‘Santastein’ Review
Stars: Fletcher Hammond, Jared Korotkin, Ophelia Rivera, Michael Vitovich, Damian Edwards | Written and Directed by Manuel Camilion, Benjamin Edelman
Santastein actually came out last year and, despite a plot that sounds like Weird Science meets Christmas Bloody Christmas, totally escaped my notice until now when I saw it while scrolling through Tubi and decided to give it a watch.
As the film begins, we learn a pair of troubling pieces of information. First, we find out that bodies have been vanishing from the Lincoln County Morgue, then we learn that it’s been years since Santa has delivered any presents, in fact the Jolly Old Elf seems to have vanished. There is, of course, a connection between the two stories. As a child, Max Causey (Fletcher Hammond; Home for Thanksgiving, Lost Memory). As a child, his attempts to prove Santa exists accidentally rendered him extinct and buried in the backyard.
Now, eighteen-year-old Max (Jared Korotkin; Bathroom Break) is determined to atone for that and resurrect him. He and fellow nerd Paige (Ophelia Rivera) have already brought a rat back to life. Max saved Saint Nick’s brain, in a jar labelled “Santa’s Brain” of course, before he buried the body. Now he just needs a new body to put it in, hence the mayhem at the morgue.
Santastein was written and directed by Manuel Camilion (The Dark Priests of Sagamuth, Meme Boy) and Benjamin Edelman (Meme Boy) who have their tongues firmly in their cheeks through the first part of the film. If the plot itself and the brain in the jar didn’t make that clear enough, the scene where Max brings the titular creature (Michael Vitovich; Lady Ballers, Did I?) to life is a mix of sight gags and references to Universal’s 1931 Frankenstein.
But unlike Frankenstein, this is no misunderstood gentle giant, Santastein is an evil bastard who quickly sets out on a killing spree that leads him towards a raging Christmas house party. Can Max avoid the morgue attendant (Damian Edwards; Pink) out to get him for the missing bodies long enough to stop his creation?
Once the Christmas carnage begins, the film does take its self a bit more seriously, staging some of its kills with an emphasis on scares. But it can’t help tossing in a bloody parody of A Christmas Story’s most famous scene, or a character dooming himself by stroking his candy cane to pictures of Mrs. Claus in Sleighboy, a holiday-themed skin mag. Unfortunately, a couple of other potentially amusing ideas involving exploding cookies and what looks like the Christmas edition of the Necronomicon goes nowhere.
Unlike a lot of other horror comedies, Santastein doesn’t try to be the next Scary Movie and manages to avoid straying too far into silliness with its humour. That was something I was worried about with a plot that was already verging on the ridiculous. Wisely, though, Camilion and Edelman keep the jokes mostly tied into the slasher genre, with the odd seasonal or generic horror gag thrown in. While none of it had me loudly ho ho ho-ing, it did keep me entertained and occasionally chuckling.
There are a few effects, and while they are practical they tend to fall towards the cheesy, overly low-budget side of things, such as a severed head that doesn’t bleed. That isn’t too much of a problem, given the film’s comedic tone, I can see why the filmmakers might want to avoid overly gruesome kills, but tossing a little blood around wouldn’t have hurt either.
Overall, Santastein is an enjoyable indie effort that, despite being rough around the edges and lacking familiar faces, gets enough right to deliver some holiday cheer. In fact, it delivers more entertainment than many of those films, with cameos by multiple genre stalwarts and not much else.
*** 3/5
Santastein is available on Tubi, Screambox, and other platforms via Cineverse Entertainment.
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