How to Kill Your Family on Christmas – Movie Review
First Reaction – How to Kill Your Family on Christmas has a twisted idea which thrives on the comedy.
Director: Robbie Dias
Writer: Marc Gottlieb (Screenplay)
Cast
- Daniel Roebuck (Final Destination)
- Lisa Wilcox (Nightmare on Elm Street 4)
- Sadie Katz (The Bill Murray Experience)
- Galen Howard (The Book of Boba Fett)
- Bill Dawes
Plot: Deranged grandparents kidnap an 8th grader as a Christmas gift for their daughter’s family. The captive teen eliminates family members after manipulation by the couple’s daughter.
Runtime: 1 Hour 22 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: How to Kill Your Family on Christmas starts when Howard (Roebuck) and Helen (Wilcox) host a family get together. Their children from different worlds join them with their own problems. However, they have a darker secret when one of them prepare to give their daughter a gift.
The adult children discover something far more disturbing and decide to uncover a web of bigger secrets. It leads to them wanting to eliminate the problems before they can continue their methods.
Verdict on How to Kill Your Family on Christmas
Recap
The movie follows a family Christmas get together where family secrets come to life. It leads them to a disturbing series of secrets which will change what the family has been through for decades.
Best Parts
The dysfunctional nature of the family is fun to watch; you see a host of different characters from different worlds. Even the truth coming out is great to watch, as we see the bigger truth behind what the grandparents have been up to. The performances are wonderful and play into the conflict nature they spiral through the holiday. We get the strong comedy sense which brings out all of the darker humour in how things unfold.
Worst Parts
In the other sides of the story, we get an interested series of consequences, but it takes a long time to get to the bigger message. It feels like a bigger tonal shift than expected, away from the bigger drama.
Final Thoughts – How to Kill Your Family on Christmas is a twisted dark comedy, spiralling into chaos.
