Horror Bulletin Monthly January 2022: Horror Bulletin Monthly Issues, #4

By Brian Schell

The Fourth issue of the Horror Guys Monthly review digest, Horror Bulletin, includes reviews of twenty-nine full-length films and five horror shorts. There's also a fun word search at the end that contain the titles of the films.

 

Each of the films contains a complete synopsis of the film, including spoilers (so beware!), as well as their commentary on the quality of the story and how well it holds up for viewers today.

 

This one is our special "31 Days of Christmas" issue, with crazy Santas, demonic Saint Nicks, Possessed Snowmen, and serial Killers galore!

Part One: MOVIE REVIEWS

 

1974 Black Christmas
1980 Christmas Evil
1984 Gremlins
1984 Silent Night, Deadly Night
1987 Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2
1989 Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!
1990 Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation
1991 Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker
1995 The Day of the Beast
1997 Jack Frost
2000 Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman
2003 Dead End
2005 The Gingerdead Man
2005 Santa's Slay
2006 Black Christmas
2007 Wind Chill
2008 The Children
2010 Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
2010 Saint
2012 Silent Night
2015 Krampus
2015 A Christmas Horror Story
2016 Better Watch Out
2017 Red Christmas
2018 Anna and the Apocalypse
2019 Black Christmas

(Not Holiday-Themed but new releases)
2021 Hide and Seek
2021 A House on the Bayou
2021 The Deep House

 

Part Two: SHORT FILM REVIEWS

2016 Humbug
2020 JOLLY
2020 New Year's Scary Story
2021 A Christmas Horror Story
2021 The Grot in the Grotto
 
Word Search Puzzle

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brian Schell
• Release date: Jan 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201461379

Brian Schell

Brian Schell is a College English Instructor who has an extensive background in Buddhism and other world religions. After spending time in Japan, he returned to America where he created the immensely popular website, Daily Buddhism. For the next several years, Schell wrote extensively on applying Buddhism to real-world topics such as War, Drugs, Tattoos, Sex, Relationships, Pet Food and yes, even Horror Movies. Twitter: @BrianSchell Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/Brian.Schell Web: http://BrianSchell.com

Book preview

Part One

MOVIE REVIEWS

1974 BLACK CHRISTMAS

Directed by Bob Clark

Written by Roy Moore

Stars Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder

Run Time: 1 Hour, 38 Minutes

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6JuJHmVsh4

SPOILER-FREE JUDGEMENT ZONE

Super influential early holiday slasher film with lots of familiar faces. With the exception of some dated telephone technology that’s important to the story, it holds up really well today. It’s still very good.

SYNOPSIS

It’s Christmas at the sorority house. Someone is outside creeping around looking at the various windows in the huge old building. The unseen person climbs the trellis to an upstairs window. He sneaks around while we hear Barb take an overseas call from her mother. Most of the girls are leaving to go home for the holidays, and only a handful are staying behind.

They get another phone call, and it’s The Moaner again. The whole gang gathers around to listen to him go at it. He’s quite… entertaining for the girls.

Clare goes upstairs to pack and the stalker is hiding in her closet. He kills her with a dry-cleaning bag. He then goes up and hides in the attic. Mrs. Mac, the house mother, has hidden her booze in the bookshelf— and another in the toilet tank. Peter calls Jess and makes a date for tomorrow at two.

Clare’s father, Mr. Harrison, comes to town looking for her. Mrs. Mac takes him to the sorority house, but they still don’t find her body. Meanwhile, Jess tells Peter that she’s pregnant and doesn’t want the baby. He wants the baby, but she wants an abortion. Harrison, Jess, and Barb go to the police station to report Clare as missing, but that doesn’t go anywhere. Jess asks Chris if he’s seen her, but he hasn’t.

We see Peter feverishly playing the piano for his instructors, and then later see him destroy the piano. Apparently, he didn’t get a good review. Temper!

There’s another missing girl, Janice, and Lt. Fuller of the police organizes a walk through the park for a large search party. Some of the sorority girls and Mr. Harrison go out to help. While they’re all out there, the killer returns to the house. Mrs. Mac hears the cat yowling in the attic and goes up to investigate. She finds Clare’s body, but the killer is there too.

Peter offers to marry Jess, but she turns him down. He still wants the baby. He threatens her and then storms out. Lt. Fuller comes to investigate the obscene phone calls, thinking they may be related to the disappearances. They tap the phone so they can trace it, but that takes time. They still don’t search the attic.

While Jess is watching Christmas Carolers in the front yard, the killer sneaks in and kills Barb with her glass unicorn horn. Jess gets another call, but there wasn’t enough time to trace the call. When the caller alludes to abortions, Jess starts to think it may be Peter on the phone. Peter calls Jess again and cries about the baby, and they can’t trace that call either. Lt. Fuller starts looking into Peter’s history and finds the smashed piano in the conservatory.

Phyl goes looking for Barb, but the killer gets her as well. Jess gets another call, and this time, they do trace the call. It’s from inside the house! They call and tell Jess, who decides to ignore their warning and go upstairs, looking for Barb and Phyl.

Agnes, it’s me, Billy. Don’t tell them what we did, Agnes, says the maniacal voice behind her. She finds the bodies and then runs to the basement. Peter breaks the window and comes into the basement as well, calling for Jess. He approaches her, and she kills him with a knife.

Lt. Fuller says he knew it was Peter all along. All the cops and reporters clear out, leaving Jess alone. We hear movement and giggling from up in the attic. We see Mrs. Mac and Clare’s bodies, still up there; apparently the police still didn’t look up there… Where the real killer is still hiding.

COMMENTARY

All along, we’re led to believe the killer is Peter, but he also seems a little too obvious. The only other male we know is Chris, Clare’s boyfriend. The real question was which one was the red herring? At the end, we’re still not absolutely sure who the killer was, but it’s not Peter.

Mr. Harrison’s shock at the language and lifestyle of college girls is hilarious. Their behavior is really tame by modern movie standards, but it was definitely pushing the envelope of good taste in 1974.

The killer here has an uncanny knack for knowing when the other people in the household are distracted or busy. His rants on the phone are really creepy as well- for just a voice, they’re really well done.

This is the first movie I can recall that showed the process of tracing a phone call. This was what it was like when the phone company had lots of humans working on what was still a very mechanical system.

Believe it or not, this was the first holiday-themed horror film; it was also a big inspiration for future slasher-type films.

1980 CHRISTMAS EVIL

Directed by Lewis Jackson

Written by Lewis Jackson

Stars Brandon Maggart, Jeffrey DeMunn, Dianne Hull

Run Time: 1 Hour, 40 Minutes

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2zPRNgzBrM

SPOILER-FREE JUDGMENT ZONE

This one is kind of a tragic story; with a killer we get to know a bit and see descend into madness. Brandon Maggart really pulls off the lead role, and the supporting cast is pretty strong behind him. A little tame on the horror, but still worth the watch for sure.

SYNOPSIS

It’s Christmas Eve, 1947. The two boys watch Santa come down the chimney. He’s confused and out of breath after the climb, but he heads toward the cookies and milk. He puts the present under the tree and fills the stockings, and then heads back up the chimney. The boys debate whether that was really Santa or their father. A little later, little Harry goes downstairs and sees his mother doing something naughty with Santa Claus. Harry is traumatized, breaks a snow globe, and cuts himself with the glass. Credits roll.

In the present, Harry wakes up in his Santa jammies and dances around the Christmas-themed house. He’s definitely Christmas-obsessed. He watches the neighbors with binoculars, seeing if the kids are bad or good. He’s got a book full of names of kids.

He goes to work at the Jolly Dream toy factory. His coworkers hate Christmas because they all have to work harder. They also bully Harry, even though he’s technically their boss. One of them tricks Harry into taking his shift while he goes to the bar. Afterward, Harry finds out and throws a little tantrum at home. He goes over to his brother Philip’s house and watches his brother and his wife Jackie having sex.

The next day, Jackie tells Philip to quit overprotecting Harry, who has always taken care of his brother. Harry makes his own Santa outfit. He paints a sleigh on the side of his van. The kid across the street is naughty, so Harry goes over and scares him. He then goes home and makes toy soldiers out of lead.

It’s time for the Jolly Dream Christmas party. There’s a video about the company donating toys and money to the state hospital. The new PR guy brags about the video but doesn’t care a bit about the children there; it’s all a ploy to make more money. Harry goes down to the factory floor and steals a bunch of toys.

Christmas Eve arrives. Santa’s dressed up and in someone’s home, leaving toys and gifts. He’s also got a great big knife. He leaves the little boy across the street a bag of dirt. He then heads over to the orphanage, but the security guard thinks he’s crazy. He donates a truckload of toys, and they are all very appreciative.

He goes to church and tracks down the owner of the toy factory and the PR guy. He doesn’t get them, but he does leave an impression on a few of the other people. There’s a reason those toy soldiers have toy swords.

He parks his van and gets pulled into a party where he plays Santa for everyone. It goes very well, and then as he leaves, he remembers Frank, the coworker who tricked him into taking his shift. He tries to climb down the man’s chimney, but he won’t fit. He barely pulls himself out. He manages to get inside, and the kids in there see him. He smothers Frank with his bag of gifts and then cuts