Fantasia Fest 2024: ‘Carnage For Christmas’ Review
Stars: Jeremy Moineau, Chris Asimos, Dominique Booth, Lewi Dawson, Olivia Deeble, Lisa Fanto, Molly Ferguson, Patty Glavieux, Betsey Brown | Written by Alice Maio Mackay, Benjamin Pahl Robinson | Directed by Alice Maio Mackay
As always, I made sure I got to see the Christmas movie from this year’s Fantasia festival. Carnage for Christmas sees true-crime podcaster Lola, return to her hometown for the first time since leaving and transitioning, only for an ‘urban myth’ to seemingly also return and start killing again. Lola must solve the case and save the town that didn’t want her.
I don’t mean this in a bad way at all, but Carnage for Christmas feels very familiar to anyone who has seen plenty of slasher films, and more specifically Christmas slasher movies. There are clearly influences here from such films as Silent Night, Deadly Night and Black Christmas. This is of course no bad thing, these are excellent seasonal slashers.
Outside of the ‘legendary killer on the loose in small town’ story, we get the returning Lola. Maybe not a completely original twist on the story but it does give something a little bit different, especially with the history and interactions she has with the people still in the town. Lola also plays an almost Sherlock-like role throughout and this is handled well and never feels too ridiculous.
There’s not as many death scenes as I would have liked to have seen but when we do get to see them on screen the makeup and effects are really good for what I assume is a pretty low budget. The blood and injuries all look really good. On top of that, the killer’s mask and whole ‘look’ is perfectly creepy and one of the best Christmas/Santa-style villains I have ever seen. There’s also some really nice animated sequences that could easily look out of place but actually fit the movie nicely.
The films runs for about ninety minutes, and although it doesn’t drag in the slightest, it almost feels a little bit too calm at times. When the killer isn’t around, there doesn’t feel like there’s enough tension. Another minor complaint, for me at least, is that it doesn’t do enough Christmassy ‘things’. I fully understand this is a personal preference, but when I watch a Christmas horror, I want all the Christmas music, lights, trees, themed deaths and everything else. Carnage for Christmas could almost be set at any time of year most of the time, and that’s a little disappointing. I also wasn’t entirely sure about the comical ending. It didn’t seem like there was enough comedy in the rest of the movie to justify its use in the conclusion.
All that said, I enjoyed Carnage for Christmas. The young filmmaker – 19 year-old Alice Maio Mackay – is clearly very talented (this is somehow her sixth movie too!), so the movie looks great and there’s a host of great performances from the cast. Jeremy Moineau seems to be acting not only in their first lead role but first role entirely. And they do very well.
Mackay is a director to look out for and there’s no better way as an introduction to her work, than adding this to your Christmas horror watch list each year.
*** 3/5
Carnage for Christmas screened as part of this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival.
