Carnage for Christmas is a lean, strongly-written horror. Alice Maio Mackay has made a confident and engaging slasher that hits the right notes to be a fun and satisfying seasonal horror watch. The unique portrayal of LGBTQ+ themes in this horror film is sure to intrigue and engage the audience.
When true-crime podcaster and sleuth Lola (Jeremy Moineau) visits her hometown at Christmas for the first time since running away and transitioning, the vengeful ghost of a historical murderer and urban legend seemingly arises to kill again. Lola must solve the case before her community is slaughtered. She’s up against not only a psychotic killer but a town haunted by secrets.
Having the film run at a brief 69 minutes works tremendously in Carnage for Christmas’s favour. This allows the plot to move along at a perfect pace, leaving the film with barely an ounce of fat. However, that is to the detriment of a couple of characters who are left a little to the wayside, but in truth, this is Jeremy Moineau’s show, as she is great here.
Predominantly a story of a person returning to their hometown to help defeat a murder that has arisen, Mackay isn’t afraid to broach the subject of Lola’s gender, but wisely doesn’t make it the focal point. This choice allows us to see Lola as the person and for the observations and comments made by characters to help form an idea of the day-to-day life of a trans person in a small-town environment. It’s a smart approach that works well, as we see how Lola’s transitioning has empowered her and made her the person we now see—allowing us to sympathise with her struggles as someone trying to solve a murder than solely as a trans person.
If there is one thing that is guaranteed in Mackay’s already productive career, it is that she is going to ensure that her characters are lit in some bright colours at any chance she gets. Characters are sitting chilling, eating food; that food is somehow going to have the brightness of the briefcase from Pulp Fiction. It’s wonderful and gives the film that character it needs to charm you, even if it results in a character having their skull peeled open to reveal their brain.
Despite the strengths of Carnage for Christmas, it does fall foul of having moments that show its budget limitations with casting. Some, if not most, of the cast, are too wooden and inexperienced to be playing the characters they have been cast as. For a film like this, we need characters that light up the screen with their performances that match the vivid colours, the fun editing and style that Mackay is going for. Sadly, it fails at that, and it stops the film from being far stronger. Add to this the odd little choices visually, like the animation split screen; it stumbles a touch. However, I did love some of the transitions that fit the film perfectly. As expected in a movie like this, the local police are terrible at their jobs. Still, this lot is especially useless, perhaps too distractingly so.
As a filmmaker, Mackay continues to get better and better; with more films like Carnage for Christmas, she will be a well-known name in no time. This is an LGBTQ+ horror that you can have a bloody good time with. Who doesn’t want to see a horror film where our killer fights a drag queen who is wearing a dress with nearly two-foot-long cone breasts attached to it?
★★★ 1/2
For more of our coverage of Fantasia Festival 2024 please check out our reviews below:
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