{"id":51139,"date":"2025-12-23T23:12:22","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T04:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=51139"},"modified":"2026-01-28T07:33:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T12:33:50","slug":"the-killing-tree-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/23\/the-killing-tree-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"The Killing Tree (2022)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A year after his death, a serial killer is resurrected in the body of a Christmas tree by his lover and vows to kill the Final Girl who eluded him and led to his downfall the previous holiday season.
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\nI continued my journey through the world of holiday horror this week. Films like Krampus, Silent Night \/ Deadly Night, or Black Christmas all come to mind whenever the sub-genre is brought up. This year I chose to stray away from the usual suspects and broaden my horizons. Last week I dove into Santa’s Slay and found myself pleasantly surprised with a film that’s now a part of my future ritual. Last night I sat through The Killing Tree. For those familiar with the term \u201cGiving Tree\u201d, you can expect the exact opposite tone from the film’s titular character. What I discovered was an anomaly and I’m still chewing on whether or not I should recommend it to my like-minded cinema friends.<\/p>\n

The Killing Tree’s story revolves around Clayton Slayter, a serial killer who targeted wealthy families during the holidays while accompanied by his wife, Morrigan. Everything goes sideways for the couple after they kill the parents of a young woman named Faith. Faith comes home to find her parents dead, and is promptly chased by Clayton. Faith manages to escape and Clayton is gunned down by police. His wife goes untouched and returns home without him. When the film opens up, we see Morrigan Slayter performing a ritual to resurrect Clayton. Much like the opening act of Bride of Chucky, a distraught ex tampers with ritualistic magic in an attempt to bring back her violent ex. Instead of a Cabbage Patch knockoff, Clayton finds himself brought back to life in the body of a partially decorated Christmas tree. His first victim in this new form is Morrigan, who dies after Clayton enters a blind fit of rage. He mourns over his mistake but quickly notices a photo of Faith and proceeds to try to hunt her down. I was hooked. This premise, albeit slightly familiar, was just unique enough to pull me in.<\/p>\n

Sadly, the film itself seemed to struggle with its tone. Initially putting off \u201cThankskilling\u201d vibes, The Killing Tree slips from parody, into dark comedy, and then into something that felt as though it wanted to be more serious than it was. Small issues with the film were easy enough to overlook, such as the tree itself. In some scenes, it’s clearly a small Christmas tree the size of the actor within it while in other scenes it’s roughly two stories tall. Clayton uses his new form to rip people apart with vine-like appendages, stab them with his sharp branches, or even hang them with his Christmas lights that he can independently move. Had this concept been in a film with a consistent tone and perhaps just a bit more of a budget, the killer tree itself could have stood tall among B-Movies with the likes of Jack Frost. But unlike the killer snowman movie that delivered dark laughs throughout, The Killing Tree left me wondering how long its 72 minute run time could possibly feel.<\/p>\n

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After our slasher finds his victim hosting a Christmas party, we get a few minutes of acceptable kills followed by lore that seemed inconsistent with itself. Be warned, the following is a spoiler for the movie. When Clayton Slayter finally catches Faith, he uses his tinsel to tie her to another tree in the woods. He monologues about how he intends to kill her… Whether it’ll involve stabbing her with his branches or shoving candy canes up her nose. He continues to threaten her with his dark intentions when suddenly the situation is interrupted with a burst of bright light. Both Clayton and Faith are taken back by what they see. A glowing pine tree hovers in the air before them and begins to speak in a woman’s voice, promising to protect Faith, who claims that it’s her mom and dad. Clayton reiterates this notion by asking, \u201cThat’s your parents?\u201d However, the actors and CGI crew must have worked with different revisions of the screenplay, because there’s no tree, nor a voice, present to represent Faith’s father. What follows is a CGI mess of two trees attacking one another.<\/p>\n

As the film reaches its conclusion, Faith finds herself standing in front of some burning branches. These are supposed to be the remains of Clayton, who’s now died for a second time. I laughed when I saw this, and I’m not at all sure if I was supposed to. The amount of branches they had burning on screen weren’t enough to equate to the six-to-ten foot monstrosity that occupied the rest of the film. Much worse, The Killing Tree decided to derail my curiosity with the worst cinema sin of all… Faith wakes up, and the entire story is passed off as no more than a bizarre dream. Roll credits. I obviously didn’t put on The Killing Tree expecting something akin to The Black Phone 2 or The Shining, but even schlock like Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys had a conclusive ending.<\/p>\n

The Killing Tree is a British horror film brought to us by Rhys Frake-Waterfield via his company, Dark Abyss Productions. Rhys and Dark Abyss are better known for the TCU, or Twisted Childhood Universe, which are home to such films as Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey and Bambi: The Reckoning. Marcus Massey plays Clayton, and adds to his inhuman roster of characters by portraying Owl in Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey 2 alongside one of The Killing Tree’s victims… Actress Kelly Rian Sanson. Faith’s actress, Sarah Alexandra Marks, has a long resume full of horror films but will likely be recognized by Doctor Who fans, as she played Rebecca Fogg in 2023’s Doctor Who: Fractured Timeline. While this cast and crew blatantly love horror, and work hard to provide us with a steady supply of it, I don’t think I can fully commit to pitching The Killing Tree as a must-watch. While the premise is nothing short of fantastic, I just can’t justify suggesting it while the horror short, Treevenge, exists and delivers more thrills in a much shorter time frame.<\/p>\n

If you’re morbidly curious about The Killing Tree, it’s currently available for free on Tubi.
\nIf you need to see Christmas trees kill people and want a laugh, Treevenge is available on YouTube.<\/p>\n

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