A new Christmas horror anthology classic starring the crown prince of B-movies, Greg Sestero, is hitting your digital platforms this holiday season! Directed by Robert Livings and Randy Nundall Jr., The Christmas Tapes is a home-movie horror and found-footage flick rolled into one, being composed of several found-footage short movies tied together by a home-movie that acts as the catalyst for the movie’s premise.

The Christmas Tapes begins with a wholesome family enjoying their Christmas Eve as they record each other opening presents. Their evening is interrupted by a stranger named Geoff (Greg Sestero) who claims his car has broken down and needs to use their phone. Overcome with Christmas cheer, the family invites the stranger to stay, only to find that no good deed goes unpunished when Geoff ends up taking them hostage at gunpoint. Geoff forces them into an evening of watching a series of violent movies, all as he counts down toward a promised Christmas surprise at midnight.

The Christmas Tapes might be a B-movie lover’s dream, chock full of violence on a par with any lurid exploitation movie and starring Greg Sestero of The Room (2003) fame. If Sestero is involved it can be expected that a film will not have much narrative substance or high-caliber acting, so with this in mind and with my well-established love for Sestero, I was able to enjoy The Christmas Tapes somewhat. However, referring to this movie as B-grade would be generous. If a B-movie darling hadn’t been commissioned to be the ringleader of this affair I am afraid there is not much I would have enjoyed about The Christmas Tapes.

The home movie starring Sestero that runs throughout this film, as well as the first couple of short movies were entertaining, however, each following chapter was less entertaining than the last and the film probably could have improved its watch-ability had it cut one of the last short movies from its roster and given the audience yet more of Greg Sestero. Nevermind that the premise for Sestero’s short only makes minimal sense in logic and is as cliche as a horror movie can get — I mean, they literally say “stranger danger” while they are letting in an obviously dangerous stranger — but at least Sestero’s charisma and presence made up for the forced performances and less than original stories found in The Christmas Tapes.

When I watch a found footage movie I look for it to feel real or at least believable in some sense of reality, otherwise, it begins to feel like an unintentional parody of the genre, which was the case with The Christmas Tapes. I wanted to love this anthology, and I am surprised that higher-quality short movies were not written and produced for this film. Overall, I would have enjoyed an entire movie of the story involving Sestero — it was apparent by his performance that he found a ghoulish glee in being the villain, and a full movie might have led to him giving a memorable and off-the-wall performance as a mentally damaged Christmas killer.

The Christmas Tapes will be released on December 16th, 2022.

5.75 out of 10