Who's Your Daddy? "Little Evil"

Little Evil (2017)

TV-MA

Starring Adam Scott, Evangeline Lilly, Owen Atlas, Sally Field, Clancy Brown,

Written and Directed by Eli Craig

The Story:

Gary (Scott) has married the woman (Lilly) of his dreams. However she comes with a little bit of baggage in the form of her son, Lucas (Atlas). Gary's trying to warm up to the kid, but he seems a little cold and indifferent to Gary. That may because his real dad is...you know... Satan.

This horror comedy from Netflix starts off with a great scene, and then has to backtrack to get to that scene again.

The problem is, it takes almost too long to get back to it.

The movie waffles on whether it wants to be horror or if it should be comedy.

The two genres wrestle with one another for screen time instead of being a product of natural storytelling.

Adam Scott suffered a similar fate with last year's Krampus where the story couldn't quite figure out what it wanted to be either.

It's a fine line to balance, but this is brought to us by the man who gave us Tucker & Dale vs. Evil which is possibly the greatest horror comedy of all time.

The movie does pick back up in the last act and makes a satisfying end to the film.

It's still worth your time, especially this time of  year, but I hoped for a bit more with this one, and it just didn't quite click like I would have hoped.

Final Grade: C+

"Krampus" Knows If You've Been Naughty...And Will Make You Regret It!

Krampus (2015)

Rated PG-13

Starring Adam Scott, Toni Collette, Emjay Anthony, Stefania LaVie Owen, David Koechner

Directed by Michael Dougherty

The Story:

Max (Anthony) and his family (Scott, Collette & Owen) have become disillusioned this holiday season. So that means, Krampus has decided to visit the family and rekindle their holiday spirit, even if it kills them!

I've seen a lot of good horror comedies so far this year.

Heck, I have a couple that will be vying for favorite movie of the year honors when all is said and done.

Krampus won't be joining that list.

The main problem, as I saw it, the movie tried too hard to be scary and forgot to be funny.

And then they tried too hard to be funny and would forget to be scary.

So you take a good cast and give them a film with an uneven tone, and the results will be average, at best.

So yes, there's a few good laughs, and a few good scares.

But when it's over, much like the ending, it will be a vague exercise in trying to remember what exactly you just saw.

Final Grade:  C

Nothing Says Spring, Quite Like "A Christmas Horror Story"!!!

A Christmas Horror Story - (2015)

Rated R

Starring William Shatner, George Buza,

Directed by Grant Harvey, Steven Hoban, Brett Sullivan

The Story:

4 holiday horror stories intertwine on Christmas Eve as Dangerous Dan (Shatner), a local radio DJ plays some tunes and gets some holiday feelings off his chest.

The first story has some teens break into their school to shoot a documentary about some students that died in that place previously.

Next, there is a family that goes to visit their grandma, but by behaving poorly, unleash Krampus to wreak vengeance upon them.

Third, a couple take their little boy into the woods to chop down the perfect tree. The boy gets separated from his parents, and they find him much later in a hollow tree. He comes home but is acting much, much differently than before.

Finally, Santa is dealing with the zombie apocalypse as the elves have begun to turn and they are hunting him down. It's kill or be killed with Christmas on the line!

First, they were wise in going the anthology route with this film, because none of the stories, at least as written or presented was strong enough to carry a 90 minute horror film.

It is quite possible they could have been fleshed out and expanded, but for an anthology film, this works.

The problem or the best part is, depending on the viewer, is the cutting back and forth between the stories. Some stories are stronger than others and getting pulled out of that story and having to wait 3 turns for the next bit to see what happens next can be annoying.

Or, if you don't mind the switches, it can be the perfect remedy to create suspense where there might not be any.

Nothing too remarkable here to make this a must-see or repeat viewing during the holiday season (Halloween or Christmas) but good enough for at least one go round.

Final Grade: C