‘Elf in the Hood’ VOD Review
Stars: Michele Chavez, Chad Davis-Lenette, Sabina Gavrilov, Taylor Latham, Tidus, Kerry Walker, Tiffanie Williams | Written and Directed by Jamaal Burden
Well, you can’t say I didn’t know what I was getting into with the title Elf in the Hood. I could be wrong, but I think the only other horror icon to go ‘in the hood’ was Leprechaun, in the cult classic (is it even that?!) movie starring Warwick Davis and Ice T. But because I will watch pretty much any Christmas movie, I was happy to give Elf in the Hood a watch.
In Elf in the Hood, a couple find a mysterious doll (that looks a bit like an Elf), and they then awaken an evil spirit, which leads to a Christmas Eve that leaves them fighting for their lives.
The oddest thing about Elf in the Hood, well, maybe not THE oddest thing, the film has a few contenders for that spot, is that for quite a chunk of the movie, it tries to take itself quite seriously. The scenes change between Elf killing people and characters talking quite seriously in ‘proper’ acting scenes. Thankfully, these dialogue-heavy scenes never quite get to the stage of being boring, but they get close. And they do feel, as is expected, a little bit out of place. The actors do okay with the lines, but generally, you’ll just be waiting for that Elf to appear.
Now, talking about the elf. I was not a fan of the choice to make it CGI. It seems such an odd decision, and even more so when the death scenes have practical effects. I guess the argument could be made that because of the size of the Elf it needed to be CGI, but maybe just make the Elf a bit bigger? It wouldn’t have changed anything in the movie at all. The elf isn’t particularly scary either. They don’t have the same presence as, say, Chucky, and the look of it isn’t good, while the less said about his voice, the better. This is all a shame because those practical effects used in the death scenes are actually pretty great. There’s one scene with someone’s foot and a saw that will leave even the hardened horror fan wincing, and this isn’t the only scene. More of this type of thing and less of the talking and Elf in the Hood would have been a lot more entertaining.
This actually isn’t director Jaamal Burden’s first movie about killer Elves. He previously directed the less excitingly titled Elves. A film that I have seen and don’t believe has any connection with this new one. And Elf in the Hood is an improvement on it. Burden just doesn’t quite get that mix of silly B-movie style horror and more serious genre-making right with this one. Maybe this was restricted because of the budget, but as said previously, if Elf in the Hood had gone all out with the silliness and the blood and gore, it would have been a much better film.
Without this, Elf in the Hood is another very average horror movie that only the die-hard Christmas horror fans like myself will get much enjoyment out of.
Elf in the Hood is available on digital platforms now.
