“You Better Watch Out” Synopsis: Interwoven stories that take place on Christmas Eve, as told by one festive radio host: A family brings home more than a Christmas tree, a student documentary becomes a living nightmare, a Christmas spirit terrorizes, Santa slays evil.

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Calamity Brains:

A Christmas Horror Story is an anthology movie following four mildly interwoven holiday-themed scary stories. Santa fights zombie elves; a group of teens tangle with ghosts over break; a family is hunted by Krampus; a trip to get a Christmas tree ends in disaster. Some of the stories are stronger than others, but they’re all well done and quite polished.

William Shatner serves as a horror host of sorts, helping provide little interludes between the stories. (Be sure to watch the credits for some more Shatner-y goodness.) You’ll recognize Julian Richings as well, and maybe some others. The actors all do a pretty good job – Orion John and Zoé De Grand Maison in particular are very creepy. Most of the storylines get a good couple of oneliners, too.

Each of the stories aims for a different sort of horror, though all of them involve supernatural forces of evil. There are a couple of jump scares, but for the most part each story focuses on its own sort of terror. I personally thought the Christmas tree story was the best; it had strong acting and was thoroughly creepy. But your mileage may vary.

All in all, A Christmas Horror Story is fairly fun and manages to be both spooky and holiday-appropriate. Even with all the blood and mayhem, there are still some positive Christmas moments in there. It’s enough to make anyone feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Calamity Brains’ Rating: B
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