“Don’t put avocado on the burger!”
You just can’t take a movie like “Silent Night” all that seriously. It’s twisted, demented, and weird, and features a small town with a perverted priest, and a slew of gorgeous women sauntering about like it’s just another day. Jaime King is the sheriff, Ellen Wong is her secretary, single moms are attractive, and the slashing Santa spends most of his time murdering good looking women in the most sadistic ways imaginable. It’s a splatter film and an exploitation film first and foremost, so if you’re expecting high art with complex themes about Christmas, you should look elsewhere. Director Steven C. Miller knows exactly what kind of film he’s directing, and he never holds back from delivering the gore and the torture in all of the most convenient forms possible.
For the majority of Judd Apatow’s film career, there seemed to have been a trend of movies about bromances and guys growing up thanks to gorgeous women in their lives. “This is 40” breaks that trend and seems more intent on two purposes: One it wants to desperately trot out Judd Apatow’s daughters as cute, witty, and irresistible to the point where casting agents will have to bring them on to their next movies, and two: to redeem the utterly despicable character Leslie Mann played in “Knocked Up.” Touted as a “sort of sequel to Knocked Up,” Judd Apatow sets his sights on the life of supporting characters Pete and Debbie to explore what they’re doing now that they’re turning forty and are still rather unlikable people.
It should serve as no surprise that since its initial release, “Sell Your Own Dan Movie!” has sold big with aspiring filmmakers across the country, and it should also serve as no surprise that “Sell Your Own Damn Movie!” is probably the best how to guide for indie filmmakers on how to get their completed films out there and consumed for mass audiences. Whether you love Troma to death or hate Lloyd Kaufman like date rape, there’s no denying that the man has amassed decades of experience in indie filmmaking and has built an encyclopedic knowledge on the do’s and don’t’s on selling your film and how to get certain audiences aware of your creative work.
It’s free on Hulu and I don’t know a single person who has FEARNet. Just in case you were wondering why I watched this Christmas special in spite of the fact I’m not a humongous fan of the horror sitcom “Holliston.”