PopHorror Let's Get Scared
I love Christmas horror. It’s probably my favorite type of horror after slashers. There’s something about the jolly man himself, Santa, being a brutal killer, or the blood splatter over the bright and cheery twinkling lights and charming snowman decorations and Christmas trees. Maybe a little blood on the presents. I don’t know. I like it all. While I absolutely love Christmas Horror, I am not one to watch them out of season. I like to save them for the cold winter nights (well, as cold as Phoenix can get) with my own sparkling tree, and out of place Christmas decorations, snuggled under a blanket with my dogs. This is why it’s the perfect time for the release of Joe Begos’ new Yuletide horror flick, Christmas Bloody Christmas (read our review HERE). I loved it so much I watched it twice in two days. It’s so super bloody and violent, and the real kicker is, the killer Santa is a fucking robot. A robot! Devoid of feelings and emotions, this bloodthirsty killing machine shows no mercy for anyone and axes his way through the residents of a tiny snowy village. Tis the season.
To celebrate the release of the film in theaters and on Shudder, I chatted with Joe about almost making a remake of Silent Night Deadly Night, the movie’s exceptionally savage slayings, what’s up next, and more!
**This interview contains spoilers**
PopHorror: I loved Christmas Bloody Christmas so much that I’ve watched it twice since I got the screener.
Joe Begos: Oh hell yeah. That’s what I like to hear.
PopHorror: I love Christmas horror. What inspired the story and how did the project come about?
Joe Begos: It’s interesting because I grew up when the big horror remake boom in the 2000s happened with all that shit that came out and I always thought that Silent Night Deadly Night would be the perfect movie to remake because I loved the iconography of the movie. I loved the title of the movie, I loved the poster, and what it all stood for. But the movie didn’t really stick the landing unlike all these masterpieces they were trying to remake. I just love the aesthetic of Christmas horror in general, and I always have. So that was something I always wanted to do, and the movie that made me want to make movies was Terminator so I’ve always wanted to do a killer robot movie too. A couple years ago, right after I made VFW and Bliss, the rights holders at that point of Silent Night Deadly Night came to me and asked for a pitch on a remake. I didn’t really want to remake the first movie, I just wanted to use the title, and the killer Santa, and the iconography and all that. I was sitting here trying to think of an idea, watching all the fucking franchise, the installments. It was one of those late night things where, “What if it’s a fucking killer robot Santa?” That’s what got me excited, and I just hit the ground running. I turned it in and I was like, “These motherfuckers have no choice but to greenlight this!” And then they were like, “Well, this is so different from the original. The fanbase is going to be upset.” And I’m like, “Well motherfucker, I am the fanbase. And I tell you what, nobody gives a shit about the storyline of Silent Night Deadly Night, but okay.” So after a couple months, Covid hit and I was just bored and I was like, “You know what? They’re fucking right. It is different so I’m going to turn it into a script.” So I wrote it, and it got financed really fast for some reason. I guess that somebody understood the value of the iconography of a killer robot Santa. It was somebody asking me to come up with an idea, me fucking putting together two of my favorite things. I was so excited about it I continued to pursue it even after they turned it down. And I’m glad because I got more money than they would have given me as a budget and it’s my own baby now.
PopHorror: I love that. I went into it totally blind. I didn’t watch the trailer, I didn’t read about it, because I knew I was going to love it. I love what you said about the Christmas horror aesthetic because there’s something about a killer Santa, the lights and all of the cheerful things, and horror. That makes it so much better. There are some pretty gnarly kills in the movie, and some amazing practical effects. Was there anything that you were adamant about keeping in the film, no matter what?
Joe Begos: Everything, really. We got to keep pretty much everything in the script. It was interesting because there’s one kill that’s off screen, where you see the shadow of Santa and the scream outside. That was supposed to be on screen, but we ran out of time. But on the flip side, the child was never supposed to be murdered on screen and thankfully a friend of mine let us cast his son in the movie, and he was okay with his son being split in half on screen. So we added that part into the schedule where now this little motherfucker’s going to get split in half on camera. That’s okay, that’s a good switch for me. I’ll take the kid getting killed on screen.
PopHorror: That is amazing. What is it that draws you to horror?
Joe Begos: I don’t know. Ever since I was a kid… I think it was the sensationalism of it and it was something that got me so excited and worked up as a kid. It was just like so many things that you could see in a horror movie that you would never be able to see anywhere else. It was so otherworldly. It got me into wanting to make movies. Then as I got older, I found even more, and reached into the further depths of horror, and just all the filmmaking tricks. Being a kid and Peter Jackson being a hero. Just all those things that came together and I don’t know. It just appeals to me. I mean, I love every kind of movie, don’t get me wrong. But horror is my favorite. I’m not one of these people who are using horror as a springboard. If I get 40 million dollars to make a movie, I’m making a fucking 40 million dollar werewolf movie. I’m not trying to parlay to something else like horror, I’m proud to fucking make horror and I want to put a dent in it. I want to do something in horror that nobody else is doing. I feel like I have a unique enough voice and it’s unfortunate I’m the only person making 16mm robot movies. I wish there were more but it’s just the nature of the game.
PopHorror: I’m glad that you’re all about making more. I’m super excited for this to come out and more people to see it. What is up next for you?
Joe Begos: Well, interestingly enough, I was saying how bored I was during Covid and all these people were making their Covid movies like, “I’m going to shoot a movie in my house!” And I was like, “I’m going to shoot a fucking movie in my house! That sounds like fun.” I’ve got all the equipment and of course, I don’t do things easy or simply so what was supposed to be a quick fuck off Covid project extended into we’re about 55 shoot days in. Then the Christmas movie got financed so I had to put it on the back burner for a year. We’ve got about 20% of the movie left to shoot, which I’m actually getting into next week. My simple Covid movie turned out to be a shot on 16mm fucking psychotronic alien abduction with animatronics, and practical effects, and explosions, and multiple set pieces. And of course, it just became overly complicated because we couldn’t work with SAG or any other unions. So now I have to go back and get back into this extremely difficult crazy movie that’s essentially like Gaspar Noé directed Brain Damage, which I guess is the best way to explain it. So that will probably be the next thing that you see from me. I’m writing a few things that we’ll see if somebody wants to break out their checkbook for. But I’m actually really eager to do a sequel to Christmas, and I’m eager to do a werewolf movie. I’m eager to do a really gnarly Satanic cult movie. So yeah, we’ll see.
PopHorror: I’m here for all of it.
Joe Begos: Fuck yeah!
PopHorror: One last question for you today. What is your favorite scary movie?
Joe Begos: Scary movie? Well, like I said, Terminator is my favorite movie. Terminator is the ultimate slasher movie, and it scared the shit out of me when I was a kid. I don’t if that’s a fake out or anything. My favorite horror horror horror movie – like straight horror – is Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, but that’s not particularly scary. I don’t know what the last thing that scared me was, but that’s my favorite straight up horror movie.
Thank you so much to Joe for taking the time to speak with us. Christmas Bloody Christmas is now in select theaters, and on Shudder!
