Yule Die (2010)

Killer Santas do seem to be popular among the micro-budget crowd, maybe because all that’s required is a Santa suit, a fire ax, and a box of decorations from Mom’s basement. There are a number of Christmas horror movies that look like they were made for $20 and a case of beer, which are not included here, but Yule Die warrants a mention simply for attempting to construct a narrative as opposed to a loose collection of scenes. Is that preferential treatment? Maybe. But for a movie that appears to have been shot by amateurs on a consumer-grade camcorder, it’s quite watchable. Anyway, the story begins with a girl—who’s way too old to believe in Santa Claus—freaking out when she sees a guy dressed like Santa Claus, which makes sense once it is explained that she was attacked by a hijacker in a Santa suit and saved by a passerby the year before. Now her single mom is trying to put the moves on the good samaritan, and after learning that the hijacker has escaped from prison, the trio takes off to his house in the country where it’s “safe.” But in a slasher movie—and whoever made this has obviously seen a lot of them—a remote location is the opposite of safe. There’s very little information on Yule Die available online, so if the Seth Middleton who made this is reading, don’t give up. Maybe one day you’ll get a budget.