You Better Watch Out (2013)

   

Written & Directed by: Jason Byrne & Michael Welch

Starring:

Alex Harris .... Rich
Mark Mohlgemuth .... Steve
Jocelyn Padilla .... Lori
David Civitarese .... Ricky "the Acid King"
Jeff Rego .... Dean
Tony Medeiros .... Holy Hitman
Michael Welch .... Santa Claus
Keith Cooper .... Old Man New Year

Release Date:
Direct-to-DVD: June 20, 2013

 

Rating:

 

On a Thanksgiving weekend a group of friends discuss some scary holiday stories.

All Hallows Eve discusses a psychotic killer Ricky the Acid King (David Civitarese) entering a creepy old house that has some dark secrets of it's own as well as an unexpected family member.

Here Comes Santa Claus is about a preacher Holy Hitman (Tony Medeiros) planning to kill Santa Claus (Michael Welsh) but however this jolly fellow just won't die and is in for a shock of his life for being naughty.

Auld Lang Syne is set on New Years Eve with Old Man New Year (Keith Cooper) realising that he is getting young again after drinking blood from victims.

 

A ridiculous horror anthology with the beginning of the wraparound story in which we see what looks to be someone spying at a cabin in the woods but yet too amateurishly done to give anyone the chills.
It becomes even more dull with the three group of friends having a conversation along with them deciding to tell the first tale on a holiday season. The audio was very airy which peeved me.

-All Hallows Eve-


This chapter I quite liked but not enough to saving it from bombing as in the beginning looked a bit rough but watchable with a nice camera shot looking up on Ricky "the Acid King" after doing a deadly deed. I do admit that this looked intense at the same time as to what he did.
Then when they go to a hideout in a basement of a home it gets really exciting as they discover a pentagram and other sorts as this offers nice timing as to what will happen next. The settings looked perfectly dark and looked like those cheesy retro horror flicks.
Something suddenly happens making the moments chilling and mysterious which made me want to watch for what is to happen next.
Ricky's sidekick spots a woman who wants to seduce him but she isn't cinsidered hot plus it didn't seem overly convincing. To top it off it shows her ghoulish side and instead of showing ghostly effects you can see the camera changing to that scene which looked amateurishly done.
Meanwhile Ricky is confronted by his ghostly father with nicely drawn in camera shots on the two of them as he is confronting his son as to what he did. Although the scene is roughly done it was well written into the story as well as some nice horror touches during this scene.
A shame this was the only good chapter.

The friends from the wraparound story returns as one of them goes to the bathroom. When this happens he hallucinates situations as to what happened in the first chapter which was supposed to look chilling and mysterious. Yet it doesn't cut it.

-Here Comes Santa Claus-

This story lacked big time in which it spots an obnoxious Bishop commanding Holy Hitman to kill Santa as I found this to be perfectly twisted as ministers at a cathedral wouldn't do such a thing as this. Were the people that did this flick on some heavy duty LSD???
Next up Hitman gets his gear and gets ready while Santa himself puts on his gloves and so fourth. Good close up camera shots on this. But at the same time it looked way too corny while watching both of these scene's.
More uninspired and cornballish moments when Santa is delivering presents at someone's house with a broad getting kinky with him which looked so unnatural and silly too only to being set up for Hitman to try and kill him.
Things get pointless more and more as this Hitman realises while trying to bury Santa thart he keeps coming back to life and finds more way to try and kill him which was a total time waster while watching the outcomes.
Near the end of this chapter Santa explains as to how he can never die which was cleverly written into the story but the conversations lacked a bit.

We're back at the wraparound story of the three friends as they hear sounds coming from their cabin as this time I had to admit this seemed very interesting but not enough to save this clunker from bombing.

-Auld Lang Syne-

This one really bites as we have the story taking place shortly before new years with this moronic character Old Man New Year in which he has troubles with paying his rent. His landlady gets on his case about it all. It just looked irritating to watch the outcomes here.
What was an attention grabber is when he accidently stabs his finger and is really getting into sucking his own blood which drew my attention that he is becoming a vampire but trust me no effects on him with fangs or changing his appearances on looking like a creature of the night.
He invites a hooker over to his place in which I had a sinking feeling on what he will do to her. Their discussions looked very wooden so I was thankful that he was about to do her in.
When he spots a homeless person the situations improved a bit and I do mean a bit. It looked okay by this bum being hungry but Old Man says he has no food but gets an idea how to get some in which it focused on the dead hooker he left in his bathroom which the thought of it is absolutely revolting. Thankfully there was nothing graphic revealed here since the makers were on a shoe string budget.
The struggling situations by this homeless person and Old Man really lacked and needed a kick in the butt.
Another really sick moment is when he sets up a pregnant woman into his home only to tie and gag her as this was supposed to look intense but this fails as well. However he tells her what he wants to do with her unborn child along with what he does is terribly sick and shocking.

Things wrap up with the wraparounfd story in which the three friends are in for a deadly terror which looked fair and I was thinking. Good now I can be done with this piece of trash.

Bottom line is that making this flick was a complete waste of time except for the first chapter as I was hoping after that one I'd be satisfied and I was dead wrong. They had a fair quality camera but the editing and audio needed some work This film is very obscure and I can see why. Don't waste your time with this piece of garbage.

The acting is very bad and only certain one's are worth mentioning ao I will dig up on what I can here.

-All Hallows Eve-

David Civitarese (Ricky "the Acid King") tried his best as you can tell but was a bit stiff in his role as a killer and other sorts. Yet he shows some okay energy as well as his uptight speaking is almost there along with his aggressions. He deserves a pat on the back but needed some acting lessons at the same time.

Mark Mohlgemuth
(Steve) plays his sidekick in which he acts like a pussy in which he seemed to have done this in a fair fashion. He shows a decent hyperactive attitude and had the nerdy looks too which suited his character.

-Here Comes Santa Claus-

Tony Medeiros (Holy Hitman) does the job with his obnoxious attitude but he isn't award winning material. At the same time he seemed to show some good intense energy within whatever he did and tried his best here.

Michael Welch (Santa Claus) however couldn't act his way out of a wet paper bag. He just said his lines and sounded nothing like a jolly old fellow. Shows off no emotions or characteristics. He doesn't even have the looks for this role. He was one of the filmmakers so go figure.

-Auld Lang Syne-

Keith Cooper
(Old Man New Year) got too carried away with his menacing attitude and was overly annoying and stale in his role. At times he seemed to have improved like having a sympatheitc type in certain parts of the story but really lacking for the most part in other areas like mentioned.

Phony looking slit throats
Phony neck bites.
Bullet holes on Santa's head.
An unborn child is torn out.

Jason Byrne does a better job with this piece than what he did with the whole film in which he has a nice cheesy organ sounding in some spots as it suited the scene. Odd whooshing and chiming sounds which was well put in. Yet in the second chapter an instrumental version of "Silent Night" is a little overly played and drove me nuts a bit. Yet there's a memorable wavy deep music sounding gloomy which almost pay off to horror italian composers which sounded great.