Carnage for Christmas

it's just refreshing how it delves into familiar christmas spooky territory to come up with something deeply personal, yet universally engaging in terms of genre filmmaking -- one that is willing to mix whodunit, slasher, scatological humor and true crime in less than 70 minutes. gotta love the vibrant colors and feverish editing. there are enough gore and makeup effects to please horror fans, but mackay seems more interested in developing quite a gallery of characters in lola's investigation of her conservative hometown's past and present history of violence. plot ends up sounding a bit complicated and undercooked for its running time -- neoliberalism's gentrification shaking hands with patriarchal families to shape the city's future for good --, but it still manages to end on a high note. we want sequels!