Home Video: Four Great Christmas Horror Films and Where to Buy, Rent, or Stream Them
Christmas horror is an underrated genre, so here are Four Great Christmas Horror Films and Where to Buy, Rent, or Stream Them!
Every year, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of heartwarming Christmas movies to rewatch in which characters rediscover love, goodwill toward others, and the general Christmas spirit. There are also dozen of holiday action movies that have become annual viewing for many families around the world.
An underrated genre, though, is the holiday horror film. There are numerous entries with numerous…
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Des Teufels Bad - Trailer
Dir: Veronika Franz / Severin Fiala
Star: Anja Plaschg / David Scheid / Maria Hofstätter
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The Lodge (2019)
Oh to have been a fly on the wall of the horror movie conference where they apparently decided that “Nearer My God to Thee” would be the genre’s shorthand hymn for creepy religious-inflected shit. The lyrics are simple and repetitive, delivering a message which should be construed as comforting, but can come across as disturbing and fatalistic when sung by a group of vampiric islanders or a shattered family huddled around a dining room table in a remote cabin. The Lodge trucks in layers of religious expression as it unravels Grace. The family this woman comes into has a seemingly devout Catholic faith, as evidenced by numerous crucifixes adorning the walls of their cabin as well as a painting of the Virgin Annunciate. At least their mother was faithful, presumably. Complicating matters is Grace’s own relationship to faith, a deeply traumatizing one at that given her survival of a suicide cult. As the walls close in and the meds disappear, Grace’s volatile mental state becomes ripe for exploitation. Angry at this intruder’s presence in their family and home, Aiden and Mia seek to destroy Grace by exploiting her perception of reality itself through the lens of this upbringing. Perhaps this snowy, isolated hell truly is Purgatory, and there’s enough uncertainty in both the events taking place onscreen and the editing of the film to cast doubt on what is real and what is perceived. Disturbing images keep floating to the surface: the word REPENT smudged on a mirror, snow angels arrayed like corpses on a field, obituaries for the cabin’s residents. This is peppered throughout with guilt-trip notions of the deceased mother, seeing and nurturing guilt and discomfort in Grace. By the close, she’s a shell of her former self, utterly shattered. But the kiddies played themselves, suffering in a trap of their own construction.
This film falls into that category for me of a movie which is well made, well acted, clearly has a specific vision, and yet can’t rise above adequacy for me. Throughout the entire runtime, I was constantly reminded of other movies where I’d seen an idea first, perhaps movies I’d rather be watching. Constant parallels to Mia’s dollhouse with its disturbing models does the movie no favor in recalling the miniatures of the far more arresting Hereditary, for one thing. The Shining comes to mind any time isolated wintry locales are used, and gaslighting psychological horror is a favorite standby. Running through the film is the stark religious zealotry of Saint Maud. The utter familial brutality of the closing moments nod to Funny Games or the like, albeit without the meta aspect. The Lodge commits to its austere tone with admirable clarity. But there are only so many movie ideas out there, and it’s films like this one which remind me of that more clearly.
THE RULES
SIP
Someone says ‘Christmas’ or ‘Thanksgiving’.
A gun is fired.
The cult is mentioned.
Religious iconography.
BIG DRINK
Closeup of the dolls.
Nosebleed.
A dream sequence ends.
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GOODNIGHT MOMMY PLOT HOLE: ummm why are they so confused about whether or not that’s mommy when she’s literally labeled………..
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