car. Their path is blocked by another neighbor. The relentless Santa swiftly kills the neighbor. Trapped and desperate, Robbie is dragged out of the car and brutally killed, leaving Tori to face the nightmare alone.
A responding police officer arrives and guns down the robot Santa temporarily. Still, the robot Santa quickly recovers and kills the officer. Tori runs over the robot Santa using the officer’s car. She drives away and stumbles across more officers. An ambulance is responding to the scene. Tori flags them down to help and tells them of the officer’s death and is arrested by Sheriff Munroe. Back at the police station, Tori struggles to convince Munroe about the robot Santa. The robot Santa returns, having commandeered the ambulance, and attacks the station, killing Munroe and his partner. Tori retrieves a shotgun and fends off the robot Santa. She drives away in the ambulance, where the robot Santa climbs onboard and Tori crashes. Tori uses the crash to set the robot Santa alight, severely damaging it.
Tori retreats to her record store. The robot Santa hunts her. It is now nearly fully stripped to its robotic endoskeleton. After being chased through the store, Tori manages to outwit the robot Santa and destroy it. An exhausted and bloody Tori leaves the store. She collapses onto the street outside as Christmas morning begins. She starts to laugh hysterically.
Conclusion
Before seeing Christmas Bloody Christmas, I had not heard of director Joe Begos. This film is a great introduction to him. It also introduces the crew that works with him on many of his movies. The writing is great and the pacing never leaves you bored. The monologues between Tori and Robbie are so believable in the way that they discuss things. Their bickering back and forth solidifies their relationship. Talking over each other also helps show the connection these two characters share.
The effects team should also be commended for their use of practical effects. CGI in low budget movies are usually so evident that it takes away from the film. By using in-camera effects, everything has substance, adding to the believability of what you are witnessing. The gore effects are top-notch Santa, when in robot-form, is a lot of fun to watch on screen.
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