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delizabethwillard
Reviews
Holidays (2016)
I never thought I would say Father's Day was my favorite holiday.
Writing a review for the film Holdays as a whole would be difficult because the film itself did not feel whole. It was inconsistent and the stories had no common thread, almost difficult to call it an anthology. Some pieces shined while other were easily forgotten and downright confusing.
The films first contribution was Valentine's Day, which focused on a high school swim student with a crush on her instructor. It was funny, predictable, and made me feel uneasy- which are all nice qualities for a short. Not bad at all!
We then dove into St. Patrick's Day, which wasn't one of my favorites. The story itself was a cool idea, focusing on a teacher who was granted the wish of becoming a mother by a scary red-headed girl in her class. This could have been executed a little better in my opinion. The ending was odd (some things just didn't add up) and although I didn't love it, it was entertaining for sure.
Next was Easter which was my 3rd favorite in the bunch, focusing on a little girl who was confused and terrified by the story of Jesus Christ's resurrection and a giant bunny breaking into her home (I hear ya girl). It was very strange and felt like an acid trip gone wrong. If you want a child to be absolutely terrified of Easter- just show them this segment. That is all.
Mother's Day came next which was a very underwhelming segment, focusing on a young women who conceives every time she has sex. She is then instructed by her doctor to visit a witch fertility doctor in the desert in hopes of curing her(?). I honestly have forgotten most of the details and I just watched it last night. The story itself didn't make much sense and was confusing. The setting and the actresses were beautiful and gave a late 60s vibe which was aesthetically pleasing at least.
Father's Day was by far the shining star of this film and was simply on a different level than the rest. If this segment hadn't been next I probably wouldn't have continued watching. This tale focused on a young woman receiving a package from her father whom she thought was dead, including a tape recording of his voice instructing her on where she could find him now that she's an adult. This was the only segment that made me feel any sort of emotion throughout the film as a whole. Bravo to actress Jocelin Donahue who was very memorable and fantastic in this segment (being the only visible character and working the whole short with very little dialogue). This was creepy, gripping, and really heart-breaking. The ending left me wanting more. I wish this were a full length film! 10/10 on this segment.
For some reason after Father's Day we skip right over 3 months and hit Halloween. By far the worst segment in the film. One would assume that having Halloween as your holiday would be the ultimate hall pass for Kevin Smith in making a contribution to this film. This segment focuses on the pimp of three 18 y/o "cam-girls" (including Kevin Smith's own daughter...) who receives payback after keeping the girls in on Halloween night and calling them whores. The segment itself had nothing to do with Halloween and was very unbelievable, contained bad accents, and was far from scary or entertaining. It was over-the-top with crude language and was just full of unnecessary profanity which added nothing to the film. This was a total flop.
Christmas was more of a funny segment, starring Seth Green. In desperation to please his wife and son, he steals a pair of virtual reality goggles from a dying man. The next morning his son is shown opening the goggles and the whole family tries them on, seeing their own personalized images (Mars adventures, spanking a dominatrix). The ending to this segment was funny. Short and to the point. Entertaining. Silly.
And last but not least was my 2nd favorite addition to this film, New Years Eve. I'm glad I actually stuck around after the atrocious Halloween so I could see this! We are first introduced to Reggie, a disgusting middle aged man, murdering his captive "girlfriend" after a year of her not cooperating with his wishes. He then sets out online trying to find a new woman to keep locked up in his home in the new year. This segment also had a very fun plot twist and felt more like a full length film than a short in an anthology series.
Overall, Holidays is not something I would watch again except to see the Father's Day and New Year's Eve segments. They absolutely carried the film and without them I would have given this flick a big old goose egg.