Alice Maio Mackay returns to the director’s chair with a delightful tale of Christmas carnage!
True-crime podcaster Lola (Jeremy Moineau) returns to her hometown for the first time since transitioning and finds herself facing off against an urban legend – a Santa-clad killer hellbent on bringing chaos to her hometown. Lola must solve the mystery before all hell breaks loose.
Who doesn’t love a Christmas-based slasher? Nothing says yuletide cheer more than blood, guts and indiscriminate slaughter. Carnage for Christmas follows in the iconic footsteps of movies like Black Christmas and Silent Night, Deadly Night. Director Mackay is astonishingly prolific. At a scant 20 years old she has already directed three feature films (including Bad Girl Boogey and T-Blockers) and Carnage for Christmas is her most impressive work to date. Combining beautiful animation sequences, slasher gore and a creepy, hazy, dreamy tone Carnage for Christmas feels like a significant step up from Mackay’s previous work and marks her out as a prestigious talent.
Moineau is an engaging, charismatic lead and while some of the other actors struggle to match their charm the film’s lo-fi DIY stylings are endearing. Carnage for Christmas is clearly a very low-budget movie but made with an immense amount of style and verve.
At a tight 70 minutes Carnage for Christmas is fun, nasty and always entertaining. Alice Maio Mackay goes from strength to strength as a director and we eagerly await what she chooses to do next.