Adult Swim Yule Log

This is a snazzy horror movie that actually includes everything. First we have a couple in their Airbnb who come to find out it's been double-booked. They welcome the new renters in and the evening gets weird. Since everybody's on edibles it doesn't seem too strange that one of them climbs into the fireplace at the invitation of the little man standing on the burning yule log. Things get horrified when this little man starts to orchestrate. When asked for a Dr. Pepper he offers a Nurse Nutmeg. Wacky, huh? But the wackiness is in furtherance of the story. There are plenty of wacky elements that are great, for instance the space alien's face popping when he gets aload of the girl.

What starts off as a seemingly unominous yule log broadcast...quickly takes a dark turn, when a family of backwoods hillbillies con their way into a rental cabin in the woods, and kill the cleaning lady.

Before the culprits can leave, the couple renting the cabin return...just as the police show up to inform them of a recently discovered murder victim in the area.

Turns out, the guy cut a limb off a demonic hanging tree, in order to shoot his own yule log video...inevitably setting this whole series of events into motion, having angered the dead, and initiated it's curse.

Little do they suspect, however, that a pair of murderers are hiding in the room next door...with the body of their dead cleaning lady.

Hoping to capture the moment he proposes for posterity...the man leaves the camera running.

Unbeknownst of the dark fate that lies in store for them both.

As they discuss their future, flashbacks, to past moments in the house, cycle across the screen.

Up until they are interrupted by another group of double booked renters in what seems like a deja vu moment (if you've happened to watch Barbarian).

Turns out this is a bit of an homage, though...as this same scene also references the Ti West/Mia Goth collaboration X, as well.

Some super clever stuff.

Which immediately puts you on the lookout for more horror movie references spun in as subtle little stocking stuffers, to go with this completely unexpected present of a film.

Turns out that these new tenants are true crime podcasters, and offer us a window into the background lore of the house and surrounding area...providing context to these aforementioned interjections from the past, as they go.

The first act is shot entirely from the stationary camera the man had set up.

While the second act follows a more traditional cinematic path.

As a dark entity is awakened, in the form of the cursed log, they had so ignorantly brought home with them, and started to burn.

Which is precisely when things start to take a psychedelic- not to mention gory- turn...in a bizarre- and completely unexpected- series of twists that put even Twin Peaks to shame.

What ensues is an absolutely wild ride...that is both well written and acted, cleverly constructed...and straight up driven by imagination.

All of which makes for one hell of an entertaining holiday horror film that you DO NOT want to miss!!!

To make things even more interesting...it's release was a complete secret.

Airing after the season 6 finale of Rick & Morty, and marketed only as the "Adult Swim Yule Log".

The only hint that this seemingly benign Christmas season presentation actually held something more nefarious in store, were the "presents" sent to a number of horror movie influencers- who ended up posting pictures of what they received on reddit.

Those being logs inscribed with the word murder...

Though, even considering this...there is no way anyone would have managed to guess just what sort of insanity lied in store.

Because it really is...out of this world.

If you only watch one horror movie this Christmas season...definitely make it this one.

You won't be disappointed.

The best horror film of the year, hands down!!!

9 out of 10.

I had so much fun with this man, the less you know about this, the more fun it is to watch. I found a promo of this online and immediately knew I had to see what it was about, and it definitely didn't disappoint. The end product is flawed, you could probably read it apart. But my god, was the experience watching this purely mesmerizing. I came into this wanting a surreal, unpredictable piece of media. And I got exactly that, the film expertly raises the absurdity as it goes on, and the more absurd things got, the more invested I was. This was a really fun watch and while I don't know if I'll ever return to this, I really enjoyed my experience.

When advertisements for the Adult Swim Yule Log aired, they showcased the familiar features of a Yule Log video-- cracking wood, soothing tonal muzak, and the warmth of a simulated fire. And, indeed, for the first few minutes of the production that is what we get. But then, well, things happen.

The camera pans out and we are introduced to Ben, a part-time ad guy and aspiring YouTube Yule Log content creator, and Zoe, a career environmentalist burdened by her familial past and an event that has thrown her into an existential crisis. They intended to have romantic getaway at a rustic cabin in the woods but their plans are thrown awry, by a series of strange encounters. An ever-present threat lingers in the background as curious events connect characters, the past, present, and future, the house, the fireplace, and even the titular Yule Log.

Overall, it is definitely worth a watch, and, if you know your audience, sharing it is a great experience. It is a psychedelic straight-faced comedy that is not afraid of exploring the ordinary horror that we call history or the extraordinary horror of the unknown, unknowable, and absurd. There are some rather interesting visual effects and the production is not afraid to lean into or away from its initial framing device.

Ben and Zoe are well written characters and the actors pull their weight. Unlike Netflix shows where interracial couples are used as unexplored props or vehicles for Silicon Valley ideology, the script and the performers are conscious of the identity dynamics in play, which are handled thoughtfully without dominating the production.

Thematically, it is cohesive. More parts could have found their way to the cutting room floor, others needed fleshing out, but the Aesop is clearly communicated: Our existence is already unlikely, our continued existence is always eventually impossible, and strange even absurd things happen-- that's life. Rather than wish it were otherwise, we should fight for it.

Pretty inventive horror here you won't get the stupid decisions made by the characters and why didn't you do this or why did you do that. A straightforward Good decision making horror movie.

Leave it to adult swim to create something that I haven't seen before. Like I said before inventive in a way that keeps you thinking what's going on and why certain things are happening but there's really no need to think too far into it as it is Entertainment and mostly sums it up in the end.

Very well acted nothing outrageous or unbelievable except of course for the supernatural and other imaginative additions to this movie.