I must be in a forgiving mood, because I enjoyed Christmas Bloody Christmas more than I remembered. Bliss remains Joe Begos’ strongest film so far, Mind’s Eye his dark horse, and VFW his most uneven, but here, the director laser-focuses his grungy neon style and gore gags into fuel for relentless robo-slasher momentum. Nothing more, nothing less, for better or worse. I’ve even come to enjoy the first half hour’s rowdy rat-a-tat chemistry between Riley Dandy and Sam Delich; it’s a laid-back hangout showcase for Dandy’s live-wire energy before turning into a holiday night from hell for her tenacious final girl. 

Christmas Bloody Christmas may lack the character drama or dynamics of Begos’ prior films, but it‘s still a taut splattery exercise in distilling the slasher into a set-piece rollercoaster. Bodies are split, heads caved in, vehicles totaled, as effective FX captures the transformation of its unstoppable axe-wielding mecha-Santa from rogue holiday decoration to damage-scarred laser-eyed Terminator. Begos squeezes tons of atmosphere and action-horror adrenaline out of his small budget; production even goes nuts with the Christmastime aesthetic, to the point that the film practically achieves giallo/Black X-Mas ‘06 levels of vibrant unreality.