Santa's Slay (2005)

   
Written & Directed by: David Steimann

Starring:

Bill Goldberg .... Santa
Douglas Smith .... Nicolas Yuleson
Emilie de Ravin .... Mary 'Mac' MacKenzie
Robert Culp .... Grandpa
Dave Thomas .... Pastor Timmons

Special Appearances:


Saul Rubinek .... Mr. Green
Michael David Simms .... Captain Caulk
Rebecca Gayheart .... Gwen Mason
Chris Kattan .... Jason Mason
Fran Drescher .... Virginia Mason
Alicia Loren .... Beth Mason
Annie Sorell .... Taylor Mason

Release Date: Direct-to-DVD: October 25, 2005 (Canada)

Images courtesy at: www.outnow.ch

    

 

 

Rating:

 

On Christmas Eve in Town Hellship of 2005 Santa Claus arrives with his helldeer killing locals as well as giving deadly presents for children who open them and a teenager named Nicholas Yuleson (Douglas Smith) asks his Grandpa (Robert Culp) as to why this is happening as he seems to know about it all and finds out that Santa was originally a demon and lost a bet with an Angel so he had to be jolly to kids until the the bet was off and wants revenge.
Then it's Christmas day and families are being killed with deadly presents he brought to them or killing any street local too.
Nicholas and his girlfriend Mary MacKenzie (Emile de Raven) tries to do anything to put a stop to Santa before Christmas is over.

 

There's a good jumping moment when a camera pans towards a chimney with dirt falling tand then Santa smashes through a wall and quick shots on him slaying a family at a dinner table.
There's a good moment with a grumpy customer cursing out Nicolas Yuleson and Mary 'Mac' MacKenzie working at the store just looking unimpressed which looked quite natural.
A good shot on a supporting character Mrs. Talbot by driving in her car coughing while smoking a cigarette and losing conciousness while we spot a nice shot on Santa charging by with his helldeer which looked creepylike as well as good shots on him crashing the car off the road.
There's a moment with Nicolas entering his house realising it's too quiet with him acting scared which looked a little lacking but then it picks up when he walks down a stairway to a basement giving it that spookylike moment to it.
There's a strong conversation scene with Nicolas asking his grandfather what the true menaing of Christmas is really all about which alot of comedic elements are used during this discussion.
Nice shot on Nicolas reading a book about how Santa came to be with nice claymantion shots on the history of Santa and Nicolas himself doing a voice over reading the book.
There's a corny moment on a preacher in a church talking about beliefs on Christmas as the situation really made it look impressive showing that this person is a phony.
Many good takes on Santa in a strip bar terrorising everyone there along with shots on him battling a bartender and bar patron being thrown around and slaughtered as well as a nice shot on him causing a line of fire with strippers freaking out and a nice shot on him looking at them with his one liner telling them that they were naughty leaving a good horror-comedy moment throughout this whole scene.
There's a scene between Nicolas at a police station talking to the police chief dressed in a Santa suit which shows a good conversation with him by trying to act serious about an evil Santa invading their town with police chief acting comedic by not taking him serious and acting like a moron which worked quite well.
A good moment with both Nicolas and Mary in a vehicle with him trying to tell her about what he found out about Santa and then a nice distant shot on Santa coming out of a police car walking up towards them and Nicolas himself panicking to tell her to drive away as well as some good shots on Santa on top of their vehicle looking down on them cackling. This was the most energetic moments of them all.
A good shot on Grandpa trying to distract Santa by mocking him while we spot shots on both Mary and Nicolas trying to start up a snowmobile which looked impressive.
Many good shots on de Mary trying to get away from Santa in a community centre in which we spot many dark shots on all of this. There's good camera close up's on Santa's boots walking towards them.
Nice shot on Santa charging a snow machine at a rink towards both Nicolas and Mary with a great close up shot on her screaming in terror.
There's a cheesy discussion between Santa and Grandpa having a showdown at the rink but there's a good shot on a special effects with a sharp line of the ice cracking when they try to see who wins this battle.
Bottom line is that I had a feeling this was going to be another bad Christmas slasher flick and I was right. I mean Santa originally a demon and then he is good until he wins his bet again? C'mon that is very sick and definetely not advisable for children to watch that still believes in St. Nick. This Santa killer was almost molded into a Freddy Krueger type of killer but he's not the least bit scary as intentioned and it blends with zany and goofy dark comedy too which doesn't work at all.
He has one reindeer which is a helldeer and that doesn't even work. There were the odd fun touches which saves the film from bombing along with a descent Z-grade budget but apart from all of that this one bites.
This film seemed to spoof A Nightmare On Elm Street and Silent Night Deadly Night but those ones had a much better storyline and a bigger budget too. This film didn't spark controversy because of two things. Either it wasn't that well known or the horror film industry is so big that no one cares what it will be about.
They tries to make this film as original as possible but were very unsuccessful.

Bill Goldberg (Santa) is a famous WCW wrestler in which of course he portrays a character on those types of shows but can he play a character on an actual film? Well, not really as he seemed a little too corny just using the kinds of character you'd see in a WCW show. He tried to be humoress doing away his victims like a Freddy Krueger type of fashion. However, he seems to fail at it.
Douglas Smith
(Nicolas Yuleson) who plays the teenage type of hero in the film isn't overly terrific but his energy is still there and tries the best he could for each scene he did. So he is just passable but nothing too special.
Emilie de Raven (Mary 'Mac' MacKenzie) will better off be remembered as the bully in the remake TV movie version of Carrie but yet she plays a nice girl in this film as she does it well too. She really knew how to panic and act frightened too. She just doesn't seem to stand out as much in this one that's all.
Robert Culp
(Grandpa) really knew how to play an eccentric goofy grandfather in the film showing many interesting characteristics with a dark secret. However, I've seen him do better in other shows as he seems like a washed up actor in this one.
Dave Thomas
(Pastor Timmons) brought some decent humor as a sleazy type of preacher in this one. It was as if he was trying to be like Jimmy Swaggert. I've always admired his talents in the shows I've seen him in.

Numerous bit part actresses portrayed topless strippers at a sleazy bar in which most of the nudity you could tell had breast implants.

Many people are impaled or stabbed by sharp Christmas like objects throughout the film
Two kids heads explode while opening a present
Heads are whacked by an axe and other deadly objects
Helldeer explodes with it's guts flying around
A preacher is stabbed right through a flagpole looking very bloodied

There's many strong classical music for the Santa attacks and other suspeseful moment listening to trombone playing as well as the typical violin chords. We also hear some drum banging too all composed by Henning Lohner. The music sounds very mainstream unlike this flick itself in which this composer really worked hard on the music.

Virginia Mason: Santa?
[laughs nervously]
Santa Claus: Yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus!

Gwen Mason: [panicked, desperately] I've been good!
[Santa hits her with a table leg]

Mary "Mac" Mackenzie: You hit like a girl.
Nicholas Yuleson: You kiss like a guy.

Santa Claus: I'm Santa Claus, not Dracula!

Santa Claus: Looks like Grandpa got run over by a reindeer.

Santa Claus: [while reading a copy of the book 'A Christmas Carol' in the school library] Boy, Christmas can sure scare the Dickens out of people.

Nicholas Yuleson: The clock just struck midnight at the pole. Christmas is officially over for you, Santa!
Santa Claus: You know, most people make the same mistake. The correct time at the pole is completely discretionary, because the poles are where all the time zones actually converge.
Mary "Mac" Mackenzie: He's scary, yet educational.