Treevenge (2008)

*Originally written for Screened.com*Have you ever thought how does it feels being chopped, sliced and decorated as Christmas tree? No? Well, neither do I. This movie how ever centers around a bunch of trees that somehow gained consciousness. We see from their perspective how horrible Christmas is to them and how the "things" (humans) treat them cruelly.The trees then dissatisfied and in agony, decide to strike revenge onto us puny humans, sending the movie into a plethora of gore and madness, ensuring you the most brutal Christmas Tree related movie ever. This is definitely Grindhouse material. It's ridiculous, silly and it's self aware of it. Beware as this movie is not for the squeamish.The acting is totally over the top and suits the cheesy-ness of the film and it is done perfectly. We never know the names of the humans as they considered animals by these trees so not much development comes from them. What's interesting is that we feel the agony of the trees while watching. The high pitch alien-esque voices of the trees actually is well played and we can actually sympathize them while laughing at the same time.I will never see Christmas trees the same anymore. Maybe this movie is an allegory (see what I did?) for the destruction of nature did by man kind or how badly man kind has taken little things for granted. Maybe it's just a fun film full of gory fun but what ever message you find here, you will start pitying the trees after this and think twice of chopping down a tree.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy Treevenge for all its bloody goodness. It's a "they fight back" saga that one hasn't really seen before, unless perhaps one is so well versed in Troma knowledge that they could dig up an example and look like the smarty-pants of the room. But for the moment, I can't think of another example of photosynthetic comeuppance aside from this, where trees cut in the forest are cut down for Christmas, and fight back against their 'owners'. It's got subtitled tree dialog. It's got dumb-s*** humans in the sticks and trailer parks and homes. It's got so much blood you'd think that the blood coordinator from Dead-Alive stopped by to pitch in on the fun. And it's so much fun, on both an intellectual level and on that visceral bloody-fun level that only the best in Troma can bring out (or just creative comedy horror in general) can bring out. It also reveals that Jason Eisner, the director and also the force behind the little-seen Grindhouse trailer (only shown in Canada with the Rodriguez/Tarantino film but also infamous online), has a real potential career ahead of him. What Treevenge exactly spells of it I can't say with the best crystal ball. But there will be something, with blood perhaps.

Great from the opening shots to the last. A very inventive, well executed Christmas tale that turns into a complete gorefest (Christmas trees take bloody revenge). Within 16 minutes, writer/director Jason Eisener, goes from the process of getting Christmas Trees from the field to the seller to the buyer to the 'Treevenge', establishing some key characters along the way, which makes the revenge that much sweeter. Eisener sets the tone right off the bat: from the peacefulness of the snowy-topped forest to the axe that wields into frame shortly thereafter... quite humorous throughout, and the liveliness of the trees - dialogue, movements,panic, etc... is a lot of fun. Some great shots and lines, with tones of Sam Raimi and Italian Horror spurting out here, there, and everywhere. One of the best short films I've seen in a while, can't wait to see what Eisener does next.

If you haven't seen this short, do yourself a favor and go watch it online. I just went on Joblo.com and I noticed they had posted this short and being that it's from the people that brought us Hobo with a Shotgun, I had to check it out. It's about 16 minutes long and it works in two ways being a parody of slasher movies from the 70s and 80s and actually being a gory comedy/horror film, it totally accomplishes both. I really don't want to give away too much because there are a few moments that will shock the hell out of you and make you laugh at the same time. Basically it's about Christmas trees that take their revenge on humans on Christmas day. The set up works extremely well for the gory payoff in the third act. Being a fan of The Canadian show Trailer Park Boys I was extremely happy to see Sarah Dunsworth and Johnathan Torrens(aka J-roc) in this. This is a really entertaining short, it's very funny and I loved the Fulci-esquire gore. My favorite line "It's Christmas and I wanna f*ck!". I really hope to see more from these filmmakers, excellent work.