T’is the season for this secretive Santa to excessively spread Christmas fears, certainly striking with sufficient tidings of commiseration and despair.

The cold open introduces a killer in a Santa costume attacking an unsuspecting woman, Nikki, on Christmas. A year later she wakes up from a coma caused by the assault. She insists on going with her friends and boyfriend to a cottage in the woods. Soon after their arrival, there’s a power outage caused by a blizzard only to find out the masked Santa killer has returned. Should you put this film on the naughty or nice list?

Written and directed by Zac Locke, the script takes too much time to establish character relationships and dynamics. Some of the banter amongst friends is witty but the inclusion of various versions of Santa folklore from around the world is confusing. Especially the part about not being able to spell Santa without spelling Satan. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. The film doesn’t have a high production value so it lacks any sort of style or slick look. The film does do well at creating a sense of isolation because it builds up a secluded atmosphere. It also has good fake-out jump scares without being over-reliant on them so when the real jump scares come they’re more impactful. It has some good gore effects too, however, the Santa costume looks silly. It’s clearly someone in a mask that doesn’t fit. Without saying too much, it made the killer’s big reveal obvious in my opinion. The entire plot, actually, is as predictable as two people realizing what comes next when under the mistletoe. The big reveal also makes the beginning confusing. The final scene only adds to the bewilderment. The question of whether or not Santa is real is never answered. That’s a massive oversight.

The acting isn’t good all around. The cast includes Kaya Coleman as Nikki, Trey Anderson as Nathan, Cissy Ly as MJ, and Scarlett Sperduto as Jess. The group of clichéd characters don’t feel like people facing self-doubt and chasing desires, they’re one-dimensional instead. The friends aren’t supportive and none of them have likable qualities nor do they have redemptive storylines to win the audience over. It gets annoying how dialogue is both written and delivered. It’s slower than it needs to be, feeling longer than the 75-minute runtime. The personal drama takes over the film so the body count doesn’t start until the film’s climax.

Overall, it doesn’t do anything new or interesting with the dense folklore it touches on. Its mentioned briefly before losing focus to fixate on the twenty-something personal drama but the abysmal performances don’t do the already wafer-thin script justice. It’s not just underwhelming, it’s naughty list-worthy because it’s an irritating run-of-the-reindeer Christmas slasher at the end of the day. I’d recommend Black Christmas (1974), Krampus (2015), or Violent Night (2022) instead. And remember, have yourself a scary little Christmas.

4 out of 10