Horror Movie Review: Dead By Christmas (2018)

Dead by Christmas is the worst kind of Christmas horror. One that fails to capture the imagination of the holiday period. Borrows heavily from the likes of Silent Night, Deadly Night and is wrapped up in the most boring bow possible.

The movie opens showing the character of Samuel (Cody Wise) sending an invite to old friends. He is asking them to meet him where he will reveal something connected to their past. You see Samuel and his friends all grew up in an orphanage and he was the source of support for all them. They needed this because they were abused by the twisted Father LeDoux (Vince Rodriguez).

Unfortunately for Sam, he is killed shortly after sending his invite.

The film then jumps a year later and we meet Carla (Holly Bonney) and Sister Mary (Dawn Streeck) who have brought the group back together. They all meet up at Christmas to celebrate the life of Samuel but a killer is waiting. One dressed in a Santa suit!

That’s a killer that sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Dead by Christmas really isn’t an original film and if you’ve seen your fair share of slashers, this isn’t going to do much for you.

Unoriginal as it is, that’s not the biggest flaw of the movie. Dead by Christmas is a very slow, a very talky movie yet it is only an hour long. The plot is so bare and predictable that it is overly padded with frustratingly long conversations. Ones that have stilted dialogue and is delivered with little conviction by a bland and bored cast.

It’s very hard to keep invested in the events that occur here and the poor visual quality and even worse sound just makes things worse. Low budget is not excuse as many indie film makers have worked wonders with even less money.

What can be enjoyed about Dead by Christmas is its short running time and some the kills. While we’re not seeing much in the way of freshness within the deaths, the effects are practical.