Let me preface this review by saying you should watch this movie for yourself, because although it is somewhat mediocre in parts and often quite terrible, it's worth seeing for the moments it does manage to offer a little scare or the director manages to pull a shot off well.
The aspects which really pull away the stars from my rating are the lazy, lacklustre special effects. This film is a UK production, released in March 2018 and the storyline features a wintery setting, so one would assume this film would be produced during the winter months of the year in order to capture the correct atmosphere and snow-covered landscape. Wrong. It appears this film was shot entirely during early spring-albeit on a dull day-or perhaps on a less than sunny summer day. To create snow, the director has decided to simply use a 'green screen effect' (in quotation marks because it's the very bones of the effect, and doesn't actually utilise flat, green screens for CG backgrounds). He has opted for this method so that all greenery; trees, leaves, bushes and shrubs can be effectively turned black and white with a high rate of contrast, so that almost all things which were once green now appear white. Almost. The effect is poorly done and anyone could see how easily a choice like this may backfire and destroy the movie-watching experience for your viewers. Certain characters hair, their clothing, eyes and even skin is altered by this effect where patches or reflections of green have caught the filter's threshold and turned black and white. It's also incredibly jarring to see the greenery and blossom of the trees appear through windows periodically once the crew are shooting the movie from within the country house.
The acting is less than believable in places, but somehow fits in quite well with the typical dialogue featured in low-budget British horror films - they are essentially behaving just as normal people would, only as caricatures of their "diverse" personas, so as to really hit home just how inclusive this cast is.
There are some wonderful unnerving shots of the creature/entity (except the laughable spider puppet), including the first sighting by the wood store and then again in the bedroom when one character begins to vomit buttons. Yes, buttons. There was little to no explanation as to why that happened, but following along with the plot of the creature appearing as your worst fear, I'm sure there's a contrived reason hidden somewhere within that mess of pine furniture in the bedrooms.
With most direction and shots leaving a lot to the imagination; flat, boring and bland. There are still some wonderful close-ups of the characters by the fire during a scene where they are hypnotising the protagonist to help her deal with her trauma. The director has clearly attended enough film school or classes to know how to successfully light his shots in order to convey a sense of warmth and cosiness. That I applaud him for, because that's one detail I always look for in a Christmas horror film - don't we all? To be warm and cosy, and to watch terror unfold around these fictitious morons is fun and doesn't really get boring, like some low-budget horror films do.
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