In the weeks leading up to Christmas,I met up with family friend Guy Morgan (who sadly passed away in March 2019) and asked if there was any film he would like to get hold of before the holiday season. Already having Christmas Evil (1980) waiting to be viewed,I was intrigued when this friend told me about a British X-Mas Slasher,which led to me opening the viewing after Christmas.
View on the film:
Stuck in delays, (filmed in 1983,put out in 1985) which led to extra murder set-pieces to be filmed for a final high-end body count of 14, and the first two directors being sacked, the third, and final director Ray Selfe sows it all together with a grubby Grindhouse atmosphere.
Filmed round the crumbling outskirts of London, Swlfe sniffs up the seediness in panning shots round the dark, dank locations and swift first-person tracking shots of the psycho stalking (and then killing) sexy ladies, and down and outs dressed as Santa. Rid of the gloss of US Horror of the era, the Slasher slay bells ring on a ugliness of dry red smeared across the screen.
Chopping some of the US Slasher clichés off, ("The Final Girl" not being the pure and innocent type, the victims being largely rough round the edges) the screenplay by Alan Birkinshaw & Derek Ford follows the spreading of good cheer in the directing by giving the dialogue an unshakeable mean spitefulness, where even the cops treat survivors with a bullying contempt.
Pulling off the beard, the writers carve the motives of the nutter with a unrelenting wide-eyed psycho harshness which leaves the police with an open case till Christmas.
View on the film:
Stuck in delays, (filmed in 1983,put out in 1985) which led to extra murder set-pieces to be filmed for a final high-end body count of 14, and the first two directors being sacked, the third, and final director Ray Selfe sows it all together with a grubby Grindhouse atmosphere.
Filmed round the crumbling outskirts of London, Swlfe sniffs up the seediness in panning shots round the dark, dank locations and swift first-person tracking shots of the psycho stalking (and then killing) sexy ladies, and down and outs dressed as Santa. Rid of the gloss of US Horror of the era, the Slasher slay bells ring on a ugliness of dry red smeared across the screen.
Chopping some of the US Slasher clichés off, ("The Final Girl" not being the pure and innocent type, the victims being largely rough round the edges) the screenplay by Alan Birkinshaw & Derek Ford follows the spreading of good cheer in the directing by giving the dialogue an unshakeable mean spitefulness, where even the cops treat survivors with a bullying contempt.
Pulling off the beard, the writers carve the motives of the nutter with a unrelenting wide-eyed psycho harshness which leaves the police with an open case till Christmas.