• About
  • podcasts
  • Shop

Surgeons of Horror

~ Dissecting horror films

Surgeons of Horror

Tag Archives: christmas horror

Movie review: Anna and the Apocalypse

23 Sunday Dec 2018

Posted by surgeons of horror in Movie review

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

christmas horror, christmas zombie horror musical, horror musical, zombie, zombie comedy, zombie horror, zombie musical

All I saw were the words Christmas zombie horror musical and I said to myself, “I’m in!”
It may sound like a strange combination, but to this deranged and perhaps delusional genre fan, it screamed potential cult flick and a must see, but would it live up to the buzz or flatline?

Based on the BAFTA award winning short film, Zombie musical by Ryan McHenry (which is actually kind of awesome too and I’ll post a youtube clip of it at the foot of the review for those that are interested) and adapted to feature length by director John McPhail, who does his best to draw out the apocalyptic harmonies with drama, and twinges of gore.

Anna and the Apocalypse’s greatest strength is not just the upbeat music among the bloodlust, but the beating heart of its central characters. There is plenty of time spent building on their backgrounds that by the time things inevitably go wrong you actually give a damn about their survival.

Central to the characters is the titular Anna played by Ella Hunt, who dreams of getting far away from the dead Scottish town of Little Haven, only to awaken to a zombie outbreak and must fight tooth and nail to not only survive but reach those she had tried so desperately to leave behind – her friends and family.

In support is a cracker of a cast in the best friend who keeps hanging onto the hopes of winning Anna’s heart, John (Malcolm Cumming) who incidentally has some of the best lines in the movie; the star-crossed lovers, Chris (Christopher Leveaux) and Lisa (Marli Siu); Anna’s ex and complete tool, Nick (Ben Wiggins); and Anna’s father, Tony (Mark Benton).

Stand out performances though come from Paul Kaye (most notable of late in HBO’s Game of Thrones as Thoros of Myr) as the slightly unhinged headmaster, and looks like he hasn’t this much fun on-screen since his Dennis Pennis days; also relative unknown Sarah Swire, who plays a lesbian outcast editor of the school newspaper. She nails this role with her cross of stifled, uncomfortable social behaviour, combined with grit and “bad-ass” zombie killing action.

If I were to hurl any criticism at this film though, it’s that Anna doesn’t bring enough of that grit herself to the fight, and despite being described by her friends as “always finding a way out of things”, she rarely does and often relies on those friends to get her out of a jam. That’s not to say that Hunt doesn’t execute her role well, because she does. Just some more time and care spent on the writing, could have lifted her character to greater heights.
The other sticking point for me is that the comedy whilst worth the odd-chuckle, never reaches Shaun of the Dead style humour. If the wit had been that little bit sharper, we could have well had a movie that would have easily verged on classic status.

The Diagnosis:

The thought of a musical may have some of you running for the hills, but Anna and the Apocalypse is a well-crafted film that embraces its characters before ripping out their bleeding hearts to the sounds of pop-infused drama and soul that make this a thoroughly enjoyable movie.

  • Saul Muerte

Movie review: Christmas Blood

03 Monday Sep 2018

Posted by surgeons of horror in Movie review, Sydney Underground Film Festival

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

christmas horror

Personally I find the Norwegian title (Yuleblod) creates more of an impact than its English transcription, but everything else about this film translates superbly for the wider audience, and is a great addition to the Sydney Underground Film Festival.

Director Reinert Kiil (great name for a horror director by the way) is no stranger to the genre, cutting his art with a distinctive Nordic vibe throughout his credits thus far.
The premise of this movie has a killer Santa on the loose, murdering his victims with his trusty pickaxe during the festive season every year. For those who might be turned off by this premise, or are still recovering from the scars that Silent Night, Deadly Night produced in the 80’s, fear not. Kiil delivers a fun, psychological, slasher movie that doesn’t shy away from its nostalgic roots whilst still delivering the sucker punch that fans of the subgenre will love.

Part of Christmas Blood’s lure is in the way it plays its straight and by setting the scene in his childhood town of NordKapp, Kiil is able to draw on what he knows for the setting of Santa’s most recent rampage.

All the hallmarks are there, Killer soundtrack with metal riffs and the psychotic Santa even has his own theme for when he bears down on his next victim, which Kiil does through the use of POV to both direct and on occasion misdirect the audience.

There’s also the stranded females in an isolated location, waiting to be picked off one by one, and Kiil does a great job in making us questions who if anyone will survive. And let’s not forget the hard-boiled alcoholic detective who has been through this before and is destined to try and bring down Santa once and for all, accompanied by the brash, new upstart detective who is hoping to leave his mark in hunting down the notorious serial killer.
And there are plenty of gruesome kills to satiate fans of the slasher genre.

The diagnosis:

Kiil takes the viewer where others have dared to tread but rarely succeeded and offers a decent stab at the slasher horror genre with some yuletide flavour. Expect a fun-ride, great kills, and a Santa who is completely off his sleigh.

  • Saul Muerte

Catch the screening of Christmas Blood at the Sydney Underground Film Festival.

Screening times and tickets available below:

SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER – 11PM
SATURDAY TICKET

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • June 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016

Categories

  • A Night of Horror Film Festival
  • Alien franchise
  • Alliance Francaise French Film Festival
  • Australian Horror
  • Best Movies and Shows
  • Competition
  • episode review
  • Flashback Fridays
  • Friday the 13th Franchise
  • Full Moon Sessions
  • Halloween franchise
  • Interview
  • japanese film festival
  • John Carpenter
  • killer pigs
  • midwest weirdfest
  • MidWest WierdFest
  • MonsterFest
  • movie of the week
  • Movie review
  • News article
  • podcast episode
  • press release
  • retrospective
  • Rialto Distribution
  • Ring Franchise
  • series review
  • Spanish horror
  • sydney film festival
  • Sydney Underground Film Festival
  • The Blair Witch Franchise
  • The Exorcist
  • The Howling franchise
  • Top 10 list
  • Trash Night Tuesdays on Tubi
  • umbrella entertainment
  • Uncategorized
  • Universal Horror
  • Wes Craven
  • wes craven's the scream years

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Surgeons of Horror
    • Join 2,400 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Surgeons of Horror
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar