It’s a true Christmas miracle! I’ve finally had time to watch more than just one holiday-themed horror film during Christmas time! Let’s all rejoice and be glad, as I tell you about Troy Escamilla’s slasher flick, Mrs. Claus.
Hazing at the Delta Sigma Sigma house has gone too far and after being humiliated at the sorority’s Christmas party, Angela has had enough. She takes her own life, but not before viciously murdering sorority sister, Amber. Ten years later, Angela’s sister, Danielle, has joined the same sorority, in hopes that it will help her get past her painful loss. Those tragic events come back to haunt her, however, as a masked killer starts picking off all of her friends one by one, at their very own Christmas party.
At this point, we’ve all seen a whole slew of Christmas horror movies, right? I mean, there a ton are classics, and every year, more and more of them seem to come out. They always feature some lunatic running around in a Santa Claus costume for one reason or another, or in more recent years, an evil anti-Santa Krampus. That is where Troy Escamilla’s film differs from the rest; We finally get a film where the killer is Mrs. Claus! I think the difference is brilliant and I can’t think of any other holiday horror flick that has does this before now.
According to IMDb, the budget for Mrs. Claus is roughly $10,000. Generally when a film is this low-budget, the casting process suffers. Aside from a few performances I could have done without very early on in the film, I really can say that I was pleasantly surprised by almost every single actor we are introduced to. More often than not, films in the same ‘class’ as this one feature a cast that either doesn’t know how to act or are simply over acting. Luckily, that is certainly not the case here. Everyone comes off extremely natural and it is a huge plus! Ironically enough, the worst performance of them all comes from iconic horror actress, Brinke Stevens, who has very clearly been in the game the longest out of everyone.
Mrs. Claus contains a pretty decent body count, which is always a plus for any slasher film. Because of the movie’s tight budget, it is understandable that a lot of the kills aren’t the most explicit or hardcore. It doesn’t seem to matter here, though, as Escamilla and his team pull out all the stops. Each death is more clever than the last, as everything from Christmas lawn decorations to even a tree ‘topper’ are used as slaying instruments.
I was weary of how good the deaths would look, almost immediately after hitting play, but the special make-up effects team did more than enough to make things as bloody as possible. Any and all fans of independent, do-it-yourself horror will have no problem enjoying this bloody Christmas!
Another surprising element of Mrs. Claus is the amount of character development we get during the film’s 86 minutes. A lot of these up-and-coming filmmakers like to just hack and slash victim after victim without any real rhyme or reason. Even worse, we never really care about any of the people being slaughtered. It is clear that Troy Escamilla wanted something different for his feature, as each character is very distinctly different from the last; They each have their own personality and each bring something else to the proverbial table.
Mrs. Claus is a fun little slasher that has the right combination of impressive performances, good storytelling, and exciting kills. I will try my hardest to keep an eye on whatever Escamilla has up his sleeve next, as I’m sure he can make some real horror magic, with a high enough budget.
There are a few days left before Christmas is officially here, so grab some friends, some popcorn and drinks, and have a blast with Mrs. Claus. This Christmas slasher is available now on DVD from Wild Eye Releasing.
This one gets 3.5 giant bloody candy canes out of 5.
