Kategoria: Christmas

#1835 Halloween 2023: Family Reunion (1989)

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I believe there is an ok horror movie somewhere to be found in Family Reunion; I like most of the individual pieces presented here like the setting of the ghost town, mysterious cult and an old forgotten secret.

But Family Reunion can never quite put these elements into order that makes sense for the viewer and the storytelling lacks the depth needed to make us empathise with the characters and comprehend their choices. I found myself constantly excited of events on the screen, but then ending up trying to connect the dots between events and people in a hope that it would all make sense somehow.

Despite all of this the movie did have a good atmosphere to it, and was never too much of a chore to watch. Rather, it was the constant feeling of the movie not fully living up to its potential that felt the disappointment for me.

80s-o-meter: 85%

Total: 59%

#1699 Halloween 2022: The Oracle (1985)

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The Oracle is a movie with an interesting idea – a woman finding an automatic writing device called The Oracle, which she uses to speak with the spirit world. What follows is a complex plot about her being contacted by a murdered man who demands justice for his death that is often hard to follow and doesn’t always make sense.

Production wise the movie is of an ok quality and has some visually captivating elements, notably the haunting hand holding a quill writing words on paper that should have had even more central piece in the movie in my opinion – instead of focusing on a thousand other, less interesting and spooky aspects.

The Oracle takes place during the Christmas season, which adds a nice thematic touch for those in the holiday spirit.

80s-o-meter: 70%

Total: 55%

#1420 Xmas 2020: Roots The Gift (1988)

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Roots was a TV historical miniseries written by Alex Haley depicting the story of his family as they were brought as slaves to America from Africa, originally released in 1977 and a continuum in 1979 as another miniseries.

Almost a decade later a made for TV Christmas special entitled Roots: The Gift was made and premiered on ABC on December 11, 1988. Here we see young Kunta Kinte taking his first rebellious steps as a slave, not accepting the western name and his new status, and starts plotting on escape.

Although labeled as one, the movie does not rate high as a Christmas movie – many ordinary movies not titled as Christmas movies have a much bigger amount of the festivities present. But it does fare fairly well as a movie dealing with themes of empowering slaves who have never experienced freedom, as well as depicting the inner conflicts of the slave owners, some of who have started question of the ethics of enslaving men.

80s-o-meter: 0%

Total: 38%

#1419 Xmas 2020: Christmas Eve (1986)

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An elder aristocrat woman looks forward to uniting her family for the Christmas while fighting his son on the court over the control of the family company and assets in Christmas Eve, a made for TV movie that premiered on NBC on December 22, 1986.

Christmas Eve is everything you’d expect a made for TV movie to be; you would not be happy to go to the cinemas to watch this one, but would probably not mind having stuck in front of a telly during the Holidays to spend the 90 minutes with it while sipping some eggnog.

80s-o-meter: 60%

Total: 56%

#1193 Christmas 2019: The Christmas Star (1986)

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This year’s Christmas special is by far the shortest yet. But, it’s also 100% longer than I previously anticipated as I thought I’d run out of eligible movies already last year,

The Christmas Star is one of those movies shot in Canada, but with U.S. actors and look & feel to make a saving in the production costs. The cast is actually remarkably good for a totally unknown little movie; familiar faces here include Ed Asner (who’s known for portraying Santa in various films), Rene Auberjonois (who sadly passed away earlier this month), Alan North and Fred Gwynne.

The story itself is basic, but manages to find an interesting sidetrack from the usual Santa Claus movies. The Christmas Star is not a big budget movie, but being a Disney movie there’s a certain quality to the production.

I watched the movie together with my 6-year old daughter who was glued to the screen right from the beginning to the end. So did The Christmas Star just become a xmas tradition for our family? That’s to be seen next year!

80s-o-meter: 82%

Total: 83%

#796 A Hobo’s Christmas (1987)

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Ahh, christmas – the time for forgiving and the new beginnings. But as the old vagabond returning to his grown up son’s for the christmas soon finds out, forgiving and starting anew can sometimes be a challenge.

The old man may not have any problems winning over the hearts of his grandchildren, but it’s his long neglected son that has understandably a hard time letting it all slide. The viewer is on the edge here as the gramps kind of wins our hearts over by making an effort – to best to his capabilities – but he never seems quite ready to really make an actual commitment to his son.

Being a christmas movie, A Hobo’s Christmas is taking place in that special universum where the drifters don’t booze, nor suffer from mental problems, but instead join together for a jolly little song and even pitch in for creating the best even christmas meal. But that’s beside the point, and the interesting story between the neglected son and his father is still a solid backbone that carries the movie. Tension between the two is kept up until the end and old wounds seem very hard to heal – like they would be.

Darn it. I never expected this, but I kind of liked A Hobo’s Christmas. Unlike your normal sentimental christmas fluff, A Hobo’s Christmas is sentimental christmas fluff that actually has some food for thought, plus a relatable situation that speaks for both the adults and the kids. It’s not going to earn my recommendations for your family’s new christmas tradition movie, but for a small, humble made for TV christmas drama it’s surely among the best ones in its class.

80s-o-meter: 67%

Total: 72%

#795 Xmas 2017: A Christmas Without Snow (1980)

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A Christmas Without Snow is another made for tv christmas movie, this time about a small church choir getting a new choirmaster and preparing to sing Handel’s Messiah at the Christmas concert. The choir is also joined by Zoe, a teacher who’s just moved to San Francisco from Omaha after her divorce.

The movie introduces quite a wide number of characters and story lines, but still manages go be pretty drowsy and very TV-movie like in its pace of storytelling. It’s not a very christmassy movie, lacking not only snow but that special magic of christmas time, and wouldn’t interest really interest me if it was run again in TV during the holidays.

On a positive note, I did grow fond of many of the characters in the movie, thanks to some believable acting work. Particularly John Houseman deserves a praise here as the demanding but fair and charming choirmaster who delivers his witty lines in a credible and lovable manner.

80s-o-meter: 43%

Total: 48%

#794 Elves (1989)

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Elves is a christmas horror movie with a homicidal Elf (yes, there’s actually only one) that looks like if Nosferatu and a werewolf mated.

There’s a strong home cam feeling to the movie, even so that I was on the borderline of dropping it altogether from the review list. The elf is mostly just a lifeless, plastic torso or its loose hands puppeteered outside the screen, and as pathetic as this sounds, it still manages to be the most credible actor of the bunch, thanks to not having any actual lines. Speaking of which, the horrid dialogue is the only part with some, limited entertainment value here.

Dan Haggerty – previously known from numerous different Grizzly Adams filmatisations – performs as the male lead looking like, but not actually acting as the santa. Haggerty seems like a capable actor, but here he seems mostly baffled how he actually ended up in this production.

Although the movie doesn’t live up to its premise, I still have to give it some credit for its outrageous synopsis – including some genetically engineered elves and nazis – and for being probably the only christmas horror movie original enough not to involve a lunatic killer dressed as a santa.

80s-o-meter: 72%

Total: 27%

#793 Xmas 2017: Babes in Toyland (1986)

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Babes in Toyland is a kids’ movie that probably should’ve been disqualified from this list, but its interesting cast got the best of me: There’s Keanu Reeves as the male lead, Drew Barrymore as the girl hero who helps to save the day, Richard Mulligan as the antagonist and Pat Morita as the toy master, all delivering some decent acting work as always.

Although the most well known from this years’ christmas movie featurette, the movie is still totally unknown in these parts of the woods and never was a part of our christmas tradition. After seeing it I doubt I’ll make it there either, but the little ones really seemed the enjoy the movie.

Babes in Toyland is enjoyable in the context of being a made-for-TV christmas movie with a well known cast, but adults without any nostalgic connection to the movie should probably look elsewhere for their christmas entertainment.

80s-o-meter: 64%

Total: 48%

#792 Xmas 2017: To All a Goodnight (1980)

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The Christmas featurette for 2017 is going to be a short one – looks like I’m down to the last Christmas movies of the 80s that I know of. The first movie – To All a Goodnight – is another slasher where the killer happens to dress up as the Santa.

As some of you might be remember, this is a familiar concept from Silent Night, Deadly Night series and Christmas Evil, and it’s just as uninspired as the other ones. And it also happens to be the least christmassy one of them all.

To All a Goodnight is an amateurish early 80s slasher that runs pretty much exactly as you’d imagine it to, and even with its many technical flaws – like, the night shots being obviously just poorly dimmed day shots – isn’t bad enough to warrant any chuckles. It’s got your usual stuff like tits and multiple kills, but no suspension nor anything else original to really keep up any interest.

80s-o-meter: 72%

Total: 24%