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Film: Don’t Open Till Christmas
Year: 1984
Director: Edmund Purdom
Writers: Alan Birkinshaw and Derek Ford
Starring: Edmund Purdom, Alan Lake and Belinda Mayne
Review:
This is a film that I learned about through podcasts. It went on a list of ones to check out. This was decided this year due to it doubling as a Foray through the Fours. It has been a while since I’ve heard about this one so I went in blind aside from finding this on Shudder. I knew that it matched up with the year and runtime.
Synopsis: somebody with little Christmas spirit is killing anyone in a Santa suit one London holiday season and Scotland Yard must stop him before he makes his exploits an annual tradition.
We start this with a guy dressed as Santa Claus locking up. He’s spooked by a woman who turns out to be his significant other. They get into the backseat of his car to hook up. We are seeing a point of view from someone else who is watching and breathing heavily. This person comes up to the car, circling it and annoying the guy. He gets out and is attacked. Both are killed by this assailant.
This then shifts over to a Christmas party. Kate Briosky (Belinda Mayne) is helping her father get ready to come out as Santa. He is played by Laurence Harrington. Also in attendance is Kate’s boyfriend, Cliff Boyd (Gerry Sundquist). This performance is cut short when Kate’s father is killed with a spear. This is a masked party so whoever the killer is got away without anyone realizing it.
The killings don’t stop here and New Scotland Yard is involved. Chief Inspector Harris (Edmund Purdom) is tasked with leading the investigation. There isn’t a lot to go on. Harris believes that Cliff is involved. He was with Kate though during her father’s murder. There is another attempted killing where he was close as well to make Harris even more suspicious, especially since Cliff disappeared before Sharon (Pat Astley) ran into the killer. What they know is that he wears a heavy coat and a clear mask. There are two witnesses who said that his eyes seem to be smiling.
Kate doesn’t believe that it is Cliff. Neither does Detective Sergeant Powell (Mark Jones). He gets an interesting phone call from a reporter, Giles Harrison (Alan Lake), who claims that he will help this detective solve the case, which would help with getting a promotion. As more Santas are slain, there is a peepshow worker named Sheury Graham (Kelly Baker) who sees the killer. She didn’t get a good look, but the killer makes her a target. Powell learns interesting information that makes him suspicious of his superior.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this is an interesting little slasher film from the United Kingdom. This feels like it was inspired by Christmas Evil and My Bloody Valentine as well as other slashers that came out before it. The difference here is that instead of our killer being traumatized, dressing up as Santa due to unresolved issues, this killer is targeting people that are wearing that costume. I dug that if I’m going to be honest. It does fall in line with these slashers I’ve referenced and even gialli in that there is a sleaze factor in what the killer experienced to be who he is now.
Now that I’ve set that up, I’ll continue with this concept by again saying that I love using the holiday horror theme. It is good that this did something different with it that the ones I’ve referenced. The mystery here was good to keep me guessing up until the reveal. I did guess the killer at one point, but there were these odd things that happened that swayed me. I’ll credit the development of the story there. Cliff, Gerry (Kevin Lloyd), Giles, Harris and I mean with what we saw with the first Friday the 13th, the killer could be any one of these people or just a random person we met in passing. I will credit how they crafted the story to have these red herrings. The last bit here as well is that I love how the title comes into play with a present that was sent to Harris. It pays off in the end.
Let me then shift over to discuss the acting performances. I’ve alluded a bit that all the red herrings have what seems like an alibi to clear them. They also do things that are suspicious to make you question it. It didn’t click until writing this review that Purdom is also the director. Kate learns something about him that made me question if he was the killer. I did like that, especially the point in the story when it comes up. Purdom was solid in seeming like the hero cop and then losing his job due to the investigation stalling. That’s a good touch for being suspicious as well. Lake works as this creepy writer who keeps showing up. I like Mayne as our lead who is trying to figure out who she can trust. Jones works as a stalwart detective. Sundquist is an odd guy and then when we meet his friend, Lloyd, he also becomes suspicious. Other than that, Baker, Astley and the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.
All that is left then is filmmaking. I’ll say that this was well-made. I do like the cinematography to capture London. It is a big city, one that I’ve been to, so I could see how a killer would operate like they do. I do wish that this feeling a bit colder is a missed opportunity there. The effects were good. We get a variety of deaths going brutal at times. I appreciated that. I didn’t expect it to go there either. The soundtrack was also solid. There is almost a synth feel to it that you’d get in the sleazier gialli. It also seems to be done with a Cassio keyboard that adds charm as well.
In conclusion, I rather enjoyed this slasher film. I wasn’t sure what we’d get here and I love taking what other films did with a Christmas slasher film, then doing something a bit different with it. The reasoning as to why the killer is doing what they are is a concept that we have seen before. The acting was solid. I’ll credit that we have characters being suspicious to add tension and create red herrings. This is well-made. The effects, cinematography, framing and soundtrack helped there. Be warned that as a slasher film, it is a slow burn. This one is a bit of a gem in my opinion that is under talked about.
My Rating: 7.5 out of 10