Demonic Christmas Tree

Listen, you're gonna read the description and groan. You're probably gonna see low "critic" reviews and you're going to write this one off. DO NOT DO THAT. Listen to fans of low budget horror, like myself. This, at the very least, will find itself in your "so bad it's good" column if you let it. The CGI is laughable, and most of the kills are part of that CGI, but that's actually part of the charm here! Watching these cheesy CGI kills made me chuckle, and it's a big part of what kept me entertained until the end.

If you are a fan of movies like Jack Frost, Jack Frost 2, Thankskilling, CarousHELL, and so on, this is right up your alley.

The Killing Tree (2022) is a UK movie that I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline follows a serial killer's widow who casts a spell for him to return but the spell goes wrong and he returns as a Christmas tree. As a Christmas tree he also has special powers that allows him to do things beyond his wildest dreams. The serial killing tree sets out for revenge on those who caused him to get caught and executed.

This movie is directed by Rhys Frake-Waterfield (Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey) and stars Sarah Alexandra Marks (Kill Kane), Marcus Massey (Bunny: The Killer Thing), Judy Tcherniak (Monster Portal) and Kelly Rian Sanson (Curse of Jack Frost).

This movie wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The storyline itself reminded me a little of Shocker. The acting and dialogue is just okay but the horror elements are entertaining. There's a pool scene I really enjoyed and the kills by the tree get better and better as the movie progresses. The CGI didn't bother me at all and reminded me a little of Deep Rising. The final showdown scenes at the end are a lot of fun. I would definitely watch a sequel.

Overall, this is a fun watch for fans of bad horror movies. I would score this a 5.5/10 and recommend seeing it once.

While clocking in at ten times longer, it is just not nearly as pithy. There are long stretches of buxom hens nattering on about absolutely nothing.

Of course, the movie is corny and it knows it. Doesn't make it good.

Some of the kills were inventive. Like the one on the tennis court was my favorite.

The one lady in the sequins is definitely a budget Kathryn Hahn for sure.

The part in the manor house is something to watch with your eyeballs when observing the screen you are viewing via your vision.

Apparently no animals were harmed in the making of this movie. But there is no mention in the credits of an on-set arborist or watchdog certification by a botanical welfare society. So trees were most likely treated inhumanely.

Probably can say the same for the audience.

It's a dumb bad movie. If that's your thing.

Obviously if you're going to go the route of a slapstick type killer on the loose, you need to know your film is a comedy. This clearly doesn't. Not a single joke in the film. Unless if you count them using the Star of David instead of a pentagon as a joke, but I'm pretty sure that was just a production error. This could've been an instant cult classic like Jack Frost, heck, all they really need to do is re-record the voice over of the tree and make him funny. Like if the tree were to strangle someone with lights have the tree say "lighten up" or if the tree kills a barking dog say "all bark, no bite" or if the tree kills a topless girl with his roots or whatever, have him say "got wood?" It's really not hard to make this concept worth watching. And it wouldn't cost too much to redo the ADR and make some cash.

A distraught woman- pining over the death of her recently executed partner in crime and love- desperately tries to reincarnate him, by undertaking a ritual designed to release his soul from his ashes.

However, things don't go exactly as planned.

As he ends up possessing the Christmas tree.

Which gives him a chance to hunt down and kill the one that got away...as The Killing Tree.

Despite the fact the whole demonic anthropomorphic tree slasher trope has been done before- most notably in the awesome Christmas horror short, Treevenge (but also in Twas The Night Of The Tree Beast)- this was much more entertaining than it should of been.

Especially considering most of the gore and action are facilitated with CGI effects.

Part of it's charm comes from the fact that it doesn't take itself too seriously, though.

Most explicit when the Christmas star is used as a shuriken, with no effort made to hide the string that it's on.

Having been released by the same company that brought us the Krampus series...I went in to this with relatively low expectations.

And it, at least, managed to surpass those.

Though, with that being said...there's not much depth to the story...and the character development is rather poor.

But if you don't go in expecting much from it...it's certainly worth a watch for a few laughs, and bit of mindless entertainment.

Just realize that Treevenge is still the better of the killer Christmas tree horrors (and packs more entertainment in 9 minutes, than this does in 70).

But it is what it is.

3 out of 10.