Writer and director Todd Nunes takes what should be a rather simple premise, and overcomplicates it in the hopes of providing some form of suprise plot twist for the audience. In doing so, Nunes' overly excessive plot development feels narratively tedious and draining to pay attention to as a viewer. Although this wildly complex and unnecessary plot provides some context to the seeming overused male mutilation that occurs throughout, this could have quite easily just been an escaped mental patient randomly killing in a Santa costume and would have held more impact. This film certainly provides the argument for sometimes, less is more.
Of all the Christmas horror films I have seen to-date, 'All Through the House' has the most fearsome looking version of a killer Santa Clause I have encountered. Sticking with the familiar red and white Santa suit, yet enhancing the aging features with dark metallic plastic mask, makes for some rather creepy visuals. If I had to criticise it for anything, I would say that I think the role should have have been given to a slightly more menacing and larger in stature actor, however, Lito Velasco does a competent enough job with the role.
Whilst having some enjoyable element such as the kills, practical effects work and the design of the main protagonist, unfortunately these highlights don't make up for the overall poor execution of this production. Given the limited amount of high quality festive horror movies we have to choose from as horror fans, 'All Through The House' is by no means the worst that I have encountered. All of that said, I still don't think I could recommend this borderline insufferable Christmas slasher to anyone
💀1/2
Check Marc's full review here
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