Good Tidings

source: Good Tidings

I watched this expecting a laughable deranged Santa movie, a genre I love. I was shocked to find I was warching a really good slasher movie. I cared about the characters, and the acting was good! I was greatly surprised that it was not the typical Deranged Santa Killing People At Random film I expected. Kudos to the actors, (especially Adam and Roxy) director, and writers, and thanks for a movie I cared about! Stop reading now. It tells me I need a couple hundred more characters to submit my review, but I have said everything I want to say. I have nothing else I want to say. We wish you a merry Christmas.....

A trio of sociopathic serial killers, wearing santa claus outfits and masks, target a group of squatters who are held up in a vacant courthouse building for the holiday season. We follow the de-facto leader of the squatters as he; a recovering addict; one of the main organizers of the group; and a guy they just met and took in; try to survive and attempt to exact justice...or vengeance...for their now deceased friends. Clearly the largest and most intimidating santa is the dominant force of the trio; with the two others coming off as probably inbred- definitely mentally-ill- twins. There's not much context given to the narrative...it's all just a senseless violence splatterfest. But the characters are developed pretty well. The acting from the two female leads- particularly the woman who plays the main organizer- is excellent. Her trauma feels truly genuine. However, what the guy goes through requires some suspension of disbelief...though, by this point you are invested in their survival...so it's not too bad. There's quite a bit of gore- which is hit or miss. The use of sausages as intestines was pretty cheesy, but the finale was badass. And overall the special effects are pretty good. In the end, it's entertaining enough, if you are just looking for senseless Christmas violence. But I felt it could have had more depth with a little more attention to detail. 5.5 out of 10.

I don't exactly know what is about the combination of Christmas and horror that goes so well together. Maybe it's the fact that after so much cheer, one can't help but crave a bit of senseless slaughter. "Good Tidings" is about a group of homeless people, locked in a court house who are hunted by three seemingly mindless killers, each dressed as Santa Claus. While the three psychotic, serial killer Santas are silent throughout the film, you manage to get a sense of their individual personalities through their interactions with each other and their victims. The smallest of the three "Curly" seems to simply be following orders from his superiors and doesn't appear to understand the permanence of death or the consequences of his actions. He is child like and almost sympathetic. The second in command displays the most amount of blood lust, killing indiscriminately and without mercy. The leader and largest of the three attempts to keep the other two in line, demonstrating some kind of intelligence and sense of awareness that the other two lack. The three killer Santas have their own conflicts and at times fight among each other as opposed to their victims. All this is shown through non verbal gestures, that manage to make these three even more terrifying and unpredictable. The idea of having the victims consist of the homeless and former drug users gave "Good Tidings" a level of depth absent from typical slasher films. Seeing the victims being slaughtered by the embodiment of Christmas serves as a metaphor for just how cruel and unfair the holiday season can be to the less fortunate. At the start of the film, the homeless are brought together by a war veteran, who attempts to provide them shelter as well as help with their various problems with addiction. A great scene within the first twenty minutes of the movie shows the veteran talking to a former heroine addict. The veteran explains that he had lost his wife and child long ago and hopes to dedicate his life to helping others. The veteran represents the true altruistic meaning of Christmas, while the three killer Santas represent the materialistic and self serving side of the holiday season. The Santas treat the homeless like objects that exist only for their amusement. The use and break them, like children playing with toys, only to discard them when they get bored. On the opposite end of the dichotomy, the veteran cares only about saving as many people as possible and shows great remorse for those he fails to save. It's easy to find a slasher with nothing more than gratuitous gore and violence, but it's less common to find one with an strong underlying message. "Good Tidings" manages to supply enough blood to satisfy most seasoned gore hounds, while managing to serve as an insightful social commentary.

Good Tidings