What I'm Watching: A Cadaver Christmas

As y'all know, I will occasionally grab or watch something random because it looks fun, and might fit in with my tastes, and what this site is all about.

That's what drew me to Cadaver Christmas.

C'mon, just look at that title.  You know I *had* to watch it, right?

This...

This may be one of my favourite Christmas horror movies.

It's a simple story.  A janitor shows up in a bar on Christmas Eve, covered in blood.  He casually goes to the bathroom to clean up, while the barkeep calls the a cop friend of his.  Once the janitor comes back out, he starts telling his crazy story of walking cadavers in the local college.  The cop doesn't quite buy it, naturally, and they all rush off to verify the guy's tale.

And hilarity ensues.

No really, hilarity.

This is very much a horror movie, with the same tropes, lots of blood, and a few jumps.  But it also comes with many jokes, and a strong sense of humour.  Many movies have tried to be the "American" Shaun of the Dead, and I think this one comes the closest.  It's more humour than "Shaun" by quite a bit, and doesn't quite have us much pathos in the end, but it is still a solid story told with humour and horror.

It is cheesy, yes.  They're going for a bit of the Grindhouse feel, and they come pretty close, without being annoying, or TOO faithful to that genre, or letting it get in the way.  The dialogue is badly recorded, deliberately so I presume, and they graded the film to make it scratchy and off.  The whole feel of this is like something from the 80s, and it works well.

If you like the sound of an 80s style, low budget, hilarious and fun movie that has a zombie massacre take place to Christmas songs, then you have GOT to check out Cadaver Christmas.

There's a character named Officer Sam Sheriff, for Kaufman's sake!  That's a double pun right there!!

J