Christmas Horror: Treevenge (2008) Review

It’s about that time of the year again. The snow is falling; people’s houses and yards are full of tacky plastic Christmas decorations, while I am building inappropriate snowmen to display for the towns children and drinking more whiskey to keep warm. It’s also the time of year to continue the tradition of watching my favorite Christmas horror movie.

No, I will not be watching A Christmas Story. While many of you may be watching things like Black Christmas, Silent Night, Deadly Night, Christmas Evil, Don’t Open Til Christmas, or maybe even Santa’s Slay; I, however, will be sitting down to watch Jason Eisener’s (Hobo With A Shotgun) short film Treevenge.

Treevenge tells the story of trees taken from their home in the forest to be used as Christmas decorations for citizens enjoying the holidays. However, this year things will be different as these trees have their own idea of how to spread Christmas joy. The trees soon take revenge on the town and its populace.

Treevenge is a very fun 16-minute short film with the spirit and campiness of many 80’s horror movies. The music and the over the top acting and dialogue are all reminiscent of 1980’s slasher horror comedies.
While this is by no means a dramatic character driven film, we do end up feeling a little bad for the trees. Eisner achieves this by giving the trees a voice and their own language (they kinda sound like Ewoks), and by making all the humans Christmas tree obsessed idiots. I, like the trees, am not a fan of Christmas music, decorations, or clothing, so I can relate to them.

Now I don’t want to give too much away for those of you who haven’t seen this, but when the trees begin to take their revenge and the blood begins to spurt, you’re really glad you sat down to watch this. The practical effects and gore and very effective (especially for a low budget film), so if you’re a gorehound like me, you will not be disappointed.

Intreegued? (See what I did there) Treevenge is a hilarious, blood soaked horror comedy that I would recommend to any horror fan looking for a Christmas themed horror movie. Unless (*Spoiler Alert*) tree-rape or baby death is not something you can’t find humor in, Treevenge is a must see and you can check it out below.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vaiv7kAXBzM