Movie Review - Santa's Slay (2005)

Christmas Movie a Day #9
Santa's Slay
Starring Bill Goldberg and Emilie de Ravin
Directed by David Steiman

After last year's complete and utter enjoyment of the Christmas horror classic You Better Watch Out (AKA Christmas Evil), I figured why not watch some more silly Christmas nonsense. Recommended by poster Cookie Puss (and, based on my limited knowledge of Cookie Puss's favorite movies, I had an general idea what I was getting myself into), Santa's Slay has a pretty neat premise, but unfortunately is actually too polished of a movie to succeed fully. It's a really awful movie wrapped up in too nice of a package...then again, there is something to be said for a movie that places the Olympic sport of curling front and center as a major plot point.

In case you were unaware, Santa happens to be the son of Satan. In the year 1005, Santa was approached by an angel and the two entered into a bet (this is where the curling thing comes into play). Santa loses and is forced to be kind and good for 1000 years. Cut to 2005 and Santa's through with being nice, enacting revenge on all the kids who have sent him letters over the years.

Sure, it's stupid, but I actually kind of enjoyed the idea behind this flick. Silly, yes, but they actually spent a decent amount of time explaining the backstory (partly done via some nifty claymation-like animation) and, shockingly, it actually made sense. However, when the film shifts to the modern day, it doesn't quite work. The kills aren't as graphic as I'd hope they'd be. The two kids that Santa is chasing are completely underdeveloped (but not underdeveloped enough to fall into the "so bad, it's good" mentality). And the last fifteen minutes of the film were a complete anti-climax. It ended without any type of showdown between the good and bad...quite a disappointment.

Still, it's a silly diversion, with an amusing turn by some pro-wrestler as Santa.

The RyMickey Rating: C-
The Christmas Spirit Scale: 5/10
(The Christmas Spirit Scale is a totally pointless rating that is simply my feeling about how "Christmas-y" the movie felt to me)