Once Upon A Time At Christmas (2017) Dir: Paul Tanter
- Ridley Coote
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
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The combination of Christmas and horror is one that many filmmakers have tried to pull off, but very few actually have - some of them are fun, but most of them are pretty dumb. Unfortunately, this was the vibe I got from this Paul Tanter directed Christmas horror. Normally, I would not have given this film a second's thought, but someone asked me to check it out, so I thought I may as well see if I could have some fun with it.
Unfortunately, my already low expectations were still left unsatisfied, even by the visuals. Usually, I love seeing practical effects in films, but, on this occasion, I thought they were terrible. I have legitimately seen better special effects in some student films. It disappointed me hugely, considering how good the effects have been in other low-budget independent horror films. The special effects were the one thing I thought would deliver with this film, but apparently not.
Twelve days of Christmas meets a sadistic serial killer duo sounded like fun in theory, but it was utter drivel in practice. The film had dreadful, ham-fisted, and truly amateurish dialogue, which was genuinely painful to listen to. The 'Joker' and 'Harley Quinn' ripping-off was not the least bit compelling, and just felt so lazy, as did the rest of the film, which relied on tired trope after tired trope to try and build something, without much success.
Jeff Ellenberger gave a forced and forgettable performance of the cop protagonist, which dulled me to the bone. I felt bad to think it, but he really was a charisma vacuum. The two antagonists, played by Simon Phillips and Sayla de Goede, were very uninspired, very cliché, and very boring. If I wanted to watch 'Harley Quinn' and the 'Joker' terrorise people, I'd watch a 'Batman' film. The collection of random side characters were not particularly either, with performances from Laurel Brady, Robert Nolan, and Barry Kennedy, being the only remotely memorable ones.
Overall, I thought this was one of the most tacky, mind-numbing, and all-around terrible films I've ever sat through. This tripe made the 'Terrifier' films look like 'The Shining'. Unbelievably, there is a sequel to this film, but I have no expectations of it being much better than this one. If in search of seasonal cinema, but with a horror twist, I really cannot say I remotely recommend this awful attempt.
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