Holidays Review
No holiday is safe when it comes to the horror genre. In some perverted way, the horror genre pays homage to every holiday in its own twisted way. Holidays decides to give every celebrated occasion of the year its own sadistic tale.
I had heard in passing before viewing this anthology that the oft-divisive Kevin Smith directed the worst segment in the film. And while I am a defendant of such films like Red State and Tusk for their brave attempts at originality, I would have to agree. It was generally nonsensical and ill-conceived. The Tarantino-esque humor at times was trivial at its best. It was like Smith was set on doing the entire thing in one take like an SNL skit and, because it's live, you can't take any of it back.
Sacrilege for sacrilege's sake is not my cup of tea. It made Easter a difficult pill to swallow, but it was also the most disturbingly effective of the segments, with perhaps the only truly frightening moments.
St. Patrick's Day was a ridiculous, elongated joke with the most dysfunctional punchline that it is equal parts hilarious and disturbing, which was a combination of emotions I didn't know was possible.
The anthology as a whole follows the conventional quality you come to expect from the low-budget sub genre. The acting is relatively sub-par, the special effects vary from segment to segment, but are generally above average, and the scares are about as effective and prevalent as the dark humor.
Horror Qualifier: 8/10
Horror Quality: 5/10
Film Quality: 3/10