21. Secret Santa (2018)
Spiked punch turns a febrile Christmas dinner into an outright bloodbath for a well-heeled family.
One of the strongest character-horrors on this list,
Secret Santa does a superb job of creating a tangible dynamic between these flawed family members, all of whom are their own shade of unhinged. The dialogue here absolutely sparkles (It’s the only time on this list that ‘guttersnipe’ is used as an insult), and the liberal dose of Sodium Pentothal in their punch cranks this up to 11, forcing them to tell the truth regardless of the damage it will cause. As every family secret is laid hilariously bare, violence inevitably ensues and we get a fantastically chaotic smackdown between the characters before they split off into slightly more genre-appropriate chase sequences. This is a rare comedy horror that actually made me laugh out loud, and the brisk pace means there’s not enough time for ennui to set in (Not that I wouldn’t quite happily listen to these monsters talking shit to each other for hours on end, mind). The movie has no sympathy for its characters and doesn’t make any effort to endear the majority of them to the viewer, leaving us free to enjoy the very well-executed carnage without pity.
Best bit: Shari (Debra Sullivan) and Carol (Pat Destro) sideline their ‘friendly’ rivalry in favour of a knock-down, drag-out brawl where they kick the absolute living SHIT out of each other, airing their every last piece of dirty laundry as they do. Kindly youngest son Kyle (Drew Lynch) keeps getting accidentally injured every time he tries to intervene.
Weihnachtstische out of ten: