This comedic festive horror short is quite visually dull, quick, and to the point, but it sure is fun! A man is given a Christmas album record by his loving wife as an early present, and as he plays it, instead of hearing a classic heartwarming Christmas jingle, horrible backwards satanic-sounding words and wailing emerge that gradually drive the man mad as he grows more sweaty and crazed-looking, although he doesn't seem to make the connection and instead blames his poor terrified wife who can't hear the maddening sounds. Things get hilariously scary and scarily hilarious as he totally loses his s**t with her over the distinctly average nature of the other gifts that he forces her to give him, growing more angry and irrational with each new one and crazily bellowing at her with his thick Brooklyn accent until he gets the gift of a new tie which really pushes him over the edge and he strangles her with it, at which point the evil record grows silent. And as the man looks around at the happy holiday decorations in a daze and slowly begins to realise just what he's done, the twisted hellish noises return in insane laughter. Creepy! This and all the other Buddy Giovanzzio short films that I've seen all had the wonderful same 'sleazy' grainy style to them like movies like Basket Case and Buddy G's excellent Combat Shock have in spades. It's a style that I've loved plenty of times and that has done many an odd horror picture a lot of favors over the years, and it really helps to accentuate the bizarreness of this little movie here! The theme of taking the warm cheer of Christmas time and turning it into something frightening and macabre is always a fun gag in horror and this is a good short, it's offbeat, funny and scary, very much worth seeing I'd say if you're a fan of gritty weirdness. I guess getting out all of your aggression isn't always a good thing after all... Heh.
2 Reviews
"How the f**k could you be such an asshole!?!"
Foreverisacastironmess1233 August 2016
Warning: Spoilers
What An Anti-Christmas Movie Should Be
Michael_Elliott27 November 2016
A Christmas Album (1981)
*** (out of 4)
Buddy Giovinazzo's second short film is a wickedly dark comedy that starts off with a loving and happy couple about to celebrate Christmas. The man opens his first gift and it's an album that he's been looking for. He puts the album on, which contains some sort of weird music and before long his entire personality starts to change. I won't ruin what happens but let's just say that the man continues to open his gifts and his reaction to them becomes brutally honest. I must say that I really found this to be a fun and entertaining short. If you're familiar with the director's work then you know the bizarre atmosphere that he creates and that's on display here as well. What makes this film so memorable, to me anyways, is the dark comedy that slips into the dark material. This is very much an anti-Christmas movie made before SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT.
*** (out of 4)
Buddy Giovinazzo's second short film is a wickedly dark comedy that starts off with a loving and happy couple about to celebrate Christmas. The man opens his first gift and it's an album that he's been looking for. He puts the album on, which contains some sort of weird music and before long his entire personality starts to change. I won't ruin what happens but let's just say that the man continues to open his gifts and his reaction to them becomes brutally honest. I must say that I really found this to be a fun and entertaining short. If you're familiar with the director's work then you know the bizarre atmosphere that he creates and that's on display here as well. What makes this film so memorable, to me anyways, is the dark comedy that slips into the dark material. This is very much an anti-Christmas movie made before SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT.
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