Remember when horror anthology movies were few and far between? Now it feels as if we get another one every month. Holidays is one such film, bringing to you a selection of holiday-based tales from the likes of Adam Egypt Mortimer, Kevin Smith, Sarah Adina Smith, Nicholas McCarthy, and a few more. And it’s as uneven as most of the horror anthologies that we’ve had recently. While it doesn’t hit the lows of The ABCs Of Death, it doesn’t hit the highs of The ABCs Of Death 2 either, and there’s also no fun to be had from guessing what each segment is about, because that becomes obvious from the first moments of each segment.
I won’t put them in order, so don’t accuse me of spoiling anything, but I will tell you the holidays covered here: Christmas, Halloween, St Patrick’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, New Year’s Eve, and Easter. These dates are used to entertain you with tales about strange births, a not so fluffy Easter Bunny, a gift that shows more than some may want to see, and much more.
It’s hard to really discuss Holidays in a non-spoilery, informative way. The cast includes Seth Green, Clare Grant, Ruth Bradley, Sophie Traub, Jocelin Donahue, Harley Morenstein, Lorenza Izzo, Andrew Bowen, and Harley Quinn Smith, among others, but nobody really gets a chance to stand out, other than Isolt McCaffrey, who plays a young girl named Grainne in the wonderful St Patrick’s Day segment.
Very few of the tales are as much fun, or as bloody, as they should be. And none of them build up to a surprise ending, which can be another plus point about twisted anthology tales. I am sure that everyone involved thought they were crafting a little gem, complete with a fun punchline. They weren’t, although I’d put forward that Irish-centric holiday, Father’s Day, and New Year’s Eve as above-average bits of nasty fun.
Although I was a bit disappointed, mainly because I was hoping this would be something special with some of the talent involved, this is perfectly acceptable fare for some late night entertainment. If you have some snacks and beers to help things along.
Holidays is showing at 2320 on 23rd June in Filmhouse 1, and at 2045 on 25th June in Filmhouse 3.
DIRECTOR: VARIOUS
WRITER: VARIOUS
STARS: SETH GREEN, CLARE GRANT, RUTH BRADLEY, SOPHIE TRAUB, JOCELIN DONAHUE, HARLEY MORENSTEIN, LORENZA IZZO, ANDREW BOWEN, ISOLT MCCAFFREY, HARLEY QUINN SMITH
RUNTIME: 105 MINS APPROX
COUNTRY: USA
Film Rating: 
