During
a Christmas Party at a dance club in
London, England a man dressed in a Santa
suit is brutally slayed as his daughter
named Kate (Belinda Mayne) is not going
to stop this unsolved case as she tries
to find out who killed her father as this
killer seems to kill other people dressed
in Santa suits at street corners, strip
joints, department stores and public
areas too.
Inspector Harris (Edmund Purdom), who has
a dark past with his younger brother,
tries to help Kate on this missing case
and is also told by his housekeeper that
he received a gift and was not to open it
till Christmas.
Harris and his assistant named Sargeant
Powell (Mark Jones) can't figure out on
what sort of twisted mind is behind these
barbarous acts of violence?
Scotland Yard is on the trail but every
clue points them in a different
direction.
The culprit is right under their noses
but will they come to this climactic
conclusion in time?
Man oh man I was
in total torture watching this God awful
slasher flick as I was expecting
something a little better along in the
lines like Silent Night Deadly
Night, Black Christmas or
even Christmas Evil but
this film doesn't even match any of those
mentioned.
The film was pointless from start to
finish and very confusing too with tons
of bad writing which includes a flashback
scene during the end of the film which
should've been used during the very
beginning of it.
It's also sick and twisted with lots of
bad gruesome effects and plenty of skin
too. Avoid this one at all costs.
Most of the acting
is quite bad I must say but it was mainly
due to alot of bad writing.
Alan Lake seemed truly intimidating
in his part even if his acting skills
weren't that terrific so I'd give him
some points for that.
Mark Jones however does a fine job
with his firm and serious attitude as one
of the inspectors in the film and will be
fondly remembered.
Belinda Mayne one the other hand,
couldn't act her way out of a wet paper
bag as the one trying to get the killer
for killing her father and she isn't at
all believeable with her emotions or
anger.
Kelly Baker however seemed to pull
off her role quite well as I found her to
be the best out of them all as a
stripper.
Kevin Lloyd played a good idiot in
the film but can't see him going places.
We have a supporting actress by Pat
Astley showed some good humor in her
part as a sleazy model in the film as she
offered the odd laugh.
Pat Astley flashes
her boobs while getting her pics taken
for a modelling shoot and also does the
same thing while wearing a Santa uniform
outside. She also shows it off again to
some inspectors in her room.
A woman is topless during a flashback
sequence in a room with a guy dressed as
Santa.
A knife is sliced
through a persons mouth
Heada are bloodied
Bloody stabbings
A head is slaiced by a machette
Plenty of fake blood splurting
The directing by Edmund
Purdom (Who plays the lead in this
one as well) looks poor but mainly die to
the terrible writing so he tries his
best.
There is an interesting dark camera shot
closing in on a car with heavy breathing
during the very beginning of this film as
I got the impression the direction was
going to be awfully cheesy.
There's okay camera shots on people
dancing at a dance club which looked
total 80's fashion.
There is a rough scene with bit part
actor Laurence Harrington being
murdered and the reactions with others
doesn't look the least bit convincing.
There is an impressive speech by bit part
actress Wendy Danvers as a
housekeeper telling Purdom's character
that there's a present and said not to
open till Christmas which leaves an
impression since this is the title of
this movie.
We have some trashy dialogue between
Kevin Lloyd instructing supporting
actress Pat Astley on her
modelling shot and I thought to myself HO
HUM.
Belinda Mayne was poorly directed by
her actions after seeing a Santa suit due
to the bad memories of her father when
she storms out but it makes you wonder if
it's her or Purdom's job with
his direction.
We have a good close up shot on both
Astley and Lloyd outside
when she tries to come on strongly to him
and there's a great reaction on the two
of them after they are caught by some
people walking on the street.
There's good shots on Astley in
a corner street in her Santa suit along
with a great close up shot on Alan
Lake wearing a mask and pointing his
mini blade near her body but yet it is
roughly performed.
We have a corny dialogue between
supporting actor Wilfred Corlet
dressed in a Santa suit next to a glass
booth talking to Kelly Baker but
the direction on this kinda suits the
plot itself.
We also see a great freaked out reaction
on Baker after he is slayed.
There's also a good dark scene with
supporting actor Sid Wragg
dressed in a Santa suit riding a bike
with a gang chasing after him plus a good
creepy moment on him exploring a dungeon
where a corpse is found and other
terrifying things.
We spot a nice cameo scene with trashy
scream queen Carolyn Munro
perfoming in a band but you can tell that
she's lipsynching but does well at
screaming after spotting a corpse.
There's a good scene with Baker
in her booth acting nervous with a cold
speaking by Lake and then a good
shot on his hand breaking through the
window of the booth trying to grab her.
We have good shots on their legs running
on the streets too.
There's a good presence by Lake
towards Mayne with his icy words
and menacing actions.
We spot a perfect camera shot on Mark
Jones holdong a car door and being
electrocuted.
We have a nice shot on Astley slowly
walking up to Lake's lifeless body and
then he jumps up which truly makes you
jump.
Purdom just stuck to acting after
this film as he was alot better doing
that for his career.
We have alot of cheesy
synthesizer music composed by Des
Dolan but he has some good stuff too
like some high pitched and dark sounding
music along with some odd violin
suspenseful music here and there and an
echoey piano playing during a street
corner used in the film.
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