Christmas Cruelty Review from Unearthed Films!
Unearthed unearths another gem with Christmas Cruelty (O’Hellige Jul!). This time from Norway. Co- directors Per Ingvar Tomren and Magnes Steinsvoll deliver on an unforgettable indie marvel of brutal violence, humor, and great music.
Director Per Ingvar Tomren is a very talented individual. I appreciate his warped sense of humor mashed together with sick-o-phantic sexual violence and rape. Christmas Cruelty is a bizarrely paced film laced together with moments of friendship, lighthearted holiday partying, and debauchery mixed with cruel mean-spirited acts of violence.
I can describe the film in three parts. The intro is shocking and unforgiving, the middle features friends having fun preparing for Christmas, and the ending is an inhuman slaughterfest. Christmas Cruelty features a methodical serial killer played expertly by Tormod Lien. Lien dispatches his prey mercilessly whether its child or adult, it doesn’t matter. He also has the time to drop quirky little comments showing how relaxed he is and how much he relishes in raping, torturing, and killing.
The opening features Lien violating a family. In between we are introduced to characters Per Ingvar Tomren, Magnes Steinsvoll, and Eline Aasheim. Strangely enough the three individuals who wrote the film and the two that directed it. Even stranger all three go by their actual names in the film plus Per Ingvar Tomren seems to actually play himself according to the background information given. Ingvar is in a wheelchair due to brittle bone disease which he reveals in the film, an ailment he has in real life.
The middle of the film focuses on the friendship Eline, Per Ingvar, and Steinsvoll develop together over the holidays. From making toxic alcoholic Christmas brew to molding face masks for Krampus day to scare hapless pedestrians (one of my favorite montages in the movie).
My assumption is they wanted to explain characters you care about until their brutal fate comes crashing down upon them. Per Ingvar is obviously a sympathetic character. He is often the brunt of his friend Magne’s jokes and others. Magne is the outgoing rockstar rebel type character and seemingly protects Eline from a drunk male advancement towards her while at a bar. The three are inseparable and celebrate the holidays together.
Enter Tormod Lien as a social worker who uses his job/position to locate potential victims. In this case he locates Per Ingvar and Eline, he feels bad for the poor wheelchair-ridden man and his beautiful friend spending the holidays alone, so he hatches a plan to deliver some yuletide “joy.” Eline becomes his obsession as we see constant flashes of her picture on the screen as Tormod Lien fantasizes about her.
The climax features Tormod Lien donning a Santa Clause costume and paying the three friends a visit as they invite friends over for a Christmas party. The title of the film rings true during these brutal scenes. Decapitations, stabbings, chainsaw dismemberment, hammer smashed heads, etcetera. It’s just an unsettling way to end the film.
Christmas Cruelty is unique mixture of comedy and mean-spirited violence. You also get a bunch of music montages which some may find annoying time fillers. Some of the quick frame cut shots get annoying quickly making it difficult to watch in places with all the movement and bizarre editing. Overall, Christmas Cruelty is a quirky, memorable ode to destroying your good times at Christmas.
AKA: O’Hellige Jul!, En Grym Jul!
Directed by: Per Ingvar Tomren, Magne Steinsvoll
Written by: Magne Steinsvoll, Per Ingvar Tomren, Eline Aasheim, Janne Iren Holseter, Anita Nyhagen
Produced by: Magne Steinsvoll, Kim Haldorsen, Raymond Volle
Cinematography by: Raymond Volle
Editing by: Per Ingvar Tomren
Special Effects by: Per Ingvar Tomren, Hilde Odegard
Music by: Magne Steinsvoll
Cast: Eline Aasheim, Tormod Lien, Magne Steinsvoll, Per-Ingvar Tomren, Raymond Talberg, Nina-Shanett Arntsen
Year: 2013 (2022)
Country: Norway
Language: Norwegian (English Subtitles)
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 1h 35min
Studio: Stonewall Productions
Distributor: Unearthed Films
