Horror Movie Review: Weredeer (2022)

Merry Christmas, you filthy animals. Let this movie be a lesson to you, don’t mess with deer or you might become one yourself. Or at least a violent humanoid version of a deer. Yes, it’s Weredeer, a horror comedy that knows it is a bad movie, and plays up to that fact, delivering an entertaining slice of festive horror.

Directed by Andrew Dyson, who co-wrote it with T.C. De Witt and Blair Hoyle. Yes, this film does have three writers credited, and that is arguably the funniest thing about this horror comedy.

Blair Hoyle also plays Max, a country boy who moved away from his family to the city years ago, and is now returning to visit with his girlfriend Hannah, played by Anna Broadway. Max really doesn’t want to see his family, but under pressure from Hannah, he has decided to spend the Christmas period with them.

Of course, Max’s dislike of his family comes from the fact that they’re an uncouth country bunch, except they are warm and welcoming to both Max and Hannah. In fact, aside from some good-natured teasing from Tyler Stafford’s Bobby Kyle, Max looks to be the one with a problem.

Hannah makes a lot of effort with his family, and seems to enjoy the countryside, that is until she is bitten on the hand by a sick looking deer. Later, she starts to feel unwell, and when alone, she transforms into a blood-thirsty weredeer. Will Max be able to save her, reconnect with his family, and have a nice Christmas?

It is as silly as it sounds, has plenty of festive spirit (how gross does an eggnog beer sound?), with the added bonus of there being next to no budget. Which results in some hilariously poor effects and frustrating sound issues. Yet, all of this is par for the course with a movie like this and the longer it goes on, these issues end up becoming part of its charm.

What makes Weredeer more appealing is the fact that you can tell everyone was putting effort in here. There’s passion, and while everyone looks to having fun (some too much, at times), there is no question they were committed to making this the best it could possibly be.

Though, it’s still not a good film, let’s make that abundantly clear. Lacking in both the horror and comedy departments. If you’re expecting quality here, you’re going to come away very disappointed. However, if you’re after a tight 70-minute slice of jovial silliness, you could do much worse than Weredeer.