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A Christmas Horror Story (2015)
A Christmas Horror Story (2015)
2015 | Horror
6
6.4 (5 Ratings)
Movie Rating
As far as anthology horrors go, A Christmas Horror Story is so-so. It tells four seperate tales, all connected to each other in someway, not to dissimilar to Trick R' Treat in terms of structure.

They vary in quality of course. One of them is a ghost story, as three students go about exploring the abandoned crime scene of two people murdered in ritual sacrifice on Christmas the year before. This one was plain boring. It was creepy in places, and is presented occasionally in a found footage style. The characters here are pretty unlikable, and doesn't really offer much to the overall film bar a couple of predictable jump scares.
Another revolves around a couple who's child goes missing whilst chopping down a Christmas tree for their home. They find the child, but eventually find out that he is in fact a shapeshifting troll. Chaos ensues. This one was ok, some good performances by Adrian Holmes and Olunike Adeliyi certainly help it carry more gravitas.
A third story revolves around Krampus preying on a family trying to make amends with some long lost relatives. Again, this one was ok. It's quite visually pleasing in its setting, but it's a pretty standard short revolving around a story we've already heard a hundred times. Krampus looks good enough considering it's a dude in make up.
And the the fourth story is easily the best of the bunch. It revolves around Santa fending off his elves in Christmas Eve when they succumb to a zombie style virus. Santa stomping around decapitating zombie elves by the bucket load is exactly what I signed up for. It also has the films best twist, which is pretty damn bleak, and features a Santa vs Krampus showdown. The film's worth watching for this segment alone!

Overall, A Christmas Horror Story is entertaining enough to justify a Yuletide watch. It has half decent production values (if you ignore the occasional piss poor CGI), some passable gore, and all the stories are inter cut by mother fucking William Shatner of all people, who actually seems to be having a good time here. Don't go in expecting a masterpiece and I'm sure you'll find something to enjoy.
  
Almost Never
Almost Never
Amy Lamont | 2018
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This starts with what I guess is a prologue where we see Harper joining Declan at her first campus party. Things don't go as she was hoping when she sees her high-school bully whispering and pointing in her direction and the rumours she's spreading get back to Declan. Fast forward two years and neither has spoken to the other, though they keep secretly checking on the other, and only come together again when they see a mutual opportunity: Harper will help him pass a class and Declan will help her be noticed by her professor. Their attraction blooms once more as they spend time together again

I'll admit the cover pulled me in and when I got this, it was free.

I liked this initially but I started to lose interest about the 40% mark. It just wasn't gelling with me, I found the style a little awkward at times and Harpers attitude rubbed me the wrong way. She thought the worst of everyone and everything. It's like she didn't see anything as a bright spot, it was all down and out. One quote seemed fitting:

"I guess overreacting is my thing lately."

How about all the time?! Maybe some of it was warranted but come one! I got very fed up with her look on life. So much so that I totally lost interest in this one. I didn't read the sex scene as I didn't really care about the characters or the storyline, but I wanted to finish it.

And I did. Finally.

I'm glad Harper finally got a backbone, dealing with her aunt and getting into that much longed for medical program. And I'm glad Declan stood up to his dad. Other than that, I didn't care about the rest.

This didn't work for me at all and I'm not sure if I'll be reading more books by this author.