Christmas themed horror films are far from being something new, but some films go beyond the mark to deliver a series of unexpected events with twists and turns during the last minutes of the first act. The Killing Tree is another log set to burn in a fireplace to keep you warm while you drink a cup of rich hot chocolate– but it won’t last long.

On Christmas Day, a jilted woman decides to bring back her deceased husband, also a serial killer, to continue their work of keeping alive the true meaning of the holidays by murdering entire families– ironic and poetic, at the same time. When the spell goes wrong, and her husband is accidentally reincarnated into a Christmas tree completely decorated with lights and ornaments, the reborn killer returns in a rage to exact revenge on the sole survivor who sentenced him to his death.

The Killing Tree claims to be a dark comedy for fans of the film Krampus but it misses in several aspects it references and, even as a comedy, it misses an entire troop of jokes to be made by having repetitive dialogue and a lack of charm to even credit a cult following. It is impossible to ignore that the villain maintains a purpose that leads him to commit the crimes– there is no doubt that this is an aspect developed with intention and conscience. But he ignores his criteria by considering only revenge as a motive that leads him to the person from whom he wishes to collect a bill.

Although, it has a point in its favor. You can see the attempt to show the background story of the antagonist between present-narrative scenes– it is an invaluable detail many writers of indie works come to ignore for showing violence over logic.

The Killing Tree has a strong core of hope before it begins cutting itself down from the bottom to drop a campy spectacle of silly dialogue and ludicrous visual effects. With a bunch of unrelatable characters without substance, this film looks more like timber for someone else to construct a better workpiece. Faith, like the name of the sole survivor of the massacre, left the building long before the tree could arrive to cheer the party.

3 OUT OF 10 CHRISTMAS LIGHTS