Whenever I have seen lists of the supposed worst films ever made, many small movies with limited releases never have a chance of making it simply because no one ever got much of a chance to see it in the first place. In other words, it's dreck that slipped between the cracks...a good way to describe "Magic Christmas Tree" actually.
The story is VERY slow and the plot unfolds at glacial speed. A kid helps and old witch and she gives him a reward...some magic tree that grants wishes. But the kid is a bit of a sociopath and he wishes for some bad things...but the worst is his kidnapping Santa...or at least a mall Santa from a very run down and shady neighborhood. Can Santa shed himself of the kid? And, does anyone really care? And, does anyone notice that the movie seems like a really bad ripoff of "The Wizard of Oz"-especially at the end?
The movie appears to have been made with a Super 8 movie camera and all the actors were non-professionals. Their performances are so bad...but you can't blame them since they aren't actors and the script writer was probably a lemur. I'm actually being kind, as I am not sure if they even had a writer.
By the way, one of the very worst Christmas films of all time (aside from this one) also came out in 1964, the incredibly wretched "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians". After watching both, I'd say "Magic Christmas Tree" is less annoying but a much worse film overall. The only film that approaches (and perhaps surpasses) the awfulness of "The Magic Christmas Tree" is 1972's "Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny".
