This is a slasher that has no qualms about mimicking others, employing abundant tropes, or being extra ham-handed or even cartoonish. The very premise is rather outrageous, as no few lines of dialogue portend each on their own: "He was the victim of another Santa murder." Make no mistake, 'Don't open till Christmas' fits neatly within the genre - so neatly that one quickly wonders if "movie by numbers" isn't an apt description. For what it's worth, though, it at least demonstrates higher production values and more restraint than some of its brethren (contemporary, or modern for that matter), and is mildly entertaining.
However, as the saying goes, the devil is in the details.
This isn't the type of slasher with substantial carefulness in its craft. Plot development is slow, and like the curious scene writing feels almost haphazard at points. Sequencing and editing at large are direly inelegant, and direction is more than a little slipshod, with some shots and scenes very notably suffering from a less than graceful hand. To be fair - I gather this production experienced no few problems, and changed hands multiple times, before it ever saw the light of day, so perhaps the indelicacies can be chalked up at least in part to "too many cooks." Still, even the core narrative is a pure contrivance of cheeky horror storytelling. Connective threads between scenes and story beats are deeply questionable, and the killer's motivations seem specious. 'Don't open till Christmas' is certainly a case in which death scenes were prioritized over writing - and pretty much all else, really.
There's broadly nothing remarkable about the performances here - though the fact of the cast in and of itself is a small bit of fun. Alan Lake's is a very recognizable name - and Caroline Munro's, too. Her appearance in yet another British genre film of the 70s or 80s is no real surprise, but a delight all the same. On the other hand, it's low-key astonishing that Belinda Mayne has such a substantial part; while she clearly has no few credits, she isn't someone who has ever been particularly prominent in cinema at large, so her involvement here is a joy. Des Dolan's score seems a little at odds at points - occasionally reflecting other horror themes, sometimes sounding out of place with synth-driven chords that would feel more at home in a sci-fi flick - but is enjoyable nonetheless. The blood and gore is definitely over the top, but looks decent enough.
This is an oddity, and a little bit all over the board. Some scenes are written and executed reasonably well, including the climax; others far less so - and most poorly rendered of all is the reveal, paired with the climax, that would hope to explain the killing motive. So it is for almost everything about the feature, a mixed bag of minor quality and major deficiency. And still, the most significant unifying factor is that both the storytelling and film-making that would connect all the dots are terribly weak, resulting in a story and a picture that often feels disjointed, with at most a very tenuous and at times nigh invisible through line from one scene to the next. It's as though the screenplay were founded on "Santa murders," but the writers struggled from there on to build their work, and after a point the directors just couldn't be bothered.
On the one hand I think I'm being too kind in my assessment - but then again, maybe I'm being too harsh. For all the clumsiness in its construction, 'Don't open till Christmas' still manages to be passably entertaining. I just rather wish it were approached with more thoughtful attention; a smidgen more diligence would have gone a long way. No matter how you look at it, this is far from solid - but if you're looking for a slasher no matter the quality, and a holiday-themed one at that, I suppose it's serviceable. Just don't go out of your way for it.
Recommended for fans of the cast and anyone who has a grudge against Santa.
