Film Review: A Very Flattened Christmas (2024)

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SYNOPSIS:
Christmas at a roadkill collection company gets bloody as employees are killed off one by one by an evil reindeer who is dead set on killing them all. Will they figure out who’s the killer? Or will they all be Flattened?

REVIEW:

A Very Flattened Christmas, is a new independent feature created by Director Shane Wallace and Co-writer Key Tawn Toothman (also main character “Max Peters”)

While being horror-centric, “A Very Flattened Christmas” approaches its delivery with a firm slice of B-movie humor and dynamic cast that out-of-the box are characters unto themselves. It doesn’t quite succeed in making “cult” status, but it certainly borrows its approach from a smattering of like-influences. Most notably, the odd overacting that by default is pretty entertaining. I was more reminded of an early day Troma-esque type of presentation (aka Toxic Avenger or others).

Seemingly well-edited and shot on a tight budget, it is perhaps the limitations that add an interesting dose of fresh humor in presentation alone (or lack of seriousness).

One in particular, is the antagonist creature that starts the movie under an enigma of “creep or creature” out in the woods lurking about (the road kill scene was quirky!). I found the idea of centering a company that specialize in road kill cleanup rather funny, but most certainly the approach of this creature in odd circumstances, even more charming. At first, I assumed an intended monster which then later was revealed more as deer-masked killer with an firm agenda.

There is an intended white-trash delivery that echoes small town folks with big local problems developing locally…. but more specific to the focal Wichita company of the movie. Now if any doubts, then the mock red-neck funeral or the oddly uncomfortable company Christmas party will certainly bring that idea home. Dick Puncher was amusing in his over-the-tope narcissism and inflated ego that reeked of….”let’s kill him off first” narrative.

Now most tackling this piece will recognize it for what it is, a locally acted do-it-yourself production. However putting that all aside from the droll of big studios who cater to big names and repeated concept action scenes, “A Very Flattened Christmas (2024)” presents b-style horror with a touch of hillbilly persona woven in and an original flair. In fact you might even expect these characters to show up in David Lee Roth video. The surprise here was some well down animation woven throughout that served as the production counterpoint of the film called “Dick Puncher Saves Christmas”.

Getting to the premise at hand, the locals gather to pay homage to Jay, a buddy who was recently taken out and left for dead by an unknown assailant. This provides a path to meet the characters of the film, who use the funeral as a introduction to their bizarre personalities. The movie evolves with a frustrated Max Peters (Key Tawn Toothman) trying to get to the bottom of things, Dan (Trevor Vincent Farney) the bedroom serial profiler, and Maddie (Kaemie McCanless) the needy rejected love interest of the movie.

Kudos to Wallace and team for what I assume to be their first horror effort. I would love to see the character builds evolve in future efforts from this team maybe exploiting the aspect of practical effects in more interesting ways (Ref films like “Necrostorm” creates).

I will say I still didn’t understand what was meant by “flattened Christmas”, or maybe I just missed that aspect in the script. I could only assume it was a reference to road kill. Again, if you are a Troma fan, then you should feel right at home with this effort.