Santa's Slay (2005)

(Disclaimer: Not all pictures in this article may be appropriate for those under 18.)

They body count in the first 5-10 minutes of this movie was impressive and totally not what I was expecting. Normally horror movies have at least some build up, but this one went directly into stacking bodies. At first this movie also makes you think that Santa is just killing either horrible people or people that you think have it coming in some shape or form, but no. This Santa is just out for everyone.

The main premise of this movie is that Santa lost a bet and has his punishment, for the last 1000 years he was forced to do good. Now that his time is up, he is returning to his old ways and the trying to find a way to stop him is not going to be easy.

For the acting...oh it was so painful. First they casted Bill Goldberg as Santa. It was a very much "Hulk smash" approach to both the killings and the film overall. It would have been better if they would have developed the kills more. Like at first when he goes into the stripper joint the action is engaging (apparently Santa is a germaphobe since he has to clean a stripper pole before he uses it as a weapon), but then it just ends with him setting the place on fire. A lot of the scenes were like this. They started out with potential and then just fizzled out. The rest of the cast, even the lead boy, was just kind of there. None of their performances pulled you in to their story or made you fill any real emotion for them.

Then there was Santa's Reindeer. Or in this case white buffalo... this was very odd. I'm not sure if the film makers didn't know the difference between a reindeer and a buffalo or what. It would have been cooler if they would have went for a disfigured Reindeer. They could have even had a story with it that it was disfigured because of the evil infestation of Santa's magic. Totally a lost chance for some coolness.

Christmas/Holiday horror is still a small branch of the over all horror genre, but it is growing every year. At this point there are enough better Christmas horror films that you can watch. I would recommend this one as a one time view, but not worth more time then that. 2 stars out of 5 or a D.

Picture 1 From: https://christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Santa%27s_Slay

Picture 2 from: https://www.cultcelebrities.com/santas-slay-2005/

Picture 3 From: https://www.cultcelebrities.com/santas-slay-2005/

Picture 4 From: https://invasionofthebmoviesarchive.blogspot.com/2011/12/santas-slay.html

Picture 5 From: https://aminoapps.com/c/horror/page/item/santas-slay/5BZF_5Iaa8R5k608poBG7KdPvmBgk34

Picture 6 From: https://www.cultcelebrities.com/santas-slay-2005/