Now available on Blu-Ray from Synapse Films
1000 years after a war that brought the apocalypse, Santa is no longer the man who brings joy and toy to all the good boys and girls…
Written by Greg Ansin and Michael Neel, based on their webseries, and directed by the former, Infinite Santa 8000 is a film that is very much for a niche audience and this reviewer is not it. The story here is somewhat simple yet this viewer couldn’t keep up with it. It came off as a dark Holidays post-apocalyptic Happy Tree Friends or something that would have appealed back in the Dr Tran days but not so much now. Something about the now sober ADHD brain in this human did not connect with this film’s story and development at all. This doesn’t mean the film is not good, it simply means this viewer is not the audience for this film. From comments online, this is a beloved webseries and film with many folks loving it.
Where the story comes up lacking, the art is interesting. The animation style of more like art that is filmed in different ways, so it only goes so far. However, it works. This is a very specific style of animation that works for this kind of story and makes for an interesting visual to the story. For those with strobe issues, there is a lot of flashing and sort of flashing, so it does make it harder to watch the film. The voice acting here works decently with the visuals, bringing life to the characters and making it fit with the animation and the story.
In general, this is not something that would be picked up randomly by most people and it’s likely better that way. The film has its audience, and they are really into it, so it works great for them. For this viewer, this is a miss and one that will not be watched again.
As for the new release by Synapse, the release is good quality with a good transfer that looks great and sounds good on the Blu-Ray. The extras are interesting and include the complete webseries for those would like to own that as well. For those who need more there is a commentary track with Ansin and Neel, lots of interviews with cast and crew, two music videos, and the original trailers, so not a bad release for fans of the webseries and/or film.