As of 2020 this no-budgeter is very likely the nastiest Christmas-themed horror movie ever made. Hailing from Norway, 2013’s CHRISTMAS CRUELTY! (O’HELLIGE JUL!) was an experimental project from directors/writers/stars Magne Steinsvoll and Per-Ingvar Tomren, who sought to educate themselves in the rigors of film production with a project that was as difficult as humanly possible. To this end they created a deliberately formless and meandering film performed by an amateur cast, and comprised of mundane scenes of a type that usually get cut out of films, and also depictions of extreme nastiness that most experienced directors would avoid altogether.
…the nastiest Christmas-themed horror movie ever made.
It opens with a jolt, with a psychopath, identified only as “Serial-Santa,” in the act of severely brutalizing a family, which he tops off by taking a buzz saw to an infant. From there we follow the killer, a quiet middle-aged professional who in his spare time scours the internet for prospective victims. Intercut with his activities are the aimless exploits of a group of annoying twenty-somethings (played by the filmmakers) planning for Christmas, which involves a lot of excess bickering and alcohol consumption.
It opens with a jolt, with a psychopath, identified only as “Serial-Santa,” in the act of severely brutalizing a family…
It gradually becomes clear that the people Serial-Santa is researching are the very folk we’ve been watching. On Christmas night, during a vast drink-a-thon, S-S barges into the brats’ apartment dressed as Santa, and equipped with duct tape and various sharp implements.
What follows (which takes up much of the final 35 minutes) is plenty nasty, albeit quite unique in the annals of splatter cinema. The filmmakers’ determination to subvert convention extends to the especially gruesome bits, which are scored with decidedly un-horrific up-tempo music. These scenes do indeed go too far (with co-director Per-Ingvar Tomren giving himself the most spectacularly gory death), but they’re quite quirky. As for the gore effects, I’d say they’re about on the level you’d expect given that this is a no-budget production.
…quite unique in the annals of splatter cinema.
Much of the film’s style was inspired by an interview Per-Ingvar Tomren conducted with a serial killer who likened his mental state to a “brain filled with broken glass.” Hence the fractured and disconnected depictions of the killer’s psyche, comprised of quick cuts, differing film stocks and speeds, and a compulsive juxtaposition of past and present.
Much of the film’s style was inspired by an interview Per-Ingvar Tomren conducted with a serial killer who likened his mental state to a “brain filled with broken glass.”
Which brings us to the film’s main problem: the subjective depictions of Serial-Santa’s psyche, which are profoundly unnerving—and rendered even more so by the committed performance of Tormod Lien—but don’t mesh with the more conventionally shot scenes of his prospective victims going about their daily activities. We’re supposed to grow to like these people (and so be especially affected when they get killed), but they’re not very interesting, with far too much screen time taken up “introducing” them. The idea was, once again, to show the mundane business ordinary slasher films ignore, but it results in a lot of excess boredom that could have stood to be trimmed. Thus we’re left with a somewhat intriguing but unsuccessful experiment.
Vital Statistics
CHRISTMAS CRUELTY! (O’HELLIGE JUL!)
Stonewall Production/DC Medias
Directors: Per-Ingvar Tomren, Magne Steinsvoll
Producers: Magne Steinsvoll, Raymond Volle, Kim Haldorsen
Screenplay: Per-Ingvar Tomren, Janne Iren Holseter, Anita Nyhagen, Magne Steinsvoll, Eline Aasheim
Cinematography: Raymond Volle
Editing: Per-Ingvar Tomren
Cast: Tormod Lien, Eline Aasheim, Magne Steinsvoll, Per-Ingvar Tomren, Raymond Talberg, Nina-Shanett Arntsen, Tone Søyset Døving, Jørgen Torp, Eiric Lien, Ranja Hjelvik, Vilde Reiten Gommesen, Thomas Utgård, Solveig Sahr Bergheim, Frans Hulsker, Olav Kåre Torjuul, Mats Nerli