PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Santa slashers have been sleighing for decades, as cult classics like Silent Night, Deadly Night (Check out our franchise ranking here) and Santa’s Slay have given new meaning to what makes old saint Nick so jolly. Just in time for the passage of Christmas comes XXX-mas, the newest slice of holiday horror from director James Dean (Fountaine and the Vengeful Nun Who Wouldn’t Die 2021). So before you take down the tree and put away the decorations, let’s dive into XXX-mas and see where this killer Santa flick lands among the others.
James Dean and Louis Otero (who also wrote Fountaine) wrote XXX-mas. The film stars a “who’s who” of independent horror mavens. The film features Morrigan Thompson (The House That Eats Flesh 2023), Drew Marvick (Pool Party Massacre 2017), and Jonathan May (UN-RESOLVED 2022). The story revolves around a group of struggling actors who assemble to make a porn film, despite their distrusting relationship with the acclaimed director. But when a psychologically damaged Santa Claus shows up with a vendetta, their white Christmas turns red, and the night becomes anything but silent.
The characters in XXX-mas have mostly solid chemistry, and we do get to spend time with them before the massacre erupts. Thompson and May have pretty grounded characters, so they provide a bit of a moral compass and a calming voice to balance out the rest of the intentionally over-the-top performances. The script reads with a lot of in-jokes for filmmakers, so others in the community are sure to find a lot of laughs and relatable material. It also harkens back to the beginning of the horror boom in the 1970s, as directors like Wes Craven (Scream 1996) and Sean Cunningham (Friday the 13th 1980) got their start in porn before breaking into the genre. Thompson’s character Kristy speaks out about discomfort on the set, adding a meaningful layer of meta-commentary about the importance of safety while filming.
With that extra added meat on the bone, XXX-mas still gives genre fans the boobs and blood that they so often desire. Drew Marvick goes on a rampage as a traumatized Santa Claus, really commanding the screen and seemingly enjoying doing so. Marvick is almost written like Freddy Krueger, taking moments between the murder to relish in his work and quip with charismatic one-liners.
This movie leans into a simplistic formula but still gives us reasons why Claus creates carnage. Thompson is a quintessential final girl here, Jessa Flux (CarousHELL 3 2023) fits perfectly into a fame-seeking starlet, and we even get a fun appearance from genre legend Felissa Rose (Macabre Mountain 2023).
If you’re feeling the post-Christmas hangover and you like your Santas a bit psycho, XXX-mas may be just the cure to keep that spirit satiated a little longer.
