A Christmas Horror Story Movie Review

A Christmas Horror Story is a anthology horror movie where four different stories are all intertwined together through a radio station where William Shatner stars as the host DJ Dan.

The four stories features a group of teenagers that breaks into their school to create a documentary about a murder that happened a year ago, a couple that after a christmas tree hunting trip realise there's something seriously wrong with their little boy, Krampus terrorising a greedy family after their attempts to extort money from a wealthy relative is squashed and my personal favourite of the lot is Santa fighting zombie elves in his workshop.

The four stories are all pretty solid and totally different without a weak link amongst them. The directors Grant Harvey, Steven Hoban and Brett Sullivan have all done a great job in creating something for everyone with the four stories plus a twist ending which I never saw coming.

A Christmas Horror Story I am sure will become annual viewing for some households as I know it will in mine.

4/5

Book Review: The Ritual

The Ritual by Adam Nevill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Ritual was the first book I read by Adam Nevill who is now one of the authors I always recommend to anyone who is looking for a new horror author to read.

The story is about four old university buddies that reunite to go on a hiking /camping trip in the unforgiving Scandinavian wilderness where a simple short cut suddenly goes very wrong for them.

Adam Nevill succeeds very well in creating an atmosphere where you can feel just how cold, wet and scared the four friends are while lost in the middle of nowhere. You really do feel trapped there with them and the scares are very well constructed. I also want to point out just how well he captures the strains that life can have on childhood friendships.

However what stops this book receiving five stars from me is the structure. The book is a story of two halves to the point where it could be two stories pasted together with a noticeable change of pace and setting which really lets the second half down. Without giving anything away the story becomes very repetitive and somewhat silly to the point that you just want it to end.

With that in mind I still recommend the book as the frist part has everything you need that makes a great horror story but just be cautious when you notice the change of setting as that when the book goes downhill.

3.5 / 5

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Cooties Movie Review

Cooties staring Elijah Wood, Rainn Wilson, Jack Mcbrayer, Alison Pill and Leigh Whannell is a horror comedy from directors Cary Murnion and Jonathan Milott.

The film follows Elijah Woods character Clint on his first day as a substitute teacher at an elementary school where the kids have turned into zombies after eating tainted chicken nuggets. One notable difference between this movie and other zombie movies is that the children can only pass the disease between themselves while the adults are there to be eaten. 

The movie achieves a good mixture of horror and comedy with a good cast although there is nothing original about the characters it is still well acted.

It's not the best zombie comedy out there but it is definitely recommended viewing. There's enough to keep you entertained for the 88 minutes runtime but not enough for repeat viewing. 

3/5