One Hell of a Christmas (2002)

ONE HELL OF A Christmas (1 outta 5 stars) And 1 out of 5 stars is being GENEROUS! Dismal low budget hodge-podge of a zillion horror movie clichés... and even some Latino gang movie clichés added in for good measure. Our "hero" Carlitos (Tolo Montana... trust me, you are never gonna have a reason to remember this guy's name) is a just-released convict doing a bad imitation of Al Pacino from "Carlito's Way". (Maybe his name is some sort of "homage"? Oh, who cares already!) Anyway, he meets up with his pal Mike (Thure Lindhardt... a bargain basement version of Jason Mewes), who has just gotten hold of some kind of stolen talisman that gives the owner incredible power (except, I guess, the power to not have his talisman stolen... which seems to happen with great frequency). Carlito says he wants to go straight and lead a clean life and win back his estranged wife and child... but insofar as Mike and Carlitos are back into the drugs and whores on his first day out of prison... I don't think that's gonna happen. So, there is also some kind of mysterious body-switching guardian who goes after whoever has the talisman to kill, maim, hurt, whatever. Terrible acting, terrible special effects, terrible story, terrible plot. This one dead prostitute who comes back to life to fight Carlitos is almost scary-looking... but the effect is outdone by this terrible cartoony voice they dubbed in for her. Another winner from the people at Fangoria Magazine (whose mag is almost as bad as the movies they endorse... almost). Avoid this trash (located in a Wal-Mart bargain bin near you).

fairly decent Fangoria movie has plenty of gore to satisfy the gore hounds however it gets too weird and confusing for it's own good the script is decent but a couple dubbing mistakes and some lame dialog kinda hurt it and it does have a somewhat happy ending a really weird premise with this one folks still this is a fairly watchable time that is decent before getting a bit silly he is trying to set a good example for his son but he gets back to his old ways eventually and it leads too a quite wacko movie here i do recommend this for people who want something different but be prepared there are a couple of disturbing moments and the direction is stylish so its worth a watch but not much more then that **1/2 out of 5

I keep giving Fangoria movies a chance and keep being let down. This is it. I decided to give this one a chance because it is by the same maker as Angel of the Night which I thought was pretty good. No more, if Fangoria has their name on it I will steer clear. This movie SUCKED!!!! They may have a great magazine but they should think twice before putting their name on crap like this. AVOID at all costs!!!!

I rented this movie expecting to hate it and/or to fall asleep during it. I was pleasantly surprised by the actors (altho a couple of the voices were annoying) who I felt did a very good job considering the material they had to work with. Can me wierd, but I found Mike (Thure Lindhardt) strangely sexy despite his bad teeth. Hmmmm, what does that say about ME? The storyline was, of course, fairly predictable but enjoyable nonetheless.All in all, I give it a 2.5 on the Leonard Maltin 'Bomb to 4-Star' rating.