A couple of years ago, I had headed home from Texas Frightmare to find out that the secret screening that night was Holidays. I was super disappointed that I could have seen it because i had really been looking forward to it. To celebrate Valentine’s Day this week I decided to finally watch it! Back in 2016, Robert posted a review of Holidays on our site, which you can read here. When I first finished reading Robert’s assessment of the film right after I finished watching it, I thought I completely disagreed with him, but upon further reflection, I wouldn’t say completely, but do think that he was too harsh on it. A few things he said that I agree with like that the concept of a holiday themed anthology is genius, and the fact that the majority of the shorts could have taken place on any holiday, meaning the story wasn’t really connected to them, which was super disappointing, but not a complete turn off for me. Holidays is nowhere near perfect, but it’s also nowhere near garbage either. Let’s get into more specifics shall we?
To start off with, the opening credits were nothing special, but I wanted to bring them up because the music playing during them reminded me of Suspiria.
Valentine’s Day was the first segment of the film, which was fitting since that’s the holiday I was using this film to celebrate. Right from the get go it reminded me of Carrie. More so the remake I guess because it starts off with a pool scene at school and the rest of the girls taunting the weird, quiet outsider. One of the bullying tactics even involves a woman’s sanitary product, the bully REALLY reminds of Chris, and there was a locker room shower scene, too. Also like in Carrie, not unsuspectingly this girl exacts her revenge on her bully. The way this short is connected to Valentine’s Day is really cheesy, and like I said not really important to the story, but it wasn’t unwatchable.
St Patrick’s Day was up next. It started off really well and creepy, with the little girl in the short doing an excellent job in my opinion. They take the whole “pregnant but not with a human baby” concept in a different direction than I’ve ever seen. This segment was one of the ones that was connected to the holiday it took place during the most, and it did so in a pretty cool way, but it definitely still could’ve taken place during any other time of the year, too. Like I said it started off really well, but by the time it got to the ending they just ruined it and the tone went from serious and spooky to really funny, and I’m still laughing at and trying to wrap my head around this one specific thing.
After St Patrick’s Day comes Easter. I’m pretty sure this was one of, if not the shortest segment, so there wasn’t much to it. Really, all I have to say about this one is that the Jesus Easter Bunny man was gross and creepy as hell, and the look of him reminded me of the walrus man from Tusk which I also really dislike. It was very cringey, and the only segment that made me feel that way.
Mother’s Day was the most random and weird segment of the film and I still don’t know what was going on. The ending was interesting I guess, and made me want more, but really only so I could understand what was happening.
Father’s Day stars Jocelin Donahue from The House of The Devil, and it was really really good. Very eerie. Something about it reminded me of The Beyond. Father’s Day was definitely the best segment of the film.
The Halloween segment was my most anticipated because it was made by Kevin Smith, and starring his daughter, Harley Quinn Smith, but it was a bit of a let down. In the beginning of it witches are brought up twice which made me really excited, thinking it had something to do with witches, but alas it did not. It was nice that it had some ladies kicking ass, in it, but I wish they would’ve done so in another way… that involved magic… and pointy hats.
Christmas starred Seth Green and I had to pause the movie bc he got a text saying “did you get IT?” and i couldn’t stop laughing. Seriously, “IT” was capitalized. That had to have been on purpose, right? Anyway, this was another segment that was actually really good and not just solid. It was very reminiscent of a Black Mirror episode, and had a somewhat similar concept to two episodes in the newest season, Arkangel, and Crocodile.
Last came New Year’s Eve which I think was my favorite even though I don’t think it was the best one in terms of quality. In Robert’s review he says that it’s predictable, and I’m usually pretty good at seeing where things are going but I honestly did not see this twist coming at all, which is probably why I really enjoyed it and thought it was awesome, and he hated it.
Robert stated that he hopes someone else tries to pick this concept up down the road, and I do too. Personally, I think it would’ve been much better as a series than a movie. I wanted more from Holidays than what I got, but was still satisfied with the watch. My main complaint is how loosely each of the stories connects with their designated holiday, followed by how all of the stories seemed too short, but overall, I think the stories were all unique and it was an all around solid flick.
Holidays is rated a 5.1 on IMDB, and I rate it a 5.
(I would advise against watching the trailer, but in case you want to do that here it is)
