Christmas Horror: A Cadaver Christmas

Christmas horror continues with Lee's review of A Cadaver Christmas!

The origins of this film started with two college roommates and a 48 hour film challenge. The short format provided the perfect visual platform for a feature length film. A Cadaver Christmas is a horror comedy made in the classic grind house style. Post production magic completes the ‘70s look by adding a diluted filter and scratchy film grain lines. The first five minutes set the standard to this film. It's an exaggerated story that has more cheese than your Aunt Cindy's holiday appetizer plate. It's a green light to sit back, spike the eggnog, and enjoy the fun. 

When a janitor, cop, bartender, town drunk, and security guard find themselves in the middle of a zombie invasion on Christmas Eve, it's up to the gang to save Christmas. This unlikely team of individuals are more socially awkward than a yuletide family get together without booze. The opposite personalities make for some humorous moments. The film starts off bit little slow, but once it gets going, it's like a typical office Christmas party - full of creepers. The holiday mood is sporadic throughout the film, but it does make great use of Christmas music, which lends a reminder to the season in a story that dominantly unfolds in the halls of a college university. 

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"Alright! Who's been flushing tampons
down the toilet again!!!?"

A Cadaver Christmas does treat viewers to an explanation in its undead holiday uprising. It's not mindless in the sense that the audience is just to expect that zombies exist without question. The surplus of recent zombie themed films and television shows have greatly cheapened the concept, but exploring it scientifically, even from a low budget film perspective does add a positive to the story. Daniel Rairdin-Hare gives a fantastic performance as The Janitor. It’s the classic unlikely hero turned Rambo storyline. 

After the success of the 48 hour film project, Rairdin-Hare, his former dorm mate Joe Zerull (director), and friend Hanlon Smith-Dorsey wrote the screenplay via back and forth emails. The end result is cornier than Yukon Cornelius with cornrow braids in his beard. It's ridiculous. It’s bloody. And it’s a hell of a lot of fun. The film wraps up with a hilarious ending that continues throughout the credits. So this Christmas Eve when your annoying Aunt Gloria starts telling everyone the story how she almost died while passing a kidney stone, pop in A Cadaver Christmas and let The Janitor clear the room.

Score

-Lee L. Lind