The holidays can be an exciting time for movies, no matter where you stand. During this season, a lot of folks get a break from school and jobs that give them the perfect opportunity to sit back and reflect on their year. For some of us, our jobs become busier, leaving us tired at the end of the day. In the latter case, a movie can be the perfect conduit for decompression from the holiday hustle. We all know the classics like Elf, Home Alone, and It’s a Wonderful Life but sometimes we need something new to keep things interesting. Here are my three-holiday movie suggestions for 2023:
Silent Night
You know the deal; every year the big studios put out a holiday action movie that is ironically violent yet cheery and fun. After watching the ads, I pegged Silent Night for another version of this prototype. NOPE! Silent Night is a pure revenge-action flick in the spirit of Death Wish that happens to take place around the holidays. This film was directed by John Woo and earned its title from the absence of dialogue in the movie. While I am normally skeptical of silent films and films with minimal dialogue like A Quiet Place, Silent Night did such a great job of articulating emotion and developing characters that the absence of dialogue was barely noticeable. This was a strong action flick and my favorite holiday film of the year.
It’s a Wonderful Knife
If you are like me and you fell in love with the 2023 Goosebumps series, you may have grown an appreciation for Justin Long. Justin Long plays the evil town mayor in Shudder’s Christmas slasher, It’s a Wonderful Knife. I was sold on the title alone, and having Long on board was a cherry on top. This film has such a cool concept, as the protagonist kills a serial killer preventing them from committing more atrocities. When depression kicks in a year later she wonders what life would have been like had she never been born. She finds herself in an alternative universe where she never existed and comes to her friends and family as strangers to try to stop the serial killer who has run amok on her hometown. It’s a Wonderful Knife is a fun holiday slasher with a great cast and cool visuals. It offers a grim take on the Holiday classic, It’s a Wonderful Life.
The Sacrifice Game
If Silent Night is Christmas dinner and It’s a Wonderful Knife is dessert, then The Sacrifice Game is the snack that you eat while you are waiting for waiting on the big meal. There is certainly a place for B-movies for your holiday movie nights and it would be hard to beat last year’s Christmas Bloody Christmas. The Sacrifice Game does offer some promise with a group of youthful villains who favor Rob Zombie’s trio in 3 from Hell. The flick offers some good twists and turns with plenty of violence. This film is Jenn Wexler’s directorial follow-up to her debut film, The Ranger. Both of her films offer a solid horror feel that falls right in line with the 80s and 90s horror that lined the walls of video rental stores in their signature VHS boxes.
About Nathan Conrad:
He’s best known as the Nashville-based Hip Hop/Indie Pop emcee Spoken Nerd, but this isn’t your typical rap project. He rhymes playfully at times, singing and/or rapping, juxtaposing his style with real-life situations and subject matter. Occasionally Spoken Nerd will find inspiration in films and will put it into song. With eight full-length albums into his career, the rapper has built a healthy catalog of music, which doesn’t include the number of EPs and singles released. His most recent release is Magical Powers.
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