‘Werewolf Santa’ FrightFest 2023 Review: Holiday Horror Comedy Light on Howls
When the killer Santa slasher Silent Night, Deadly Night was released, it had Christian parents in an uproar over the idea that their precious, home-invading chimney dweller in a red suit could possibly be portrayed as anything but jolly. Wouldn’t somebody please think of the children!? The Santa horror genre has featured loads of murderous Saint Nicks since, but one can’t help but giggle at the idea of those same parents raging over writer/director Airell Anthony Hayles’ found footage film, Werewolf Santa, which just played at Frightfest.
Set in Hastings, England, this hairy Christmas adventure follows Lucy (Katherine Rodden) and her “casual boyfriend” Dustin (Charlie Preston). The pair of YouTubers host a show called Monster Hunter, which features them roaming the country in search of legendary creatures. Their latest hunt has brought them back to Lucy’s hometown with a mission to find evidence of werewolves, which are said to have been around the area since the late 1700s. But when they encounter a werewolf-bitten Santa Claus, they decide it’s up to them to stop the wolfed-out gift-giver and save Christmas before he delivers death to everyone in town.
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If that sounds stupid, well, that’s because it is. Yet—and this feels odd to say—Werewolf Santa isn’t quite dumb enough. What sounds like a silly sleigh ride instead delivers something akin to that feeling when your Aunt Sheila gets you the knockoff version of an item on your Christmas list. Rather than leaning all the way into the goofy concept and going big on laughs, Hayles’ film too often finds itself focusing on ineffective emotional beats or scares without bite, transforming into an underwhelming experience.
Werewolf Santa starts out slinging some good laughs, with comic-book text explaining that “cave-dwelling werewolves” have existed in Hastings for centuries. We then suddenly jump to clips of Lucy’s show, followed by a storybook retelling of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’, narrated by and featuring legendary film critic Joe Bob Briggs as a cartoon version of himself smoking a pipe with Santa Claus. Christmas and werewolves and JBB, oh my! You’d have to be a Grinch to not have a stupid grin planted on your face through this chaotic yet charming intro. Briggs fans will find it worth the price of admission alone.
Lucy, however, isn’t so thrilled about the holiday spirit. “Fuck Christmas,” she says while she and Dustin drive up to her mother’s house. More or less anti-everything, she dreads seeing the family for the holidays. A child of divorce, Lucy has a strained relationship with her mother Carol (Emily Booth), a woman trying desperately and failing to connect with her daughter, while her father Charlie (Mark Arnold) receives all of Lucy’s love. You can’t help but feel sorry for the girl, constantly caught in the middle of her parent’s bickering.
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Hayles fills the screen with an eerie holiday aesthetic as soft snow and atmospheric fog hang in the air while Lucy and Dustin escape the house to look for werewolves. Then a bloodied man comes stumbling out of the woods, and Werewolf Santa suddenly falls victim to an avalanche of confusion.
At around 70 minutes, Hayles’ film wastes no time in getting right to the meat of the story, yet the blistering pace leaves the audience behind in a snowbank. It feels as if Hayles is in a constant rush to get to the next scene, any tension or suspense melting in the face of choppy editing. The director takes advantage of the found footage format by cutting away from the occasional carnage or inserting text to explain what’s occurred off-screen, likely to avoid shining a light on the film’s Halloween store werewolf. It’s a bit of a cheat and feels like it, inspiring the nagging sense that pieces are missing all throughout. Perhaps a werewolf shredded the film reel. Either way, it’s easy to get lost in this blizzard of nonsense.
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Awkward dialogue and tired performances do little to draw the audience in, as well. Hayles is clearly passionate about wanting to deliver a fun werewolf movie—even inserting a creepy (though unfitting) haunted house set piece at one point—but that giddiness gets lost through unenthusiastic portrayals that come off as detached. Lucy and Co. react to werewolves and dead bodies with no more than a shoulder shrug, declaring they must save Christmas with the same energy of a hungover mall Santa facing a long line of preschoolers. Most joke deliveries fall flat. Even the traditional themes of family and coming together with holiday spirit have as much weight as a snowball, in part due to Werewolf Santa’s inability to build character relationships organically.
All throughout, the film remains as jumbled as its intro. Attempts at a comic-book theme come and go. Random bits of expositional lore are squeezed into the narrative like stuffing a holiday turkey. And inconsistent tones clash, lessening the comedy as well as the horror. Werewolf Santa is a knotted mess of Christmas lights, stringing together various threads marred by burnt-out bulbs. It never quite works, but those just looking for a conceptually silly werewolf movie may find some delight in this nonsensical, messy, yet somewhat charming film.
Summary
Werewolf Santa never quite works, but those just looking for a conceptually silly werewolf movie may find some delight in this nonsensical, messy, yet somewhat charming film.
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