• Straight to Video
• Director: Peter Keir
• Written by: Peter Keir
• Running Time: 72 minutes
• Language: English
• MPAA Rating: UNRATED
• Cast: Kimberly Lynn Cole, Krystal Stevenson, Eric Spudic, Jason Barnes, Jeff Samford, Michelle Samford, Sequoia Rose Fuller, Rachel Michelle Gnapp, Lucien Eisenach, Theodore Ward, Steve Sessions, Gayle Elizabeth, Robert Lanham, Dylan Cole, Jaims Weinbrandt

Considering the sheer number of feel-good Christmas movies we’re often inundated with each year on video and television, it’s nice, occasionally, to see a Christmas movie that bucks the trend. Peter Keir‘s “Psycho Santa”, a serial killer-Santa Claus movie, in the same vein as “Silent Night, Deadly Night“, goes way out of its way to buck that trend. When the film opens, a brother-sister team, Ron and Jess, Jeff and Michelle Samford, are late for a Christmas party. Jeff determines the quickest route to their friends house lies in the back roads. Knowing it’s a long drive, Jeff decides to liven things by telling his sister about a local boy named Kris (for Kris Kringle, get it?), who, after being released from his basement dwelling, went on a killing spree just one year earlier -- right before Christmas. What makes this story different is that Kris was supposedly dressed as Santa Claus when he went on his hack and slash campaign. He tells her a series of stories all related to said killing spree, and these stories make up most of what goes on in the film.

The first story involves three girls and a traditional sleepover. Every year around Christmas the girls get together at a secluded cabin, where they get drunk, listen to music, dance, and later, exchange gifts. This year, however, only two of the girls, Sequoia Rose Fuller (2003’s “Cadaver Bay“) and Rachel Michelle Gnapp (2005‘s “Southern Gothic“) arrive on time. The third girl, Sarah, it seems, has already arrived, indicated by the gifts under the tree. The girls find it odd, but figure that she probably had to go into town for something. When one of the girls (Fuller) decides to take a shower, she sends her friend (Gnapp) out to look for three stones. This is where things take a turn for the strange when Gnapp, in her search for stones, unknowingly passes a pond that might just hide the secret of her missing friend. A car can be seen barely submerged just beneath the water. Sadly, Gnapp doesn’t notice it. Later that night, after the girls have plied themselves with plenty of alcohol, things get a little frisky. Gnapp indulges in a lingerie clad dance routine, which is halted all to suddenly when she accidentally kicks one of the gifts. The present seems to have left a trail of crimson in its wake. Closer inspection reveals blood, and a name on the package, which reads, simply, ‘Sarah’. A strange growling sound outside the cabin draws closer, as the girls turn to meet their demise.

Like as the case with all of the tales, the scene immediately reverts back to the car as the Ron and Jess continue their long drive through the night. Ron tells her about how Kris was eventually caught and placed in a mental institution. Following a fire at the facility, it was believed that Kris was dead. At least everyone thought he was dead up until last year when, following a break and enter on a suburban residence, Kris re-emerged, dressed as Santa Claus, to go on yet another week-before-Christmas massacre. This is, of course, setting up the next story as two surly looking thugs, Lucien Eisenach (2003’s “Dead Clowns“) and Theodore Ward, break into an upscale home. After rummaging through the darkly lit interior, the two burglars finally find their objective in one of the rooms -- a locked safe. That’s when an attractive young woman, Gayle Elizabeth, stumbles upon them. She seems unaware, which surprises one of the thugs, until he realizes that she’s blind. He hovers behind her as she heads from the bathroom and into the kitchen to make coffee, and then back to the bathroom. After what feels like an agonizing amount of time, the woman eventually determines that somebody else is the bathroom with her. In one long, drawn out, completely silent, scene, the thug forces her head into the toilet, drowning her. Following that piece of ugly cinema, the two men rummage through the house a bit more, eventually finding a door that seems locked. They decide to open it, interested in seeing what‘s inside. It turns out to be a sort-of Pandora’s Box, as they soon learn. Among the things they find inside the room include a dirty cot, a child’s pottie toilet and a music box that plays “Silent Night” in a continual loop. They also find Kris, who brutally attacks one of the thugs. The other thug charges out of the house in terror, before he is eventually caught up to by Kris, who embeds a candy cane in his eye socket.

This leads into a police station where Kris’ father, Robert Lanham (2003’s “Blood Sisters“), is being interrogated by a police detective, Steve Sessions (2003‘s "Malefic"). Lanham tells the story about how his child had actually survived the fire at the institution and, although horribly burned, found his way back home. Unable to turn him away, Lanham and wife decided to hide Kris away in the family basement for nearly a decade. The father readily admits that his child was a dangerous maniac with the mind of a three year old, but due to some minor conditioning involving a music box and a specific song “Silent Night”, he was able to contain him without incident for many years. This whole sequence is, for better or worse, helping to set the stage for the film‘s explosive climax. Anyone with a keen eye for the genre, will suspect the importance of this scene early on. After slaying a charity vendor dressed as Santa Claus, Kris adopts his style of dress -- although with some additional rouge. Numerous people fall to Kris’ blade as the film plays out, including a pothead, Jaims Weinbrandt, in the woods, a woman, Kimberly Lynn Cole, and surprisingly, a young child, Dylan Cole.

Ron also tells of another couple, a brother-sister team, Josh and Alice (Eric Spudic and Krystal Stevenson), not unlike themselves, who also fell victim to Kris’ rage. This time, however, they both lived to tell their story. Playing out at a very slow pace, Eric Spudic (2004’s “Killers By Nature”) and Stevenson experience some car trouble while out driving the backwoods looking for a Christmas tree. They eventually get split up, with Spudic heading through the woods without his sister. As Alice trudges behind, our ‘Psycho Santa’ Kris makes himself known, stalking Alice first through the forest and later through a pile of abandoned cars. Up ahead, Josh stumbles upon an old deserted cabin in the woods. Shades of "Friday The 13th part 2" here as Josh eventually determines that Kris has been using this as this worn cabin as his personal hideaway. Without giving too much away, the ending involving Kris, his father and Spudic is both explosive and satisfying. It also helps to set the stage for a sequel.

When it's all said and done, this is a pretty poor entry into the season slasher sub-genre. Peter Keir (who I think is actually Steve Sessions - too ashamed to attach his name to this film) is working well beneath his capacities. The three main problems I had with the film was the shoddy story telling in the various episodes, which feel unconnected for the most part. The second is that there is almost no Santa Claus killer, which seems kind of ludicrous when the movie is called "Psycho Santa". Also, the pacing, something I generally love about Sessions' movies, is beyond slow here because we suspect that we're not really building towards anything. The music by Steve Sessions is at least solid, the sole bright spot on the film. In 2004, “Psycho Santa” was released as part of a two pack, along with “Satan Claus“. It is available from SRS Cinema. If you like these kinds of movies, then I’d recommend picking it up a seasonal treat.

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