Studio:   Terror Films
Director: Jake Helgren
Writer:   Jake Helgren
Producer: Autumn Federici, James Black, Jake Helgren
Stars:    Skye Coyne, Colin Koth, Kim Whalen, Adam Bucci, Ali Zahiri, Benedikt Sebastian, Christina DeRosa, Shani Marq, Coel Mahal, Liz Fenning

Review Score:

Summary:

A masked murderer disguised as Ebeneezer Scrooge stalks a reunited group of former college friends, all of whom have a connection to a tragic death in their past.

Synopsis:

After receiving a mysterious package containing a bloody ring and taunting poem, Franny Lang leaves a voicemail for her former college friend Tabby Banks asking if she too received a package related to their time together at Drake University. Franny also asks about an upcoming ten-year reunion holiday party being hosted by their socialite friend Chandler Crisp. After she leaves the message, a masked murderer dressed as Ebeneezer Scrooge slips into Franny’s house and decapitates her.

Although he vehemently hates Christmas, Tabby’s new actor boyfriend Jonny Rose convinces Tabby to go to Chandler’s family chateau for the party. Chandler introduces her house manager Marty and chef Roma. Chandler’s other guests include Tabby’s former best friend Kelsey Kline, Chandler’s gay best friend Tucker Posey, and Chandler’s former flame and baseball player Julian Cortez. Not long after introductions, Scrooge slits Roma’s throat while she is alone in the cellar.

Jonny joins the five friends as they gather for their tradition of exchanging “Secret Scrooge” gifts. Before the game begins, it comes out that in college, Tabby had a fiancé named Glen who supposedly killed himself by jumping off the campus theater’s roof prior to the annual production of “A Christmas Carol.” Tabby tells Jonny that in addition to his other problems, she had just broken up with Glen partly because Chandler told her he was unfaithful, which might have contributed to his death.

The friends realize something is amiss when they find a “Naughty List” with Franny’s name crossed off. Julian opens his “Secret Scrooge” gift to find a baseball along with a poem insinuating he injured Glen, a collegiate teammate, prior to his suicide.

Chandler’s gift contains an apple with a poem accusing her of being a liar. Pressured to explain, Chandler admits she made up a story about Glen flirting with her, which spurred Tabby to break up with him, and confesses she actually flirted with Glen to make Julian jealous.

Tucker’s gift contains Glen’s nametag from the pub where they worked together. Tucker’s poem blames him for Glen getting fired, although Tucker contends Glen was drinking on the job.

Kelsey receives an oxygen inhaler and a poem blaming her for telling Tabby that Glen was cheating on her. Tabby receives a fake human heart along with a poem identifying her as a monster.

Kelsey and Tucker accuse Chandler of playing a horrible prank, which Chandler denies. The friends try to leave, but discover the front door is mysteriously locked. With the roads becoming icy from a storm, Chandler implores everyone to stay for dinner.

Julian leaves on his own anyway. In the driveway, Scrooge beats Julian with a baseball bat before stabbing him to death.

Chandler, Tabby, Jonny, Kelsey, and Tucker gather for dinner. Tabby mentions how Marty looks familiar. Chandler confirms he went to school with them. Tabby remembers Marty as an obsessive baseball fan who hounded Glen and Julian, prompting speculation that he might have created the threatening gifts and poems.

Chandler lifts the lid off a serving platter, revealing Franny’s severed head to the horrified friends. While discussing who the killer could be, Tabby mentions Glen had a vengeful brother.

Tabby, Jonny, and Kelsey find Julian’s body outside. Jonny proposes leaving, but Tabby insists on staying to look out for the others. Jonny leaves to supposedly find help.

Chandler and Tucker discover Roma’s dead body in a bathtub. Still thinking Chandler might be responsible, Tucker leaves Chandler alone to regroup with Tabby and Kelsey.

The power suddenly goes out. Tabby and Kelsey go downstairs to flip the fuse, leaving Tucker alone. Scrooge burns Tucker to death in the fireplace.

Tabby and Kelsey return to find Chandler over Tucker’s charred corpse. As the women argue about Chandler being a suspect, Chandler claims Kelsey secretly badmouths Tabby behind her back.

The three women go outside where they see Scrooge moving Julian’s body. Scrooge chases Tabby, Kelsey, and Chandler back inside the house. Scrooge eventually finds Chandler hiding in an upstairs closet and impales her with a fireplace poker.

During a subsequent struggle, Scrooge chokes Tabby into unconsciousness. Kelsey then uses a frying pan to knock out Scrooge from behind. However, when Tabby recovers, Kelsey tells Tabby she doesn’t know what happened to Scrooge.

Tabby and Kelsey unlock a room adorned with Scrooge memorabilia to find Jonny tied to a chair. After he’s freed, Jonny claims Scrooge captured him on the road after he left. Upon finding what appears to be Glen’s suicide note, Tabby reveals she knew for certain Glen was cheating on her, but if it wasn’t with Chandler, then it must have been with someone else. Tabby, Jonny, and Kelsey consider Marty might be behind everything.

Wearing the Scrooge costume but not the mask, Marty finds Tabby, Jonny, and Kelsey. Marty claims he was knocked out, and that someone must have put the costume on him while he was unconscious. Kelsey suddenly stabs Marty to death from behind.

Tabby realizes Kelsey has not only killed before, but she also recognizes Kelsey’s handwriting on Glen’s forged suicide note. Tabby accuses Kelsey of having been in love with Glen and sleeping with him behind Tabby’s back. Tabby also wonders aloud if Kelsey pushed Glen off the theater roof because she was jealous of his plan to move to L.A. with Tabby after graduation.

Jonny unexpectedly puts a rope around Kelsey’s neck, forcing her to tell the truth. Kelsey admits to everything Tabby said, but she insists knocking Glen off the roof was an accident. Jonny uses the rope to snap Kelsey’s neck.

Jonny confesses to Tabby that he was Scrooge all along, although it was Kelsey who killed Roma. Jonny admits he and Kelsey orchestrated events together, with Kelsey wanting revenge against the friends she secretly despised and Jonny relishing the immersive role of a killer Scrooge. Jonny further reveals he was a fellow student Tabby didn’t recognize, and he blamed Tabby and her friends for ruining his big acting debut because he was set to star in the production of “A Christmas Carol” that Glen’s death cancelled.

The final struggle between Tabby and Jonny ends with Tabby bashing Jonny’s head with a meat tenderizer, killing him. Tabby then exits outside to recover.

Review:

Like Winnie-the-Pooh and Mickey Mouse, Charles Dickens’s classic Christmas character Ebeneezer Scrooge is a public domain property. Limited only by the extent of one’s imagination, anyone and everyone is legally free to take as much as they want out of “A Christmas Carol” and do with it as they please.

Presented with endless creative possibilities, what do the makers of “The Naughty List of Mr. Scrooge” decide to do with ol’ Ebeneezer? They merely make him into a mask for a modern-day murderer to wear as he slashes and bashes his way through estranged college friends gathered for a holiday party. Eh. Perhaps that’s marginally preferable to reimagining him in his original element as a supernatural serial killer like the other two names above. At least everyone’s favorite yuletide miser hasn’t boarded that beaten-path bandwagon… yet.

A low-grade slasher flick through and through, “The Naughty List of Mr. Scrooge” sets itself up as a “Clue”-style whodunit. It’s been ten years since a tragedy took the life of one of their own, so some former friends from Drake University are due for a reunion, and they each have a particular personality to portray. Promiscuous partier Chandler makes for the perfect socialite to host their merry affair. While Tucker plays the part of Chandler’s gay best friend, flamed-out ballplayer Julian fills the role of Chandler’s former flame. Resident good girl Tabby brought her new actor boyfriend Jonny along, making it his first time meeting folks like Tabby’s old bestie Kelsey, a gossipy gal who loves spilling tea. There’s also Chandler’s house manager Marty and personal chef Roma, just in case the potential suspect plate feels light on its overserved helping of herring.

With everyone assembled, the event gets underway. First up comes an exchange of “Secret Scrooge” gifts, except it seems someone sinister took over the tradition this year. Each person’s package contains an intimate item along with a taunting poem tailored to their share of blame in Tabby’s former fiancé’s supposed suicide. Whoever wrapped these presents appears to have more than one score to settle. And he plans on getting even the only way horror movie psychos know how: with an overcomplicated, gimmick-heavy plan that’s highly dependent on people being left alone at inopportune times, all while the Scrooge-costumed killer manages to carefully maneuver without anyone ever noticing anything.

Naturally, “The Naughty List of Mr. Scrooge” doesn’t make a lick of logical sense. The only reason why a viewer might not immediately identify the culprit would be because they haven’t seen similar slashers where, well, I’ll omit the dead giveaways just in case. The film still has one or two ridiculous tricks up its sleeve when it comes time for the villain to deliver his “explain everything” speech. Let’s just say, veteran fright fans should be well versed in this particular plot as well as these particular motivations.

If you want a slasher movie on any level between “Terrifier” and “Scream,” “The Naughty List of Mr. Scrooge” isn’t going to do the job. It’s a microbudget movie featuring unfamiliar faces playing single-dimension characters charting predictable paths through a single set.

Okay. But what if you’re aware of the indie aesthetic and normally have no major hangups with formulaic kills and rough-around-some-edges production value? Then how does “The Naughty List of Mr. Scrooge” hold up as holiday horror? Well, it has door-mounted wreaths, twinkling lights, decorated trees, Santa costumes, a little snow on the ground, and “Deck the Halls” playing in the background. At a minimum, you’ll get some festiveness with your bloodied bodies and dodgy decapitations.

I will say this in the film’s favor: the actors aren’t the usual assortment of friends and family freshmen. They’re not names you’ll recognize, but they have previous experience on professional productions. You’re unlikely to recognize any of those titles either, but at least we’re dealing with performers who know how to hit their marks, don’t deliver lines like they saw the script for the first time two minutes ago, and are fronted by an unexpectedly appealing lead who brings a strong Jessica Harper vibe to the movie.

I don’t recommend “The Naughty List of Mr. Scrooge” except maybe as a light lark for when there’s too much fireside brandy in your belly and you don’t really care what’s on TV. Although in the spirit of the season of giving, I’ll award a split 50/100 score since the film’s very visible effort rises a snowman’s head and shoulders above what we often see at this lower level of homebrewed horror. Granted, that bar sits on the cellar floor, but compared to the pointless pap Winnie and Mickey are put through nowadays, crude Scrooge ends up looking as noble as Charles Foster Kane in this one.

Review Score: 50

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