When watching a movie as an official reviewer, the first question I need to answer is always – does the movie contain enough quality material to deserve a purchase? When it comes to Blood Moon Pictures and Scream Teaming Releasing’s latest title, the answer to that question is definitely yes. As far as specific collections go, 13 Slays Till X-Mas is one of the best Christmas horror anthologies in recent years. It’s currently available for pre-order here and features segments from some of the best minds in the indie horror community including PJ Starks, Shawn Burkett, Derek Huey, Emily James, Shane Bitterling, Drew Marvick, Robert Kern, Ellie Drews and many, many, MANY more. I wish I could name every behind-the-scenes individual who worked on this project, but this review would just turn into one giant IMDB page. And what that means, since 13 Slays Till X-Mas is untouched by Hollywood, is that each film-maker delivers the right content to their demographic. This was made by horror fans for horror fans, and you can always purchase your copy now and hold onto it until December for a special holiday treat.
13 Slays Till X-Mas follows five men on Christmas Eve as they arrive at a dive-bar after being beckoned by a mysterious email. As they start slinging drinks and passing the time, they swap scary stories and yuletide horror legends so ghastly that Santa himself would weep. The night progresses, and dark and deadly secrets are brought to the surface as the five men confront their worst fears on the night before Christmas. Some of the many segments you’ll find in 13 Slays Till X-Mas include a killer Christmas tree, an evil Christmas clown, an evil Elf on the Shelf and other tales that turn December 25th into a blood-soaked and psychotic nightmare. Featured in these shorts are actors and actresses including Toussant Morrison, Jay Woolston, Christopher Bower, Lauren Argo, Julie Streble, Sasha Schectman, Brian Boggs, Chris Killian, Francis Whitaker, Steven Potts, Cassandra Brian, Kaylee Williams, Roni Jonah, Jeffrey Reddick, Sadie Katz, Wes Bartlett and Greg Harpold.
13 Slays Till X-Mas has great special effects, different and difficult themes, a lot of supernatural elements, better than expected acting and a very hot cop (you know who you are). Most importantly, the mood, feel and atmosphere are on point, and the film actually feels like a cozy Christmas story instead of a scary movie that’s trying to appeal to an audience. Since this exists in a specific subgenre of horror, its atmosphere needed to come correct and thank god each and every one of these film-makers were able to capture the Christmas spirit so accurately while coming off suspenseful, diabolical and gory. My only complaint is that style choices behind-the-camera made a few of the shorts look wildly different than the majority of the segments. The lighting, mostly, really jumped out at me when they were different and took me out of the experience as a viewer. I’m not saying that they look bad by any means; just that it was obvious that different people had their hands on this anthology.
Fun, frightening, festive and fantastically ferocious, 13 Slays Till X-Mas is the perfect title to add to your Christmas viewing list. And, you know, people love doing Christmas in July or Christmas whenever the fuck they want; so technically you could still buy this title when you’re in the mood for a good time. I expected nothing less than top-notch work when I saw this movie was available for pre-order by Scream Team Releasing. The company is known for giving street dates to some of the best independent titles in recent years including 10/31, The Barn, The Sleeper and Straight Edge Kegger, and I’m positive that 13 Slays Till-Xmas is going to shoot to the top of their catalogue. OK, enough gushing. Watch the trailer for 13 Slays Till X-Mas below and then consider ordering your copy by clicking on the link above.
Final Score: 9 out of 10.
