Gathering together for the holidays, a man heads out to his family house in the countryside to come to terms with a past tragedy that occurred years earlier, but when he finds a killer Santa Claus killing people much like his earlier encounter he tries to put the past behind him to save his family.
This was a really fun holiday-themed genre effort. Among the better aspects here is the strong central setup that offers a fantastic chance to mix together traditional slasher elements with some psychological aspects. Giving the kid a chilling backstory about the killer targeting his parents when he was a kid dressed as Santa Claus is a fine touch to set this up rather nicely by exploring that trauma as a means of remaining away from his family for years afterward. As the trip is used as a way to try mending fences and reconnect with his family, this allows for some rather nice early introduction methods of getting to know the rest of his family and who they're about that's punctuated rather nicely with the fleeting visions of the twisted Santa lurking around to keep that in mind. This brings together some fun scenes featuring them trying to help him as time goes along but also going along with whether or not he's insane for a great time overall. As this allows for a strong setup, there's plenty to like here with the turn into the psychotic slasher going around killing others. The opening attack on the parents as a flashback offers a strong start to everything which sets his traumatic history with a reasonable enough sequence to start it, while the early scenes of the killer taking out the stragglers of the family around the farmhouse come off as solid shock ambush sequences featuring the killer appearing out of nowhere to deliver a killing blow with an unusual holiday-themed object. The final confrontation when the Santa strikes the main house and starts engaging in plenty of great confrontations throughout which include scenes of the group coming apart with the mistrust built up over the early setup, several rather fun extended chase scenes around the house, and some fun kills that provide this one with some rather fun time here. There's not a lot to hold it back but it does have some minor drawbacks. The main flaw to the film is the slightly underwhelming and plodding first half which tends to focus on the family squabbling that comes at the expense of the slashing. Being more of a sluggish family drama involving their personal issues they have not just between the son returning to put his past trauma behind him. Still, the rest of the family trying to deal with each other and several other betrayals, there's not a lot going on for much of the running time as it spends the time building up the series of storylines present. The other issue is the rather underwhelming and somewhat goofy explanation sequence for everything, taking this one into a bizarre turn involving how everything finally comes together and offers up a goofy resolution offering nothing of any purpose that warrants such a rampage of what transpired. These few factors are what end up bringing this one down slightly.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.
