Director: Gregory Jacobs
This is another one that really doesn't have anything to do with Christmas. But when I googled "Christmas horror movies," this one was on everyone's list...So I added it to mine. I learned that, not only does it not have anything to do with Christmas, but it doesn't really have anything to do with horror either. Oh, except for the bad ghosts. My bad.
It's not a bad movie in terms of technicalities. It certainly looks good; it just doesn't play out very well. The concept is not new to...well, anyone, really. So the fact that it has absolutely nothing new to offer (which can still be done with scenarios we've seen over and over) is what makes it fail.
It's about a girl and a guy (that's actually what they're credited as; no names) who decide to drive home together for their Christmas break from college. Girl lives in Delaware, and Guy says he does too, but he ends up just being a stalker. Whoops. I spoiled the whole movie. Oh well. Anyways, since Guy doesn't know a damn thing about Delaware, including how to get there, he gets lost. He, for whatever reason (probably because it was the only way the writers could figure out to get them stranded), he decides to take a scenic route. As horror movie enthusiasts, we know automatically that this isn't a good idea. Nevermind the fact that no one even thought to plow this road to get rid of the snow, meaning it's probably not used very often. Which also means--shocker!--no one will drive by to see Girl and Guy when they're run off the road, trapped in their car, and freezing to death. Except for the ghosts of an evil cop, the people he murdered, and the priests that let him die. This is brilliant writing, don't you think?
Even though Guy is a stalker, Girl starts to have feelings for him. Their relationship really could have turned into something, which was my only real hope for the movie. But sadly, that just doesn't happen. There is an interesting bit of foreshadowing, though it leads absolutely nowhere.
The Good
The movie is actually filmed pretty well, showing that it had at least somewhat of a budget. It looked good. But there was really nothing good about the
The Bad
The ghosts were boring. They weren't scary at all; besides the one who coughed up some sort of snake or something. But I'm sure that was just gross, not scary. The relationship between Girl and Guy could have been okay, if he had not been a stalker. He asked around campus to find out where she was from; he read her text messages to find out that she needed a ride home; then he pretended that he was also from Delaware so that she'd agree to ride with him. And she grew to have feelings for this guy? They were pretty smart, though, so I guess that...no, it doesn't make up for it. The pacing was slow. There were no scares. There was no resolution, or at least none that anyone would care about. The characters were impossible to have any real feelings for, and it was just a dull movie.
Okay, I'm going to do something I've been wanting to do for some time now; I've just never really seen a good chance to do so. But I think it's perfect here.
What I think should have happened
Guy shouldn't have been a stalker. They should have made him out to be an all-round good guy who actually was heading in the same direction as Girl. That way, maybe they could have maybe grew into a healthy relationship. And then, when he died (sorry for the spoiler...), it would have actually meant something.
The ghosts definitely should have been scarier. I mean, it's considered a horror movie, right? Well, scare me, dammit! They should have actually been angry and mean. They surely shouldn't have run into the woods anytime they were spotted.
They had a conversation during their drive about the difference between reincarnation and eternal reccurence. The difference is: reincarnation means coming back as a different person, species, etc. EC is returning to live the same life over and over. I think they should have expanded on this idea, and made what felt like foreshadowing into actual foreshadowing. We could have learned at the end that Girl and Guy were simply re-living something they'd already been through. Or Girl could have returned to the beginning of the movie to re-live the scenario. Something that would have made the whole thing worthwhile.They also found a newspaper article about a couple that was murdered back in the 50s. This should have gone hand in hand with the eternal recurrence thing. Girl and Guy were that couple, re-living 50 years worth of pain and suffering. Not just learning about a whole bunch of accidents that happened on a snow-covered road that hardly anyone used. Big whoop. Shit happens all the time.
So, what do you guys think? Which one sounds like a better movie?
Anyways, even though I'm bashing the hell out of it, it's not the worst movie I've ever seen. It's not even the worst of my Creepmas movies. But I still feel like it could have been a whole hell of a lot better, and that's just downright disappointing. I cannot stand seeing a movie with so much potential that fails to live up to what it could have been.
Day six of Creepmas--meh. It was okay.
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