Horror Movie Review: Black Santa (2023)

From director Conrad Craven, and writers Felicia Lamb and Denise Mone’t comes Black Santa. A dark and grim festive horror movie that stars Turell Robins.

He plays Stephon, a man who has finally snapped and is taking revenge on all those who have wronged him. We’re introduced to him, clad in a bloody Santa costume, as he surveys his tied-up victims. A group of people he has known throughout his life, and a group of people he blames for how things have turned out for him.

You see, Stephon is a victim of poor parenthood, a failing care system, and abusive adults. He is a mentally and physically scarred man, but perhaps the thing that he’s never been able to move on from is the death of his younger brother. Each of his victims were responsible in their own way according to Stephon and now he plans to punish them.

That’s the crux of Black Santa’s story, and it’s evidently basic, even if it tries to be deep.

To sustain a decent runtime, each person’s involvement in Stephon’s life is shown in flashback, which does give a much better understanding of what drove the man to insanity. Which, be under no false illusions that regardless of his victimhood, the man is insane and dishes out violence without remorse.

Turell Robins does a mixed job in the role overall. He’s at his best when he is portraying some emotional conflict at his decisions, but at his worst when he is putting ‘crazy eyes’ on. It’s like they didn’t want the viewer to sympathise to much with him, so they keep forcing back into the psycho role, rather than let him experience the full weight of what he is doing and make that a part of his character arc.

He is watchable though, which can’t be said for anyone else.

As harsh as this might sound, the rest of the cast are pretty awful. Awkward acting, really poorly delivered dialogue, and completely unconvincing in their roles. Something that isn’t helped by the really bad wigs a lot of them are wearing to make them look older.

This, of course, is a budgetary issue, and Black Santa is a movie with a very low budget. Evident by the fact that all the ‘modern day’ elements mostly take place in one single room. Which would be fine, if the overall movie was that compelling. It’s not, and as far as Christmas goes, it’s utterly irrelevant to the film’s story. Take Stephon out of the Santa suit (which they do at one point), and it could be any time of the year.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the whole Black Santa experience is grim from beginning to end. Making this a watch that just makes you feel a little grubby and unhappy come the credits.