He Knows

As far as home-made horrors go, this one is definitely in the top tier of the lowest grade - but it's not without some issues that are hard to get over.

Mainly, that there is some really poor casting, and some of the acting is quite bad.

For example, they have a 15 year old girl- with tits and acne- playing a ten year old girl...which just doesn't work, as it comes off as completely unbelievable.

With there being acting issues, pretty much across the board (less a few exceptions).

The story revolves around a serial killer that is supposed to an elf, named Sammy, who has taken it upon himself to reap vengeance on the naughty- no matter what age they might be.

It begins in the past, with Sammy killing a boy and his step father.

Before fast forwarding to the present, with the surviving children from the flashback now being parents themselves.

And Sammy returning for a second round of killing.

To the filmmakers' credit, they do a pretty good job of character development in this.

With the lore being sufficient enough to drive the plot forward.

So, if you can get over the horrible acting, and poor casting choices...it's actually a pretty competent Christmas themed slasher.

Which was much more engaging and entertaining than I expected it to be.

The elf is basically just a guy in a mask...which would normally be a fail...but they manage to work a reasonable explanation for this into the plot.

So it doesn't end up being too bad in the end.

The only thing that really kills the vibe is the aforementioned casting of the little girl.

But that aside, it's certainly a worthwhile little slasher...especially if you don't expect much going into it.

Placing it, solidly, among the top tier of the lowest grade of low budget horrors.

But it's where it belongs...on tubitv.

3.5 out of 10.

Writer and Director Steven Morris really knew how what he was doing here and it shows. Forget Silent Night, Deadly Night! THIS is high quality Christmas horror! Great acting, a unique story, great kills, and endearing characters (I'd have a beer with Gregg if it was possible, and Christina was an engaging lead character. Rooted for her all the way!) made He Knows a great genre film!

Put HE KNOWS on your Christmas list, because this film is destined to become a horror classic in the same ranks as Halloween and Nightmare On Elm Street!

9/10! Bring on the sequel and watch out for Sammy The Elf!!

After a series of strange murders, a woman becomes convinced a folktale from her past involving a murderous elf punishing the naughty has some true and tries to warn her hesitant friends, but when their holiday trip is crashed by the figure she tries to save them before it's too late.

This was a rather fun indie-themed holiday genre effort. One of the better features here is the main setup of the killer who's given quite an effective starting point here involving the legend of the elf. Tying in a legend involving the elf being the conception of the elves at the North Pole as a son for Santa and has turned evil in the interim hunting down naughty children, the connection between the real-life killer in the town and the family relationship at the heart of the film is all good enough for this kind of genre effort. As well, with the later reveals about what's going on between the particular killer and how their personal connection ties together is a decent enough idea as well to make for a generally decent storyline. That also provides a great baseline for the film's best parts here which revolve around the solid and fun indie-style attacks and stalking scenes. These are featured rather well in here with the film using the idea of the killer's antics carrying out while others are completely clueless or unaware of the true nature regarding the sleigh-bell jingling, masked madman's murderous motivations. That lets the massacre at the friends' house who keeps taking out the various arrivals, the attack on her friends, or the big confrontation at the cabin which has some great gore and stalking scenes come about for quite a lot to like here. There are some flaws here that keep this one down. One of the main issues with the film comes from the wildly chaotic and jangled structure that makes for a tough time staying invested in everything. There's very little here connecting how the various groups know each other and it's mostly left for interpretation until later which makes for a tough time at first understanding how the connections fit together regarding who everyone is or how the cult works. This feature comes out of nowhere and seems designed to specifically open up a potential sequel with little build-up or presence until the end, and with some instances where the low-budget origins shine through and end up bringing this one down.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and drug use.

The acting is subpar and the bad lighting and cinematographry takes you out of the experience. Wish the lightning was a little more cinematic because with some the lighting it looked a bad YouTube skit

It feels super cheesy so if that's what they were going for they hit the nail on the head.

Audio was really good so that's a plus. If they audio wasn't great I wouldn't of made it all the way through. The music to voice lines could use some better balancing out.

The newer actors could of used some better directing to help them feel comfortable in their role. Some of them seemed like they were just reading line rather than being the character and feeling what the character is feeling.

Hopefully the next film will learn from the cons of this one and succeed on the next.

Set design was so lazy! Just go rent a cabin and call it a day. This has to be one of the laziest set designs i've ever seen in any movie. There was no feeling of rhe Christmas season at all, other than a couple royalty free tracks. To mention there was no score to speak of either. Sometimes it sounds like the audio is coming straight from the camera mic cause it sounds very tiny and hollow and its very distracting.

The characters were also lacking in any redeeming qualities to set them a part. You have the token black guy blah, blah nothing stands out in the acting department.

The mask was pretty cool and the overall look of the film wasn't too bad.

Sadly this one missed the mark, and I'm glad it was free to watch.